The Bronze Bow, by Elizabeth George Speare

A mountain in Galilee overlooking farmland. Much of The Bronze Bow takes place in this setting.

When I think about The Bronze Bow, by Elizabeth George Speare, I don't think of reading it. I think of living it. I was right there with the hero Daniel on the mountain above his village in Galilee, in the blacksmith forge in the village, and in the presence of Jesus, who is a character in this book. I had no consciousness of reading or of the writing. The writing dissolved into an experience of Daniel's journey into adulthood. The Bronze Bow is a hero journey--Daniel starts out as an angry adolescent, alienated, in hiding. As is typical of a hero journey, he undergoes trials and temptations, gains tools for his quest, and transforms into a strong man of love and understanding.

Here's Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus with his strangely
glowing gentile blue eyes. From King of Kings.

The book takes place at the time Jesus was preaching in Galilee--shortly before his journey to Jerusalem. As in Ben-Hur, a book also reviewed in this blog, the Jews of the time were looking for an earthly king to lead them in overthrowing their Roman occupiers. One of Daniel's friends is a Zealot named Simon, who has made it his mission bring freedom to the land. After fleeing his village, Daniel is befriended by another band of rebels led by the warlord-esque Rosh, who lives off the land (meaning he pillages the local farms and fields). Daniel believes that Rosh will be the one who throws off the Roman yoke.

The most important gift of Daniel's hero journey is a set of friends--Joel and Thacia. For the first time, Daniel has someone with which to share his hopes, his dreams, and his story. Daniel's life has been harsh, filled with violence, losses, and poverty. The camp of Rosh seems like luxury to him--plenty of food, a warm fire, a mission to perform. Joel and Thacia enlarge Daniel's view of the world and bring him face to face with some of his prejudices.

In addition to playing Jesus in King of
Kings, Jeffrey Hunter played an equally
intense James T. Kirk in the pilot episode
of Star Trek. Those limpid eyes!

Daniel's friend Simon invites Daniel to hear Jesus preach at the local synagogue. Jesus is somewhat romantically presented, like the Jesus portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter in the movie King of Kings. Even the camera seems to have its breath taken away whenever Jesus is shown in that film. In The Bronze Bow, Jesus has a magnetism about him, and a magical voice, and a huge amount of somewhat fevered charisma. In other words, he is not portrayed as a man, but as an already-god. As with Ben-Hur, Daniel wishes Jesus would use his powers to call together an army and to establish an earthly kingdom. Like Ben-Hur, Daniel must come to terms with the idea of a heavenly kingdom, a kingdom of the heart and soul.

I think Daniel's conversion is somewhat elided. It doesn't make logical sense in terms of the story. It sort of happens because it is supposed to happen, because if you meet Jesus it must happen. And, I know that religious conversion is not necessarily logical, but a novel must play itself out in certain ways and this one doesn't. However, that is the only flaw I find in this book, and less critical readers will probably be OK with Daniel's change of heart. And I was glad for it. He was so miserable. Still, how would his situation have been resolved in a purely Jewish context? People from all faith traditions deal with developmental crises. I guess it bothers me a little bit that the only solution presented for Daniel was Jesus. I worry that Christian writers don't fully take into account the seriousness and cultural dissonance of a conversion of a Jew to Christianity. It makes me a little queasy.

Daniel's sister is a weaver. The weaving seems to be her
way to bring order to her disordered psyche.

The book is deeply humanized by the character of Daniel's sister Leah. Her response to the losses and violence was withdrawal rather than anger. Over the course of the book, she is brought out, drawn out, by Daniel, by Thacia, by a Roman soldier, and eventually by Jesus, who cures her of her maladies. Her gradual reaching out into the world is beautifully drawn; and Daniel's relationship to her illuminates him also.

The Bronze Bow is a book rich with love and the conflicts that love sometimes brings about. How much sacrifice is too much sacrifice? How does being true to oneself relate to sacrifice? When is love not enough? What is healing? What is a commitment? These are big questions and they are addressed in this book. They are the questions of fine literature and so are appropriate to this fine book. I am still amazed that the writing in this book sort of disappeared in the experience it was describing. That's a huge accomplishment and I salute Elizabeth George Speare for it.

I have a few more books by Speare on my list. I'm very interested now in how they will strike me. Is the transparency of Speare's writing particular to The Bronze Bow? I can't wait to find out.

Ben-Hur, by Lew Wallace

This is the 1925 Ben-Hur.

Ben-Hur, by Lew Wallace (1880) is an odd duck of a book to be on my Eager Readers list, or so it seemed before I read it. But, it truly is a great story, told with currency and urgency and authenticity. I felt like I was right there with Ben-Hur in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in the stands at the chariot race. All in all, it was masterful story telling. And, it made no bones about being a Christian story, so it could be taken on its own terms. The book Ben-Hur is more concise than the movie, tighter, with less melodrama. Ben-Hur is much younger than the Heston portrayal. The main action is Ben-Hur’s vengeance and quest for his family. Everything is presented in that context.

Judah Ben-Hur is a young Jewish prince living in Jerusalem who is wrongly accused of an attack on a Roman official. His punishment is to row in the Roman galleys as a slave; his family and fortune are busted up. His childhood friend, Messala, is in league with the barely wounded procurator to steal everything the Ben-Hur family ever had. In a magnificent battle scene, Ben-Hur rescues a Roman general and is thereby rescued himself from slavery. He gains wealth and status from this adopted father.

Heston in Ben-Hur 1959, rowing in the galleys

Still, he cannot rest. He must find out what happened to his mother and sister. This quest ennobles Ben-Hur and is a story arc equal to and as important as Ben-Hur’s connection with “the Nazarene,” as they call the imminent Christ.

The story of Jesus is the second story arc. The reader travels with the Wise Men as they find and worship the Christ child. The two arcs are parallel—finding Jesus is sort of like finding your lost family, in the terms of this book; both are ways to find that elusive ideal called Home. And the one journey being concrete while the other is spiritual works very nicely. Ben-Hur and the remaining wise man (Balthasar) are present at the crucifixion, during which Ben-Hur is profoundly changed (and Balthasar is taken directly into heaven with Jesus). This transformation then enables Ben-Hur's earthly happiness, as it makes him acceptable to his childhood love, Miriam. The teachings of Jesus also erase the class differences between them and they are portrayed as living "happily ever after."

The portrayal of the Jewish struggle against Roman domination is a primary theme. Ben-Hur and his friends want a worldly king with armies and power. The desire to overthrow Rome is noble and necessary. They are courageous in their fight for freedom. But the Jews are also presented as having Jesus’s blood on them—they betrayed him to the Romans when he wasn’t the earthly king they wanted. Wallace curses all Jews for all time for betraying Jesus, an accusation that I do not find justified.

The book is a good read, interesting, engaging. Several sequences are riveting—the battle scene during which Ben-Hur escapes the galleys, the chariot race, the transformation of Ben-Hur’s mother and sister. I held my breath through the chariot race, even though I knew exactly how it turned out. I was impressed by how detailed it was—I really felt like I was there. And I wept with Mother and Tirzah as they were healed.

The 1959 film never showed Jesus' face--you
came to know him by the expression on Ben-
Hur's face--a wonderful film-making decision.

And, the story of Jesus is much stronger when seen through the eyes of Ben-Hur than it is when presented directly. Ben-Hur filters it and represents us in skepticism, wonder, and, finally, faith. What a masterful idea Wallace had to write the book in this way.

So, this book was great stuff. I remember liking it when I read it decades ago. And it has held up well. It’s a story of adventure, revenge, redemption, and love. And, it’s a story about an adult emerging from the turmoil of of a child's point of view. I highly recommend it.

Sidebar: Ben-Hur and the Hero Journey

This diagram is based on the work of Joseph Campbell.

If you've followed my blog, you know that tracing the role of the hero quest in the literature I'm reading is an underlying theme. I watch out for it because it is specified by Joseph Campbell (one of my personal heroes) as found in the stories and literature of almost every culture. How does a person grow up? The hero quest stories present the journey for us, demonstrating the pitfalls, dangers, diversions, and the great rewards of taking the path to enlightenment/full adulthood. Ben-Hur loses himself--his name and home are stripped from  him. He doesn't even own himself, as a galley slave. The book presents his struggle to find himself--by finding his courage, his cause, his family, his salvation. He acquires tools and gifts that he uses to complete his quest. What video game could want more? Christian game designers, what are you waiting for? This hero journey is ripe for the picking.

Sidebar: Lew Wallace

I love this quote by Lew Wallace--it's my dream, too. I found it at http://thinkexist.com/quotes/lew_wallace/.

"I know what I should love to do--to build a study; to write, and to think of nothing else. I want to bury myself in a den of books. I want to saturate myself with the elements of which they are made, and breathe their atmosphere until I am of it. Not a bookworm, being which is to give off no utterances; but a man in the world of writing--one with a pen that shall stop men to listen to it, whether they wish to or not."

The following link presents a brief history of Wallace's military career. He was a man of action as well as a writer. (I don't know why I don't think those things go together!): 

http://www.civilwarhome.com/wallacebio.htm