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In the ruins of ancient Ephesus, a young archaeologist, estranged from her parents, her husband, and her God, is mysteriously led to the discovery of a long-hidden scroll containing the personal story of Aquila and Prisca (Priscilla), first century co-workers of the Apostle Paul.
At first viewing the find as a source of personal wealth, she begins to translate the scroll and, as the bookreview.com reviewer put it, "experiences a change of character so dramatic that it almost explodes in the conclusion of the novel."
The biblical references to Prisca and Aquila make it apparent that they were central characters in the developing church throughout much of the Roman empire, and they undoubtedly came into contact with or were known by many other Christians. As I thought about their lives, I began to think about writing a novel. Suddenly complete passages began to spring unbidden into the mind, a phenomenon I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit.
But after the initial inspirations came hard work. I wanted to completely understand the contemperaneous events in the Roman world that would have affected individual Christians and the church. I read dozens of books (I have placed a bibliography in the appendices of Peculilar People) and found a great deal of material to incorporate in the novel.
Then the company I was working for at the time went bankrupt, and I was unable to find employment for six months, during which time I completed the manuscript, although it has gone through some major revision and editing in subsequent years.
Another major inspiration for the book was Romans 16. Many Christians think of people in the early church as heroic, larger-than-life figures, but I began to see them as ordinary people, not so different from you and me, caught up in God's work. I wanted to portray their everyday lives, as well as their major events. They, like us, lived in a world mired deeply in sin because of its rejection of the one true God.
In some ways, Peculiar People is a commentary on the book of Acts and many of the epistles. Some of the interpretations and extrapolations may challenge your assumptions about both doctrine and history. I hope you will be like Bereans (Acts 17:11) and go to the Scriptures when you have questions.
But more than anything else, I hope Peculiar People both inspires and challenges you.
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