BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST By Lew WallaceBook Review by:Sharon Powers. Ulysses S. Grant sat to read the new novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The words of the book soon caught his imagination and he was unable to escape. He couldn't put the book down, and so, mesmerized, he continued to sit and read. Abandoning all responsibilities and his family, he immersed himself in the pages of Lew Wallace's book. He sat reading. For thirty straight hours, the Great General of the Civil War, leader of men, mastermind of battles, the General who accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, left his duties and lived in the pages of the book.April 19, 1881. Dear General. I have, this morning, finished reading "Ben-Hur"--and I must thank you for the pleasure it has given me--The theme was difficult, but you have handled it with great delicacy and power. Several of the scenes such as the wise men in the desert--the sea fight--the chariot race--will I am sure take a permanent and high place in literature. With this beautiful and reverent book you have lightened the burden of my daily life--and renewed our acquaintance which began at Shiloh. Very Truly Yours J.A. Garfield. The 19th day of the month was portentous for Garfield, as he was assassinated exactly five months to the day (09-19-81) after he penned thisthank you note to Lew Wallace. Similarly, the then President of the United States, James A. Garfield, was likewise, dumbfounded by the work. The moment he finished reading the novel, early in the morning, Garfield immediately put pen to paper and drafted a note of gratitude, addressed directly to Lew Wallace, for his masterful work. So respected was Lew Wallace that within the month, President Garfield offered Wallace an ambassadorship to Turkey.This Broadway production of Ben-Hur "...was a triumph of theater technology as well as acting. Shown here [is a] chariot from the race scene." The chariot was first staged in front of a panorama that moved behind the actors and horses, and then, the horses and chariots were put on a treadmill. With the horses running on the treadmill, the chariot was rigged so that it could even "lose a wheel during the race" scene. The effect was with the horses running in place and the background moving, it somewhat gave the impression of a more realisticsetting for the stage production. Humanities (The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities), tells us that from November 12, 1880 to the present, Ben-Hur has not been out of publication. By 1900 it was translated into over twenty different languages, including Braille. In twenty-one years (1899-1920) over twenty million people saw the story of Ben-Hur live, on the stage. The stage productions used live animals including camels and horses. For the chariot race, producers concealed treadmills and had horses running on them. Humanities goes on to tell us that Ben-Hur outsold every book published (except the Bible) until Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell in 1936. Then in 1959, MGM's adaptation of the book to movie caused tens of millions of people to see the movie; subsequently, in 1960, the film won eleven Academy Awards and stimulated a renewed interest in the book. In the 1960s, with the surge of book sales, remarkably, the book again was at the top of the best-selling novel list. And even with all the veneration the movie has prompted, it doesn't hold a candle to the almost religious fervor the book has sparked. In fact, it is claimed that the novel is "the most influential Christian book written in the nineteenth century." Almost everyone knows the story of Ben-Hur. If we haven't read the book, we certainly have seen the movie, or perhaps, even heard about it in some religious studies, or saw it on television close to the Easter holiday. Even so, let's take a look at the basic plot before we get into discussing the book further.Book Synopsis:Book One: The "First Book" opens with the three wise men, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, meeting for the first time and discussing the one who is to come, the one they came to seek who will be born, "King of the Jews." Through dreams and portents, and then a shining star, the three wend their way towards Bethlehem. Meanwhile, Joseph and Mary seek a place in which to stay, and none being found, they lodge in a cave on the outskirts of the community. A little further away, an angel appears telling the shepherds not to be afraid, that they bring good news of great joy. The "herald" tells the shepherds to look for the sign, a "babe, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger" (p.34). The shepherds arrive to find "the Christ," in the manger and the angels singing, "Glory to God in the highest..." (p.36). Eleven days later the three wise men arrive at Jerusalem seeking the "King of the Jews." Herod the Great, having heard about the new king being born, calls them in to see him and questions them. When the king dismisses them they immediately flee Jerusalem and strike out for Bethlehem. Arriving at the cave, they...fell "down and worshipped him...[giving] gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (p.45). The wise men don't return to King Herod, but return home another way.Book Two begins the parallel story of Judah Ben Hur. Judah Ben-Hur, a Prince of Judah, lives with his family, Mother (Miriam) and sister (Tirzah), his father having died some years before. His boyhood friend, Messala, returns to Jerusalem to be the commanding officer of the Roman legions. Judah soon realizes they can never continue as friends and they part company. Soon after, an unfortunate accident occurs: a tile slides from the promenade on the roof and falls on the governor, unseating him from his horse. The Romans come to arrest the family, and Judah appeals to Messala--Messala turns his back on his former friend. Judah is sent to the galleys, and Judah's mother and sister are thrown in a cell to be forgotten.Book Three: After three years rowing in the galleys, Judah has a stroke of luck (Sorry about the shameless pun!) when he saves the fleet commander, Quintus Arrius. Judah saves the commander when the ship goes down during a dramatic sea battle against pirates. Quintus Arrius recognizes Judah's nobility and thanks him for saving his life by adopting him and making him a citizen of Rome.Book Four: Judah trains in the Palestra for five years, and when Quintus Arrius dies, Judah becomes his heir. Traveling to Antioch on business, he learns that a man called Simonides was his father's chief servant and that the man had made himself very wealthy since his father's death. Judah goes to see Simonides hoping to get information about his mother and sister. All to no avail--Judah leaves without any help. Simonides sends Malluch after Judah to spy on him and befriend him. Simonides wants to learn more about this Judah and whether or not he really is the son of his former master. Malluch "bumps into Judah," and they go first to the Grove of Daphne, and then to the stadium games. Judah sees Messala racing his chariot and when it is about to hit two people--Judah saves them--they are none other than Balthazar and Iras, his daughter. Sheik Ilderim announces that he is looking for a chariot driver so he can race his beautiful Arabians in an upcoming racing event, Judah agrees. Later, Malluch reports back to Simonides what he discovered about Judah; Simonides and Esther agree Judah is who he says he is and that he will fight against Rome. In a meeting at Sheik Ilderim's tent, Balthazar, his daughter, Iras, and Judah speak about how Christ, now age thirty, is ready to take a public leadership role. Judah, seeing the beautiful Iras, is becoming increasingly infatuated with her.Book Five: Sheik Ilderim intercepts a letter from Messala to Valarius Gratus (governor) and has Judah read the letter. They discover that Judah's mother and sister were imprisoned in the Antonia Fortress--Judah breaks down and cries. Later, Simonides comes to Judah and tells him that he was Steward for his father and that the wealth he has accumulated is now Judah's. Judah only takes a small portion and the two agree to use the wealth to fight for the Christ, the political savior from the Romans. Judah is driven to find his sister and mother and to exact revenge on Messala. He can't kill Messala while there is any hope of finding out from Messala where his mother and sister are. He contents himself with what he considers a smaller vengeance in seeing Messala defeated and humiliated by himself (a Jew) and causing him to lose all his money. Malluch goes and needles Messala into a reckless bet, betting far more than he can afford. If he loses the race, he will lose everything. The day of the race Messala crashes into the wall, and Judah wins the race. Messala lives, but will never walk again...and he loses all his money. In Messala's bitterness, he sends assassins to kill Judah; the plot is foiled, though, when Judah recognizes that one of the assassins is none other than a former teacher. Judah escapes death by identifying himself as the son of Quintus Arrius (his alter ego)--the assassin then recognizes him as his former pupil and lets him go.Book Six: For a bribe, Simonides has Valerus Gratus removed as governor--in his stead, Pontius Pilate is appointed. When Pilate has his soldiers review the records, they discover Gratus had concealed a walled-up and hidden cell. Opening the cell, the soldiers discover Judah's mother and sister, who have caught leprosy. The soldiers let them out of prison and counsel them to leave the city. Then in a poignant scene, the two return to their house after dark to discover Judah asleep on the steps. Not daring to wake him, lest Judah discover they are lepers, his mother gently touches the sole of his sandel. The women hide in the shadows when they hear their former servant, Amrah, come and wake Judah. The women watch from the shadows as Amrah tells Judah she has lived there all the years he has been away. The two lepers make their way out of city. Later, when a group of disguised Roman soldiers attempt to start a riot and plan to kill protesters, Judah kills one of the soldiers, becoming a hero to the protesters.Book Seven: With help from Simonides and Sheik Ilderim, Judah starts gathering troops and sets up a training camp to train the men to be soldiers to fight for the Christ. Malluch sends word that he has heard of a prophet, John, preaching in the desert, that he is preparing the way for one to come after him. Judah, intent on talking to John, heads to meet him, but first, accidentally, runs into Balthazar and Iras traveling in the same direction. The small group arrive at the river where John is preaching and baptising in time to see the man who gave him water so long ago, ask John for baptism. Balthazar is moved and worships him as Christ, the Son of God.Book Eight: Judah follows Christ for the next three years watching as he cures lepers, raises the dead, cures the blind and heals the sick. During this time Malluch purchases Judah's old house for Judah and Simonides, has the house renovated, and moves Balthazar, Iras, Simonides, Esther and himself into the dwelling. Judah eventually returns and tells everyone what he has seen of Jesus curing the sick, and Amrah realizes she could take Miriam and Tirzah to get them cured by Jesus. Amrah goes and gets the women in the village of the lepers and they walk to a spot where Jesus will pass the following day. When Jesus passes, he heals the women. Judah walking nearby, recognizes them with Amrah now that they are healed--he embraces them in joy. A short time later, Judah meets Iras who tells him it is all over between them. She insults and then tries to extort money from Judah for Messala. Judah resolves to leave Iras forever and seek out Esther. Standing lost in thought, Judah notices a group of people being led by Judas. Judah hurriedly follows them to Gethsemane where he is spotted by a priest who attempts to arrest him--Judah runs and escapes arrest. The next day, Judah finds out Jesus was arrested in the Garden after he fled, and was tried and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Judah calls his legion of soldiers to save Jesus, but learns they have all deserted him to support the priests. Knowing there is nothing he can do, he accepts Jesus will die. Judah, Balthazar, Simonides, Esther and Malluch go to Calvary to witness Jesus' death. They see Jesus staggering towards the mount, suffering, yet not saying a word."...moved with quick compassion...Esther clung to her father; and he, strong of will as he was, trembled. Balthazar fell down speechless. Even Ben-Hur cried out, 'O my God! my God!'" (p. 325) They witnessed Jesus as he hung there. While watching, Judah remembered Jesus words, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE." Judah asked himself, "Who the Resurrection? and who the Life? ... the answer came to him . . . "I AM, the figure seemed to say...instantly he was sensible of a peace such as he had never known...the end of doubt and mystery, and the beginning of faith and love and clear understanding" (p.329). Then, as Christ died upon the cross, Balthazar, too, breathed his last and fell dead.EPILOG: Five years have passed, and Judah and Esther have married. Having two beautiful children, they live in Misenum. Iras comes to visit--she looks unlike her former beautiful self. She tells Esther that she discovered that the Romans were brutes--that she had killed Messala; then Iras leaves. Hearing of Christian persecution in Rome, Malluch, Judah and Esther leave to help. When they get there, they spend what money they have left building the Catacomb of Callixtus.WHAT I THINK ABOUT THE BOOK:(1) I grew up, every year watching Ben Hur on television at Easter time. I thought I knew the story well, having seen the Charlton Heston movie so many times. Boy, was I wrong. I didn't even know that there was a book called Ben Hur until I was an adult. This is one of the main reasons I'm doing a review of this book today. I want those of us who grew up watching the movie to know that it wasn't just a Hollywood creation, and that this beautiful story was actually a book before it was anything else. (2) The Hollywood version of the story of Ben-Hur is in many ways very different from the book. For instance:Iras, the Egyptian woman, daughter of Balthazar, is completely deleted from the story. In the book she utilizes her exotic wiles to seduce Judah and gets him to be completely infatuated with her. She wants Judah to be at the King's side and seize some of the glory for himself and her. She encourages Judah to accept that Jesus's reign will be an earthly one;For a while, Simonides and Esther believe Judah and Iras will be married. Toward the end of the book we discover she has a secret liaison with Messala. In fact, she may well have been part of the conspiracy to have Judah killed after the chariot race. We see more of her true motivations when she breaks up with Judah and attempts to extort money from him for Messala;Also, Judah is not the "I don't believe in violence" Judah we see in the 1959 movie; Judah is not above violence--we see it when he kills the soldier during the time the Jews were protesting. Moreover, Judah, even before he is sent to the galleys, wanted to train in Rome to learn how to fight and defeat the Romans by using what he's learned against them. Judah's belief that "The King of the Jews," the Christ, will have an earthly reign, is the motivation behind him raising, funding, and training soldiers to fight for Jesus to free the Jewish people. Even when his friend, Balthazar, tries to dissuade him and tells him that his kingdom is not of this world. Judah believes Jesus will proclaim himself "King," and will need soldiers to protect him. Judah goes ahead and raises several legions and gets them trained in preparation for the day Jesus will announce himself as King. It is only as Jesus is being crucified that Judah realizes the truth; I really like the book version of Miriam and Tirzah's being cured of leprosy. The servant Amrah, not Esther, gets the women from the leper's dwelling and is the one who takes them to find Jesus. The healing of the two women is very much like the healing of the lepers in the Bible. Also, I liked that Judah didn't even recognize his mother and sister until after they were healed;One thing I didn't discuss, above, was some of the motivation for Judah's persecution by the Romans. In the book Simonides is seized and tortured to reveal the location of the Ben-Hur family money. Simonides just keeps telling them that it's his money. Putting the women in prison and sending Judah to the galleys gets them out of the way while the Romans try to discover how to get their hands on all that money. "Breaking the Fourth Wall" Technique: This is the firstway you can use the technique--to let the reader knowthat the work is fiction. That is not the reason Lew Wallaceused the technique in, Ben-Hur.(3) Breaking the Fourth Wall: This is a literary technique used when the author (or some- times a character) in the story directly addresses you with a comment about the story or what is going on. The author may have a number of reasons for using this technique in a story. One would be to let the reader know that the story is fiction. Some people think this technique breaks the realism of the story. Lew Wallace, the author, far more likely used the technique in, Ben Hur, as a way to include the reader in the story; to help make the reader part of it, so to speak. It would be as if you were sitting around, say, a campfire and someone started telling you a story, and then said to you something like, "And, here's the real scary part!" There is an illusion that the hearer is included in the story; you suspend your disbelief, set it aside for the duration of the story. \ Frankly, at the very beginning of the book, Wallace's technique disconcerted me, a bit. So, maybe the technique does break the realism, sometimes. Then, again, maybe not. After I saw the "direct address" to me a few times, I just accepted it. I was able to set that feeling aside and just go with the story. That is the risk Lew Wallace took, here. He had subject matter that most people would find needed to be treated traditionally, with respect, and the way they expected it to be. For Wallace to challenge the traditional exposition of religious themes in a way that included the reader must have been challenging. But Wallace gives us time to accept our role in the story, and he uses the technique in an almost casual and offhand manner. I've seldom seen this technique so effectively used in any book, as Lew Wallace does in, Ben-Hur. In any event, by the time the reader gets to the part where Judah and company see Jesus' suffering (on Golgotha), you feel their horror and sorrow. The "Breaking the Fourth Wall" technique (or sometimes called "direct address") also worked very well to make the scene with Miriam and Tirzah finding Judah asleep on the steps of their old house very poignant and emotive. This is an awesome book, and for all the wonderful reasons I've stated, above, I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 stars.
Is not his the law, Eye for eye, hand for hand, foot for foot? Oh, in all these years I have dreamed of vengeance, and prayed and provided for it, and gathered patience from the growing of my store, thinking and promising, as the Lord liveth, it will one day buy me punishment of the wrong-doers?Who's in for a revenge tale set in the first century a.C.?Ben-Hur is a man who's perfectly happy. He has a mother and a sister who love him, and he's friends with a Roman, and that puts him in a position of privilege. All is well until one day he killed a Roman governor. It was an accident, but no one believes him. He's desperate, yet he can do nothing.But wait, he has a friend – Messalla - who can help him. Too bad he betrays him and sends him to the galleys in a life sentence.Obviously, Ben-Hur is angry. His life has been completely ruined. He will never get to see his family again because the passage to the galleys is a one-way ticket.By some turns of events – call them fate or luck - the ship in which he worked sank and he managed to get out and save a governor. Saving that governor gained him a great price: Fortune. Now, with money, his hatred turns to a desire of revenge and he's willing to make Messalla pay for what he did.All of the above may make the book sound like some epic tale of revenge, perhaps as epic as The Count of Monte Cristo. Well, it wasn't.Let me tell you how the book starts: Part 1 of the book is a complete recollection of Jesus' birth. It's even more detailed than in the Bible. Well, to be honest, that would not have been so bad if it weren't for the writing.The writing gave me many, many headaches. It was T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. Look at this passage, for example: A moment they looked at each other; then they embraced—that is, each threw his right arm over the other’s shoulder, and the left round the side, placing his chin first upon the left, then upon the right breast.Do you think it's necessary that amount of detail? I mean, I understand they hugged, but I need not a description of how a hug is. That's excessive. Now imagine 500 pages of descriptions like those. A nightmare, isn't it?Not only is the writing like that. The author also assumes the reader is stupid. I couldn't find the quote, but there's a line at the beginning in which the author basically says: “I know you don't know anything about history, so I'll tell you something: Before Jesus was born, time was not measured by how many years had passed since his birth. That's because he didn't exist yet.”Isn't it a little obvious? If the man who's used as reference for measuring years has not been born yet, how can you use his birth as reference? It's called logic, Mr. Wallace. You don't need to be an historian to know that.Also, the writing was bland, boring and stiff. Here's your proof: “What has happened? What does it all mean?” she asked, in sudden alarm.“I have killed the Roman governor. The tile fell upon him.”Doesn't it feel a little... lacking of emotion? I mean, if you kill someone important by accident, would you be so calm? Ben-Hur is supposed to be afraid, yet that passage doesn't make him sound like that. If anything, he sounds bored, like “Hey, look, the tile fell upon the Roman governor and I killed him! Bah, YOLO. Who cares?”There's this one too: Malluch looked into Ben-Hur’s face for a hint of meaning, but saw, instead, two bright-red spots, one on each cheek, and in his eyes traces of what might have been repressed tears (...)No emotions, right?Then, Wallace kept addressing the readers. I don't have a problem with that, but in this case, I hated it. Why? Because he did it in almost every page. I'm going to show you the ones I had enough patience to look for: The reader who recollects the history of Balthasar as given by himself at the meeting in the desert will understand the effect of Ben-Hur’s assertion of disinterestedness upon that worthy.Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Show me Ben-Hur is disinterested. I want to feel him disinterested. I don't want you telling me. Here's an advice for you, Mr. Wallace: Show, not tell. He fell to thinking; and even the reader will say he was having a vision of the woman, and that it was more welcome than that of Esther, if only because it stayed longer with him (...)No, you cannot tell what I was thinking at that moment. In fact, when I read that line I was wondering what the dinner was going to be. If the reader will take a map of Greece and the AEgean, he will notice the island of Euboea lying along the classic coast like a rampart against Asia, leaving a channel between it and the continent quite a hundred and twenty miles in length, and scarcely an average of eight in width.See? I was so damn tired of it after 20 pages! And this block has more than five. Hundred. Pages!There's also the religious plot. I thought it would not bother me, but in the end, it did. I'll show you why:Exhibit A: “Who's Jesus?” Where was the Child then?And what was his mission? Yes, Wallace made a big mystery about Jesus. I said he assumes the reader is stupid. Here's one example of that: He tries to thrill the reader into the mystery as to who the Mesiah is. Please, you don't have to be Catholic to know who's the great Mesiah in that religion. Everyone knows that!Exhibit B: “Believe in God, or else you go to Hell.”This was not a revenge tale. This was a redemption tale. I knew that from the beginning because I've watched the movie thousands of times (and the name of the book makes it obvious) and I know the story as I know my house, so I didn't expect to get angry at that. What got me was that basically, the message Wallace gives you is the one I wrote as exhibit B: If you don't pray, then you're a bad person. We all know that's not necessarily true. But I'll stop talking about that here.At the beginning of this review, I said this could have been EPIC. And indeed, it had all the chances of being so; I mean, it's a REVENGE tale. I love those, so I was expecting to like this, but what I got was an overdose of BOREDOM. Really, you could change the name of the book to "Ben-Dull: A Tale of Tediousness".In the end, this book was bad. I do not understand why it has such a high average rating (to be exact, it has, at this moment, an av. rating of 4.00 stars with 21,073 ratings and 469 reviews). Is there something wrong with me?. I don't get very suspicious about high ratings when we're talking about classics, but this book has made me learn the lesson: That a book is a classic doesn't mean you can trust the hype.Oh, and may I tell you something else? The movie was better.The movie better than the book. Can you believe it? No, of course you can't. It's always the book better than the movie, but trust me, that's not the case with this book.Now, pay attention to the following quote. It's the ending paragraph of the book: If any of my readers, visiting Rome, will make the short journey to the Catacomb of San Calixto, which is more ancient than that of San Sebastiano, he will see what became of the fortune of Ben-Hur, and give him thanks. Out of that vast tomb Christianity issued to supersede the Caesars.If you go there, make sure you thank Ben-Hur, or else, Wallace can get angry.P.S.: Want to have some good laughs? Look at my infinite status updates. They'll make your day.
Do You like book Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ (2005)?
"Ben Hur" is a novel in the style of the historical epic format that was popular in the late 19th Century. Written by Lew Wallace, a General in the Union Army during the Civil War, the novel is an attempt for Wallace to connect to Christ using the worldview of a soldier. Set in Ancient Rome, it's the story of Judah Ben Hur, a Jewish nobleman who is swept up in the Jewish insurgency that was on the rise in the time of Christ. Ben Hur becomes a slave on a Roman Galley, and during a naval battle he rescues the Roman Captain after the ship is sunk, and who returns the favor by bringing Ben Hur to Rome. There, Ben Hur uses his soldier skills as a charioteer in the Roman Coliseum. Ben Hur is a man who lives halfway between the Roman world and his Jewish world, two worlds who are at war during his lifetime. Ben Hur tries to reconcile these worlds using his skills as a warrior, but ultimately his desires are fulfilled only when he comes face to face with the Christ.One thing that the reader has to understand about "Ben Hur" is that it is a novel that is written as part historical epic and part religious devotional novel. Lew Wallace, a soldiers by profession but a Christian by belief, uses this novel to bring his two worlds together, just as Ben Hur tries to reconcile his Jewish heritage with his immersion in the Roman world. Wallace is also a bit of what I like to call "the painter", a novelist who indulges his passion for the background of the novel by lavishing the novel with lots of descriptions of places and events. Wallace obviously was an admirer of Roman culture, and it shows in this novel. But the reader can learn a lot from this novel. If nothing else, it is a great example of character development in a setting of clashes between two cultures. It's also an exciting voyage into the Roman world at the time of Christ. I would highly recommend it.
—Walter
The first sign that I should not have read this book was the discrepancy in hours between the abridged and unabridged versions on audible. Unabridged: 21 hours, Abridged: 3 hours. I bought it anyway and soon discovered why. There's about 15% story and 85% fluff in Ben Hur. It is, hands down, the best argument for editing I have ever read. For example, there was a section in the beginning where two men embraced. That's all we need to know, right? No, no. Of course not. We have to hear that they threw their right arm around each other, keeping the left to the side as was custom at that time. They then touched chins to each other's shoulder, withdrew and did the same thing on the other side all the while smiling and wishing each other well.That might not seem so bad. But when every facet of every scene is so unrelentingly explored, it gets old real quick.The book proceeds for the next four hours to retell the birth of Jesus in painstaking detail. Want to know what kind of trimming lined each of the wise men's shawls? Then READ THIS BOOK.The moment that really made me want to stop reading was when the author admitted how exhaustive his story was. When finally introduced to Ben Hur in hour five, he decided to take a moment to describe the rise and fall of Herod and the ensuing political uprisings. With all of this detail behind he said, "The reader shall be spared a full chapter on Jewish politics." Spared? Are you kidding? You realize how boring your book is, don't you?Ug. I'll keep going, but I'm not happy about it.November 23rd: Just can't do it.
—Christian McKay
A great book, if you have the patience. Lots of chapters exist just to give historical background, so don't expect something as fast-paced as the movie version; however, some parts of this book are simply amazing. The chariot race is one of the most exciting passages in all of literature (George Lucas' pod race can't even touch it), and the passages about leprosy are some of the most heart-rending. It also does a great job of painting a clear picture of who exactly Jesus was, as well as showing us the unique context in which the people of Israel viewed him at the time--as somebody who they felt would liberate them from Roman subjugation. It's a difficult read, but Wallace is a poetic writer and Ben-Hur is the kind of Christian novel that's nearly impossible to find anymore: namely, it respects the readers' intelligence by not sermonizing on the various morals it is attempting to convey. Whether or not Ben-Hur's vengeance is justified is merely hinted at rather than expounded upon. Most Christian authors lack that kind of subtlety. Wallace was also incredibly knowledgeable about his subject matter, and this book is as well-researched as a James Clavell novel. After Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, it is probably the most vivid and realistic rendering of Jesus I know of, and the scene of His crucifixion carries with it a great deal of emotional heft. The only real problems I have with the novel are that the romance element is not particularly believable, and the story contains a lot of all-too-convenient coincidences, though those can probably be written off as being part of God's ultimate plan. Sure, the movie is a classic, but read the book first if at all possible.
—John
