Robert F. Bradley

The Centurion's Manuscript Robert F. Bradley

This book is a fictionalized treatment of the Gospel. A well-preserved manuscript is discovered, dating from the late first century A. D. It is written in the common Greek language of the eastern Roman provinces and purports to be an account of the life and acts of one Jeshua, written by a Roman centurion whose servant he had healed. This Jeshua was an itinerant Jewish preacher from the time of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius. After introductory statements by the archeologist, by a friend to whom he had entrusted the manuscript and by an expert on ancient manuscripts, there follows the legionary's own preface. He gives a brief biography of himself and his family origins at Rome and his career as a soldier, first in Gaul and then in Syria and Palenstine as an officer of the X Legion, Fretensis.

What follows is a synthesis of the four canonical gospels, combined into a single narrative, interspersed with copious questioning, analysis and commentary by the ancient writer. Deeply impressed by the healing of a beloved young servant, after retiring with the rank of military tribune he devoted the rest of his life to interviewing those who had known Jeshua and gathering their written accounts of this life and mission. His Roman viewpoint and military experience are antithetical to Jeshua's teaching, yet he has an undeniable attraction to that teaching. The beloved servant, once a slave, has been manumitted and serves as an amanuensis to the writer. Their joint effort has produced thje manuscript in question.

In the end the legionary admits the power and cogency of Jeshua's message and reluctantly accepts its meaning for himself. His servant, Demetrios, ends the manuscript with his own confession of belief, for, as he says, he had no doubt about Jeshua ever since the day he was healed of a virulent fever at the age of 14.