Renowned husband and wife authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear, of the First North Americans and Anasazi Mysteries series, return with their most controversial book to date. Also archaeologists, the Gears apply over thirty years of research with their backgrounds in biblical archaeology, religious studies, Greek, and Latin, to reveal a new and relatively unknown and historically unsupported biography of Jesus Christ, or Yeshua.
The Betrayal is told from two viewpoints; the first is that of Yeshua, as he travels in his time, changing the world in his way, and while one would consider this to be the important character of the book, this plot line serves more as an additional realization to the main viewpoint and character of the book, Brother Barnabas. The monk Barnabas, living in the year 325 after Yeshua, is a student and copier of the ancient holy texts, the texts that tell the true story of Yeshua, some in his very own words. These books portray a Jesus different from the commonly known one: heretical and radical, contrary to the contemporary Church’s teachings. The Ecumenical Council of Bishops has now decided that these holy texts are nothing more than “a hotbed of manifold perversity,” contrary to the Christian faith, and are therefore not to be read or copied by anyone. Emperor Constantine decrees that all copies of the sacred texts are to be destroyed and anyone found with them will be executed as a heretic. But Brother Barnabas knows that the texts tell the true story of Jesus, and he makes it his mission, as ordained by God, to save them for the world and the future, at no matter what cost.
While The Betrayal seems well researched and given the Gears’ background, they clearly know what they are talking about, the reader is left wondering how much of this is really true, and could this really be a giant conspiracy hidden by the Church after all this time. The book is classed as fiction and shelved in that section in bookstores, as well as featuring a favorable quote from Lewis Purdue, author of Da Vinci Legacy. In fact, The Betrayal does bear some resemblances to the likes of Da Vinci Code, Rule of Four, and other books published in the last decade which question the religious dogma, much to the outrage of the Church. It begs the question as to whether the Gears are looking more for the true story of Jesus, or perhaps a bestselling novel in this popular genre, or perhaps both? The reader will have to decide for him- or herself.
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Originally written on July 11th 2008 ©Alex C. Telander.
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