"We are a religion of captains hoping to go down with the ship. Though we teach our children that the worst thing Judas ever did - worse even than betraying Jesus - was committing suicide, the truth is that what moves the lifeblood of our faith is a thumping impulse toward self-destruction. Greater love has no one than this, Jesus says in the gospel of John. To lay down one's life for one's friends."
This is easily one of the best books I've ever read. I've got so much to say that this review has bloated up to the length of a standard novella. You were warned.
The Fifth Gospel is both literary and readable, thematically-rich and engrossing, immensely erudite and intensely moving, and has full-fledged characters PLUS a strong plot. These things normally don't mix well together, and the result is reflective of Caldwell's ten years of hard work, in which, impressively, he did not touch a single toe onto the Vatican lands. He did all his research based on building contacts and holding ongoing conversations with real priests, bishops, cardinals and so forth … starting with zero connection. When my adorably annoying husband asked, "So he relied everything on the Internet?" I was like, you know what, a priest he first got in touch with said that "this is the best depiction of the inner life of a priest that I have ever seen in fiction." To be fair, he co-wrote a New York Times bestseller that stayed on top of the list for six months with his childhood friend and fellow writer, Dustin Thomason. The semi-autobiographical novel, titled "The Rule of Four", was the best-selling debut novel of the decade, cementing Caldwell's authority in the suspenseful-mystery-solving-fiction-based-on-real-historic-relics-and-events genre.
What first grabbed my eye about "Gospel" was obviously its title, and during that time in my life I wanted someone to guide me through the Bible. I still consider myself a new Christian today, hence the constant seeking of experts to walk me through the Word. But I can tell you this much: I've learned A TON out of reading this book. I realized that Scripture is there not to inform you, but to transform you.
Other than a deeper understanding of the Bible, there are a few other takeaways I believe most reviewers haven't touched upon. To keep it simple, I will do this by way of introducing my favorite quotes from the book and develop my points from there. But first, a brief summary:
The story centers around two brothers, one a Roman Catholic priest and one an Eastern Catholic gospel teacher, plus an exhibit that can change the course of Catholicism forever. The curator was murdered, the elder brother (Simon Andreou) became a suspect, and in faith, the younger brother (Alex Andreou) attempts to save him throughout the rest of the book. It's the simplest way I can summarize the whole plot, but I promise you, it's SO MUCH more than you're signing up for. You will learn the major differences between their chosen rites (no need for Wikipedia), diminish (or, at least subdue) common prejudices against organized religion, see how separatism is sometimes necessary, appreciate why papacy is fundamental in it, and furthermore, you will begin to understand how people who live within the Vatican walls their whole lives actually think and feel. The Andreou brothers' story is deeply emphatizing.
I'm going to start off with this quote that was referring to John 19:34: "To be literal about these symbols is to miss their beauty and importance. The genius of John's gospel is that it refuses to be bound by an earthly straitjacket. John's spear wound gestures at the truth that lies beyond mere facts." I love this quote because it's like a comeback to the Alogi, a group of Christians who tried to refute the Gospel of John during the 1st century CE. Fact is, during that time, there's this guy called Tatian who tried to combine all four gospels and created the world's first gospel harmony, the Diatessaron. Whether he was trying to supplement the Scripture or replace them altogether, nobody knows. But the Diatessaron was indeed used as the standard Gospel text for the first two centuries after Christ, only to be replaced by the canonical four gospels later on during the 5th century. Now here's the catch: If all we seek is the cold hard facts about Jesus, then the three other gospels, which hold accounts that are almost identical in chronology and substance, would suffice. So why is John still relevant?
As I see it, based on the immense historical facts I've learned from "Gospel", what separates rites, sects, and denominations is doctrinal differences, and what separates religion and science is human's answer to understanding God - we dissect Jesus and separate aspects of His character into various areas of research, namely a historical Jesus and a theological Jesus, thinking we could understand Him better by dividing His essence into smaller parts but instead, we formed ideologies behind each part and have since differentiated ourselves from one another. From the historical perspective, we've been reading into the Bible too literally to see the real message the author aims to convey, and this is essentially what the quote was suggesting about the death of Jesus. The three other gospels give answers to the who, the what, the where, when, and how of the Cross. But what made the Gospel of John so significant is that he willfully paints His Word by laying down the events that are irrelevant in itself. His Book matters, on some level more than Mark, Luke, and Matthew combined, because it is theologically accurate. After all, he gave us the most popular verse of all time, John 3:16.
" [...] So what does canon law tell the judge to do? Take each piece of information on its own merits and use good judgment to figure out where the truth is. You mustn't take everything you hear at face value." I do my best not to glare at Giorgio. "And you must never believe rumors that assume the worst about a good person. Because as the gospels teach us, we might condemn an innocent man." Now this quote gets a little more personal to me, as Father Alex almost did when he was teaching a lesson about Jesus' trial. Underlying this statement was an inference in the replacement of the Diatessaron with the four individual gospels and also in support of his faith in his brother's innocence. Personally, it's a validation for me that I shouldn't be upset about any person in my life who readily believes in the worst of me based on his or her own inferences drawn from secondhand accounts - a sophisticated way for me to say I'm done with gossips who have nothing better to do. But hey, you're not interested in that … Another big thing I discovered from "Gospel" was the Tribunal of the Roman Rota. The fact that Catholics have a self-sufficing legal system on their own was quite interesting to me, sort of like discovering a new lens to tell what's right and what's wrong besides the common and civil law systems, and that according to Father Alex, the heaviest punishment isn't a death penalty, but removing the accused on trial from priesthood, which I imagine must feel something like getting kicked out of heaven by our heavenly Father Himself.
"A Christian life is lived by the example of the disciples. By imitating their virtues, but also by learning from their failures. When the disciples were faced with the arrest and trial of the man they believed in, they abandoned him in fear. They placed their own safety, and the verdict of their priests, above the demands of their consciences." This one is pretty self-explanatory - it's one of those nuggets of wisdom in the Bible that is easy to quote and difficult in practice, and it certainly made me think how far would I go for my family in the name of Jesus, even if it'll cost my life. Yet with this quote I want to touch upon the immediate comparison between "Gospel" and the Dan Brown novels and why it's invalid. The Andreou brothers are nothing like Robert Langdon - Father Simon and Alex's experiences are dedicated and deeply rooted toward each other as well as in the character of Jesus, even as a historical figure, suggesting Caldwell's faithfulness to the narratives behind all the historic relics and events included in his book. Dan Brown, on the other hand, has the luxury to twist and turn his plot narrative anytime, because we're given minimal background information about Robert Langdon's character, so he has no close ties and plenty of loose ends. Every historical account included in "Gospel" was meant to serve as a collective mental model of the two brothers so we can understand and reason with them in every decision they make. And because Caldwell is so faithful to the gospel, the more you understand these brothers, the more you understand the biblical Jesus Christ, and that right after He separated history between BC and AD, you gotta admit "there is something miraculous about how quickly it [Christianity] spreads, as if a whole civilization is waking up from a shared dream, a revelation of the divine formula: God is beauty, and beauty moves the soul."
Speaking of speed, it took me a little more than a month to finish the book, not because I procrastinated on it, but because you'd miss big leads if you don't give it your full attention. For many, "Gospel" is unbearably slow-paced, but considering the events in it were interspersed with loads of historical background, I considered the book more like a history textbook that you actually read without falling asleep. You don't have to be interested in Catholicism to begin with, nor in Christian history in general. You just have to have an open mind and an open heart, and I bet you'll be entertainingly surprised with the series of plot twists in the final chapters leading toward the gripping ending.
Although on the surface "Gospel" is all about religion, its power of tradition, the discernment of truth, having good conscience, and about true love, sacrifice, and forgiveness, I would say that it's ultimately a story about family. It's like the way the secular world sees Christ - He wants a relationship but the world wants Him politicking instead. I highly recommend this book to all fathers and fathers-to-be, because it will change the way you look at your choices and responsibilities as a son, as a father, and as a man.
Love, Stace
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