A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion

Why Do We Recommend This Book? 

A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion is a well written story of historical fiction with an engaging plot, following the life of a Jewish slave in the household of a Roman centurion in the first century AD. While entertaining the modern reader with an interesting story, as a New Testament scholar Gary M. Burge exposes the reader to a lot of historical background of New Testament times. Throughout the story the reader learns a great deal about the Roman army, Roman and Jewish values, Jewish life, certain biblical places, the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and much more. All this background information helps place the Gospel narratives in their original cultural setting. Moreover, the Logos edition has many full-color images that trigger our imaginations about ancient life in New Testament times. 

As a matter of course choices have to be made in fictional stories and as such this book gives a perspective on ancient life in biblical times. Read this book as a snapshot of what the life of a Jewish slave and a Roman centurion could have looked like, allowing for other perspectives as well.

Below is a video interview with professor Burge:

If you are interested in similar historical fiction, see also from the same series: