This is an unusual book in that it is written by a PhD in New Testament and is partly descriptive of the first century  army life as it intersected the life of Jesus. But most of the book is a work of fiction. The most unusual approach is that Burge chose to insert boxes of factual details within the story to explain detail references.

The story begins at the military base at Raphana and ends in Capernaum, a Jewish backwater village where the centurion, Albus, calls on Jesus to heal his much respected, if not loved, servant Tullus. Burge sticks close to the known facts of both the army and of the Gospel story, but is not afraid to expand the story with very likely characters and events.

It is a good story. For non-christians it would still be a good, informative, and enjoyable read. For Christians, it fleshed out a familiar Gospel reading.

Mike Lawrence