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The Year That Changed the World

  I like historical fiction. If writers do their homework, they can make a historical period come alive with details. Colin Duriez’s book AD 33 – The Year that Changed the World has no shortage of such details. Duriez manages to capture many of the important moments of AD 33, especially Jesus’ death and resurrection. Duriez’s book seeks to explain some of the reasons why this year was so important, and how it changed the world.

AD 33 starts off with an exciting first chapter that pits Tiberius Caesar against those seeking to overthrow his reign. Duriez quotes liberally from ancient historians and philosophers, and he demonstrates great command of the period.

But within a few chapters, the very details that were brimming with excitement bog the book down. By the middle of the book, I felt as if I were plodding along in a historical textbook. Perhaps, that is the problem with his book. The content is great, but it seems the author didn’t know which genre to pursue. Instead of going in one direction (historical fiction, versus historical textbook), he tries to bring together several genres and winds up not succeeding at any of them.

The most interesting chapter for me was the Appendix, which demonstrated how the author came to the conclusion that Jesus was crucified in AD 33. I remain somewhat skeptical as to the author’s conclusion, but the evidence he lays out and the logic he uses is persuasive.

Overall, AD 33 was somewhat disappointing. I would love to see someone do a book similar to this that compares Jesus’ Kingdom to Rome’s imperial power.

written by Trevin Wax. © 2007 Kingdom People Blog

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