Ted Dekker

Dear Readers,

 

Everything you think about when I mention a Ted Dekker book, throw it out right now. A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker is not what I would call a normal book for him.  It is quite a departure from what he ‘normally’ writes.   This is what I would say is Biblical fiction.  Even though there are no Biblical characters as the main people in this book it does happen at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. 

 

Maviah is the eldest daughter of one of the most powerful sheikhs  of the desert.  She was rejected and sold as a slave only to return in disgrace with a young son.  Her father’s new wife takes a liking to her and she is welcomed back, until her step mother dies.  Then a hated enemy attacks and she is sent on a mission, a mission that will lead her to Israel because of an alliance with King Herod.

 

I found this book interesting, not because it included some of Jesus’ ministry, but because it is much more a look at what life was like at that time in the rest of the world.  There is some focus on what is going on in Israel at that time, but more of it is centered on what is going on in Arabia at that time. 

  

I did find out how difficult it was to be a gentile if you were trying to talk to/meet with/work with any Jewish person.  They look on the rest of the world as unclean.  I never really thought about it because it has not really affected me.  But for a person to be labeled unclean by anyone does not make you like that person and for a woman like Maviah it really brought up old memories of how she was treated as a child.  It was just a unique perspective in the book.

 

I like this new direction that Ted is headed.  I have to believe he will and is writing more of the genre we all love him for, but it is great to be reminded of how good a story teller he really is.

 

Happy Reading.