Thanks for the info on Paul’s armor. I guess I always think of that style of helm as Turkish for some reason.

As far as Mary, I guess I was wondering if you had gotten the idea from a theologian or a film. It seemed like something you would see in Roman Catholic thought. I don’t think it’s controversial, just caught me off guard. Thanks for the insight.

Book 1 (A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth) is dealing with a fictional Gospel written by….SPOILER ALERT….Joseph of Arimathea…END SPOILER ALERT. This provided me with the leeway to make creative choices to enhance and narrative with the end game being, that it was more even more dramatic and easier to understand for those who are not Church goers or Bible readers (the book’s target audience)…in the same sort of way Cecil B. De’Mille did with Exodus in his 10 Commandments Movie.

There’s no denying the formidable visual nature I established for Saul of Tarsus…who was known by the earliest followers of Christ, as “Saul the Persecutor.” Visually, I wanted to create a character that would fit that description and some of the speculative research on Saul/Paul, laid the groundwork for my developing him as someone who was not only physically imposing, but also scholarly and highly educated (which even today does not have to be mutually exclusive characteristics). And FYI…his outfit is more based upon visual interpretations of early Hebrew armor, rather than Turkish.

In regards to the Mary question…this has probably been the most controvercial aspect of my presentation over the years. But simply put, Mary’s appearance in the garden was another dramatic license I took to help illustrate the severe emotional state that Jesus must have been feeling the night before his “great sacrifice”. Rather than having him just sit and monolog for 4-5 pages, this “fictionalized” conversation allowed for the reader to better appreciate his state of mind and body (which was so stressed, he was sweating blood out of his pores).

And how I came up with it?…like alot of the creative directions I took on this series…it was the result of a lot of research, contemplation and even prayer.

But if that is too much for you to overcome, do what Ed suggested and begin with Book Two (Acts of the Spirit)…since all of the four books in the series can easily be read as stand alone!

Luedke, Glad to hear you will be making the revised volume 1 available in a print edition. That’s great news.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree on your representation of Paul. When he first appears in his Turkish solider hat and sword, I thought, “That’s one tough looking guy.” He’s no Conan, but he still looks like he can hold his own in your average fight. But toughness is in the eye of the beholder.

I do want ask about your choice to include Mary into the Garden of Gethsemane. I’ve never seen that before in any retellings of the Gospel. How did you come up with that idea? I’m really fascinated by it.

Many public libraries in conservative areas (like mine) are desperate for high quality gn that we can point to to “balance” a perceived anti-Christian, anti-traditional morality tone of much of the adult gn available. But scanned pages and gross spelling errors are not going to fill the bill.

Thanks for your review of the series, and I just wanted to add a bit to it.

First of all, the issues about the first book in the series (A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth) have been “painfully” well documented since the month it was released back in 2004…and they served as lessons learned about value of not rushing a project to market prior to extra rounds of editing (which you noted in books 2-4). To fix these issues we did release a REVISED edition of book 1, which did both clean up the editorial mishaps and totally remastered the colors (to better match up with the rest of the series). That edition is currently available through our website (headpress.info) as a PDF download or through a couple different applications for iphone & ipad.

Secondly, in regards to Paul…yes, my take is unique and that’s a good thing, since I was attempting to insert him within the Gospel narrative much earlier than the Bible source and presenting him as I did helped to explain that dramatic choice. But that being said, I never really suggested he had “military training” and spent significant time “developing his physique”…my assumption is that a great percentage of men living in the 1st century were probably quite a bit more physically fit then their 21st century counterparts given the world in which they lived (and FYI…Paul didn’t really buff up in the series until his years spent alone in the wilderness after his encounter with the risen Jesus). I did go to lengths to establish Paul’s educational/spiritual background and if you go back and re-read the material, he never really is “using the sword”, rather commanding those who are.

But overall, I really appreciated your thoughtful take on the series on thee whole!