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torms of political radicalism sweep across the ancient hills and valleys of Palestine. The power of Rome, its strength bloated by military success, reveals little concern for its vanquished. Shackled and embittered by military occupation, isolated pockets of resistance conspire against a vindictive victor. Slavery is everywhere exploited, Jew and Arab alike subjugated to brutal violence.
Upon this sad panorama, a master storyteller and commanding writer of Biblical history paints a triumphant narrative of the years, the events and astounding impact of a humble Carpenter from Nazareth. Ten fierce fishermen, one tax-collector and a betrayer from Ish-Kerioth stand with the world on the threshold of waiting millennia anticipating the succulent and longed-for dream of the kingdom of God.
Interweaving intense, searing personal adventures with historic events, conjured amongst a captivating array of contrasts, from the elegance of stunning Roman palaces to the squalor of the leper colonies, Joseph bar Sabbas, called Justus: theologian, philosopher, educator, erudite crafter of words takes us, his readers, step by step through the events, miracles and teachings of the Man, Jesus.
Joseph bar Sabbas? Is it possible you remember him? When Judas Iscariot carries out his nefarious betrayal and takes his own life, it leaves a vacancy in the Twelve. Two men, Matthias and Joseph bar Sabbas called Justus are considered to replace him. Lots are cast. Matthias is chosen. Justus is not. Yes, you do remember. Both men had been with Jesus since his baptism by John the Baptist. How grand Matthias must have felt, being ‘chosen by God’ to supplant Judas. And how pained and unworthy Justus must have felt being ‘rejected’ by God!
So he went his own way, married to a woman Jesus had healed, taking with him the faithful Abishag, who fetched sticks thrown by his Master in the pounding surf of the Great Sea. And under flickering shadows he writes an irresistible story; swift-paced, romantic, violent, gentle, bawdy, comic, lyrical, hard-bitten, haunting and passionate in its scope and severity. He writes of the grassy meadows of Galilee’s hills, of the storms in the sea of the same name, he writes of the well in Samaria, the dusty streets of Jericho and Jerusalem and finally the place called Golgotha, Justus guides his readers heartbeat by heartbeat in the steps of the Man by whom time is measured. Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man, Son of God, a Carpenter of wood, Creator of flesh and blood, Architect of character – Carpenter of men.
"This is not the Jesus I learned about in Sunday School with its flannel graph figures and stick puppets. This is the Jesus I always hoped he would be."
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Author
Educator, Counselor, Dramatic Reader, Paul D. Morris, M.Div., Ph.D. authored several books for Tyndale House Publishers and numerous scholarly papers. Public speaker and seminar leader, Dr. Morris has impacted the lives of thousands in his various modalities of platform and literary ministry. He lives with his wife Bonnie, in New Port Richey, Florida. He is father to three children, step-father to three more and grandfather to nine grandchildren.
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