The Damascus Way by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke. Published by Bethany House, 2011

The Damascus Way

By Davis Bunn & Janette Oke

2011 Bethany House Publishers

Third Book in Acts of Faith Series

The Centurions’s Wife, The Hidden Flame, and The Damascus Way all tell the story of the first century church beginning shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The stories are excellent because they take the short narratives about the responses of even the disciples of Jesus Christ and the years following that unimaginable event and flesh them out with both characters and the environments of that time period. 

I hope that you will take the time to read the complete series, although it is very possible to pick up the relationship of the characters that are tied throughout the series.  The difficult part for me to keep track was all of the geography, although through Bible studies mainly, I am familiar with Israel and some of the surrounding countries, but I am not as familiar with the smaller communities nor the trade routes which are so important in these stories. 

The Damascus Way is really the telling of the disbursement of the members of The Way (followers of Jesus Christ) that was growing so rapidly in Jerusalem.  The Sanhedrin started a program of persecution including jailing and killing whole families in order to try to stamp out this “cult” from the community of Jewish faithful believers.  GOD used this move to send His message through these faithful souls to more communities, not only those under Roman rule, but also with those with whom the Romans traded via the great merchant caravans. 

At the time of this story, Damascus had become Hellenized and was used as a Roman stronghold as well as one of the homes of a Herodian king, although he was not there very frequently.  Damascus was far enough away from Jerusalem, that the population was not dominated by the methods of the Sanhedrin and was more open to various religious philosophies.  Many of them accepted the teachings of The Way and overcame their skepticism of the exiles by the way they walked their talk. 

In this episode, we see the daughter of a merchant, Julia, become acquainted with people of The Way through her father’s business.  Unbeknownst to her, her mother is not the wife of the merchant, but a purchased concubine, although both of them are treated as royalty within the confines of their home because of his love for them.  His wife by contractual marriage and two sons live in Jerusalem.  Julia and her old servant become believers of The Way and she falls in love with Jacob, a young man that works for her father and proves himself not only a strong, smart, protective and useful employee, but was raised as a follower of The Way. 

This book is full of surprises, drama and dangers as were the times and places.  I would highly recommend it.