Book Review: A.D. 30

Title: A.D. 30
Author: Ted Dekker
Website: https://www.teddekker.com/ad-30

Imagine what it must have been like to live when Jesus was walking on the Earth. Imagine what your day to day existence would have been like if you were a Bedouin or a Jew.

Not so easy, is it? We have all of the accounts from the Bible telling us what Jesus did during his ministry, but they are concise descriptions of the events. The early Christians that first read those accounts would have known and understood the context in which the events took place, only a few years earlier. But for us living 2000 years later, it is a lot harder to really understand what it was like. Fortunately brilliant story teller Ted Dekker comes to our rescue!

In A.D. 30 he tells the story of Maviah, a daughter of a Bedouin sheikh, that sets out on an epic journey to restore the honour of her people. Her journey takes her to ancient Palestine, where she is just as much an outsider as we are as readers. She tries to make sense of the stories she hears about Jesus, a mystic of a strange culture. And then she meets Jesus, in the flesh, and her whole existence is transformed by the experience!

This book provides a new perspective on the well known accounts of Jesus’ ministry. We get to know the main characters quite well. And so by the time that the Biblical events happen to them, it feels like we are really there too. And we get a glimpse of how revolutionary Jesus’ teachings were to the Jews of the time.

A fascinating journey, and well worth a read!