“The Day Christ Was Born/The Day Christ Died”, by Jim Bishop

544 pages, Galahad Books, ISBN-13: 978-0883658307

The Day Christ Was Born/The Day Christ Died by Jim Bishop is a special 1997 repackaging of two previously published books by the author: The Day Christ Was Born (first published in 1959) and The Day Christ Died (first published two years earlier, in 1957). While purporting to be histories, the author clearly takes a great many liberties; so many, in fact, that I would have classified both books as historical novels – though novels that prove to be pleasures to read and that provide a great deal to meditate on. The parts I found most interesting was the background information in regards to how the different factions interacted with one another, especially as to how the Jewish temple was organized and just how much power and money was behind the perceived threat that Jesus posed to the Great Sanhedrin. The material is a little dated in regards to current discoveries, and the wording is written for the World War II generation, but all-in-all both works are rather good reads, as can be taken from the last sentences: “The two Marys sat with their backs to the stone. They loved him and, in their love, they missed the enormous triumph; the new promise; the good news. They did not even notice that the sun was shining”.