About the Book:
Elizabeth Barnes, a brilliant agnostic scientist, recovers and uses DNA from a legendary burial cloth - the Sudarium - to impregnate herself and give birth to a clone of Christ, creating chaos for her daughter and the world. When the identity of this 30-year-old woman cloned from Jesus is revealed, the media go wild, and people everywhere react. Her name is Jennifer, and she is not exactly a poster child for the Church. She has lesbian friends, uses he/she pronouns for God, and fights against domestic violence. The saying 'You're a child of God' takes on new meaning as her life is put in danger, she starts to fall for an FBI agent, and global conflict between religions escalates.
Sudarium explores what it means to live with integrity and courage as a person of faith. It disrupts stale views about gender among Christians and invites its readers to pursue their spirituality with fresh eyes in the context of radically loving oneself and others.
My Review:
This novel is more of an exploration of theological concepts than it is an action packed thriller focusing on the DNA of Jesus. I thought initially Jennifer would have unique characteristics considering she had the DNA of Jesus but she seemed somewhat a regular human. The plot deals quite a bit with what it means to have Jesus in us and we being in Jesus. There is also a good exploration of prayer, healing and miracles. Other issues I thought interesting was a bit on the gender of God.
The most interesting issues in the novel was a group of people trying to hasten the Second Coming by creating events that would cause Jesus to return. That led to a good deal of suspense near the end.
This would be a good novel for a faith based book discussion group. There would be plenty to discuss. I recommend this novel, not as a thriller but as one that would generate thought and discussion on a number of theological topics.
My rating: 4/5 stars.
About the Author:
Chuck Shelton is the CEO of Greatheart Consulting, and a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary (MA in Social Ethics). As one of the world’s few experts on engaging and equipping white executives and their mix of colleagues to lead more inclusively, he's been interviewed and given more than 400 talks, including TV and radio. He lives in Issaquah, WA.
Roundfire Books, 320 pages.
I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)
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