Luke's Story: By Faith Alone

Authors of the highly successful Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels, pastor LaHaye and author Jenkins base their stories on Christian scripture. Their latest religious fiction project examines the era and story of Jesus Christ by constructing accounts of each Gospel writer's life. This volume of The Jesus Chronicles recounts the life story of the author of the Gospel of Luke. Luke, born as Loukon into a family of slaves, earns the respect of his master, Theophilus, as a child and is sent to the university in Tarsus to study medicine. From this point on, the plot, unfortunately, becomes contrived. While at school, Luke meets Saul, an arrogant fellow student who later becomes known as Paul after his conversion. Luke develops a hobby of writing stories and eventually composes his gospel at the feet of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who, while old and somewhat feeble, is able to recall the exact words her son spoke 20 years before. Fans of the authors' earlier work will likely appreciate this account, but it is unlikely to win any converts. (Feb.)