Book Series Review: The Jesus Chronicles - LeHay and Jenkins

Jerry Jenkins and Tim LeHay, the writers of the popular Left Behind Series, produced another series of four books to their stable of Biblical novels. They're called The Jesus Chronicles. They created a short novel for each of the Gospels, depicting possible scenarios that could have led to the writing of each book.

I have completed the series and, as my dad used to counsel me, eat the meat and spit out the bones. Generally speaking the books all presented interesting scenarios that were plausible, if not historical. At times the plots were less than compelling, especially in John's story, but in each case I learned things about the context of the process, which produced the books.

Some things I learned:

While banished on Patmos, John was subjected to extremely hard work in the marble quarries. At his advanced age, his survival was nothing short of miraculous. His survival of the Emperor Domitian's extreme cruelty was balanced by the clemency and enlightened reforms of Nerva allowing John to recover, see his revelation produced and die in bed. He was the only apostle to die a normal death.

Matthew was a tax collector who probably gave up more than anyone to follow Christ. His official capacity allowed him to work a territory at will, as long as he paid Rome their contracted amount. He would have to have been schooled in all matters of commerce, the Hebrew religion, languages, trade, mathematics and cultural diversities to succeed. Following Jesus cost him, but he had to be a great asset to The Lord.

Luke was a physician, schooled for years in medicine with a heart for people - since physicians were not necessarily wealthy.  The most likely scenario  regarding his faith story was the he learns about Jesus from Paul, his friend and spiritual mentor. Since neither Paul nor Luke ever knew the man Jesus, their collaborative efforts were
required to write the Gospel. The writers suggest that Luke spent valuable time with Jesus' mother, Mary, before she died. That would explain detail of the birth narratives found in his record. He was not an apostle, but was an influential voice in the generation following Jesus death. It makes perfect sense that he wrote Acts as Paul's scribe.

Mark was a boy who spent a good deal time with Peter, his big brother and spiritual mentor. To read anything he says comes from his exposure to the apostles and Jesus, not as an apostle, but as one of the many who followed Jesus, almost exclusively in Jerusalem. I suspect he wrote everything for Peter since it took a significant education to write and fishermen probably did not get that kind of education.

These snippets are far from profound, but they help me understand the context of the gospels. Each book contains the actual gospel record in the back of the book. I

My grades:

John C
Luke A
Matthew A
Mark A

The books are elementary in nature, but that may be why they have some good value for seekers of truth to read them. I bought them all on Amazon for very little money.