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Product Description

Historical Fiction from Hendrickson Publishers!

To read Leo Sandgren’s essay Historical Imagination as Applied to Early Judaism, please click on the following link.

Using the medium of historical fiction, The Shadow of God covers six centuries of Jewish history, from the Babylonian exile to the destruction of the Second Temple. Fifteen stories, each centered on a historical event, explore typical Jewish characters of the era. Women and men, some historical, some fictional, grapple with changing views of God, Torah, and the attraction of Hellenism. The narrator, Leontius, weaves the stories into an organic saga that answers the ancient call to be a Jew and worship the Most High God. Here, students will unearth up-to-date scholarship on early Judaism, teachers of Bible backgrounds will discover a supplemental text that engages while it instructs, and lovers of fiction will be delighted by the good story of The Shadow of God.

“This book is a wonderful exercise in historical imagination. It recreates the life of ancient Jews—not those of the ruling class, but 'lesser persons'— from the Babylonian exile to the time of Herod. The stories are vivid and engaging, and the situations convincing. The scholarship that underlies these stories is solid and reliable and is made available in the notes, which give full references to primary sources. Sandgren has given us an excellent resource for teaching and understanding Second Temple Judaism.”
—Frederick J. Murphy, Professor, Religious Studies Program, College of the Holy Cross

Reviews

“This is a delightful and informative book about life in Judaism during the crucial period from the time of the Babylonian Exile to the destruction of the Herodian Temple in A.D. 70. The author, an expert in Jewish history who teaches at the University of Florida, uses the medium of fiction to bring history alive. Fifteen stories about Jewish characters that live during this span of history help us imagine everyday life in the home, in the marketplace, and in the Temple. These are not simplistic stories but, as the ample endnotes attest, rooted in historical data and rich with the kind of detail and complexity that does justice to the reader who wants to learn what life may have been like during the key centuries of the Judaism in which Jesus and the early Christian community were rooted.” —The Bible Today

"The book is worthy of attention not only from a literary point of view, but also from a historical one: the author makes a brave, successful experiment, showing a great deal of scholarly competence on the subject. For once it is very pleasant not only to read words and concepts but to find living people acting in the story."
—Review of Biblical Literature

Leontinus, Josephus’s fictional scribe, narrates fifteen stories about what happened in ancient Judaism, depicting vivid scenes that were left out by his master. In one of the chapters, two Greek philosophers debate Paul’s Jewish philosophy. There is also a story about a blind man and a rich employer who meet an itinerant preacher named Jeshua (Jesus). All the ‘facts’ are carefully explained in historical notes.”
—International Review of Biblical Studies

“One of the most difficult aspects of understanding the Bible and its writings is comprehending the kind of social contexts in which those writing were initially composed, received, and interpreted. . . . This is a gap which Sandgren sets out to fill with reference to ancient Jews. Beginning in the period of the Babylonian exile in the middle decades of the sixth century BCE and ending on the eve of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE, he supplies fifteen imaginative character vignettes from the first seven centuries of Judaism, describing the circumstances of individuals who either come from or deal with various strata of Jewish society, outlining the kind of issue they would have faced, and exploring how they might have dealt with the situation in which they found themselves. The book is thus a work of historical fiction , but despite its fictional character it is based firmly on primary sources including the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, the Mishnah and ancient papyri as well as classical sources such as Herodotus, Plato, and Suetonius, to name but a few.. . . This is primarily a book about the history of Judaism rather than about Christianity, but I think that the issues it explores gives it a function that is much more important than just providing knowledge about ‘the background to Christianity.’ The question of the clash of cultures and creeds, for example, arises in a number of the vignettes. How do we respond when those we love turn their backs on our values and embrace those of others? . . . By depicting how the Jews struggled with their conviction and how they attempted to live out their identity as Jews and monotheists in a pagan and polytheistic world, Sandgren reminds us that it never was easy to put beliefs into practice. There always were clashes and crises and choices of one sort of another to be faced, and what to one person is a solution is anathema to another. The value of this book for those in ministry is not in direct Christian instruction, which it most certainly does not give (and does not set out to give). Rather, it is in its challenge to engage both the imagination and the emotions in understanding the dilemmas faced by ordinary people of faith in an unstable and treacherous world, and to use that understanding to work in faith toward a way forward.”
—Regent’s Reviews

“This book would appeal to a broad audience interested in the history of early Judaism. Since this period is critical for understanding the origins of Christianity, the book would also be a valuable resource for the study of the New Testament. The scholar would appreciate the detailed references to the primary sources for both the historical events and the themes presented in the stories. For the non-specialist the book would be an effective introduction to the field of Second Temple Judaism. The book is a delightful example of storytelling that is characteristically Jewish; for this reason it is highly engaging and enjoyable to read. The placement of the reference notes at the end of the book enhances the literary quality and readability of the narratives. Other useful materials in the book include a chronology of Jewish history, the relevant maps of the region and a glossary of the ancient sources used as the historical basis for the stories.”
—Toronto Journal of Theology

Leo D. Sandgren received his Ph.D. in Ancient Mediterranean Religions from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has lived in Israel, Africa, and Europe, and currently lectures in Judaism, Christian Origins, and Historical Fiction at the University of Florida. He is the author of The Shadow of God: Stories from Early Judaism.

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