Well,curiosity killed the cat so I got too curious for my own sake and ordered this book from amazon,thinking it sounds interesting & I always found the question about Jesus as historical person a very intriguing one. No previous idea about the author except this is SF story,approaching it with a completely open eyes & ears & heart. If it's true that artist's role is to upset and arouse emotions,well this guy certainly aroused mine - curiously so,since I always considered myself an atheist and was never member of any church or religion but still I was offended with portrait of Biblical characters in this story. (Ah yes,the story - neurotic and very annoying main character uses time machine to go back to Palestine 29AD where he encounters some famous Biblical personalities in a very different light than we usually imagined them). I asked myself why was I so angry with this unflattering portraits of Biblical people - and no matter how do I look at this question,from left,right,above and under, I always come to the same conclusion that this author simply sounds like somebody who offends simply because he can. You know,a petulant child spitting nasty words because it knows it will hurt you. Perhaps I don't completely accept Joseph,Mary and Jesus as historical characters but their story is familiar to me my whole life and maybe it got under my skin a little bit,who knows,however Michael Moorcock described them in a such negative way that I almost threw a book into the wall - I have never before experienced such a hatred toward the book,neither I wished to throw a book in a garbage after the reading,like this time. It did upset me - and quite a bit - actually surprising me in a process since I never thought I will be offended with such thing as blasphemy,but I was. Maybe we are conditioned to be religious or call it what you want, certain inner feelings are sacred to us and we like to treasure them. I am not talking about cheap commercial souvenirs I see everywhere in Jerusalem these days, I am talking about the writer who creates the storm by describing Biblical characters in a nasty,vulgar way. Perhaps I won't throw it in the garbage,but it will be safely pack away immediately. Further the better.
