The Gospel of Corax: A Novel

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Summary: The Gospel of Corax
Review: 2,000 years ago, a Roman-born slave named Corax escapes Rome after either: 1) his master kills himself; or 2) he kills his master (we're never told which one is absolutely true). Corax journeys to Palestine and becomes renowned as a healer and shifty miracle man. He encounters Jesus (known as "Jeshua"), steals his money, escapes from many evil, violent slave-chasers (who are after him for the crime of killing his master), and then journeys with Jeshua towards the area of the Far East, which is now known as the Himilayas. I disliked this book intensely. The writing style is as heavy and gray as boulders, and the author goes to GREAT lengths to describe bodily discharges, to make it sound "honest." About 90% of the story is LENGTHY descriptions of either the land traveled through, or deteriorating broken human bodies, with extensive references to all kinds of ancient "gods," and very little interesting interaction amongst the main characters. Park introduces about 20 vocabulary words of ancient reference, which he never defines, which is frustrating. The author seems to take pride in reversing every single myth about Jesus, just for the sake of doing just that, and gives zero insight into Jesus's character, or growth. I was extremely disappointed and annoyed.

Rating:
Summary: Novel Approach from the Good News of Corax
Review: An intriguing and fascinating novel of the spiritual development of two outsiders journeying to salvation beyond the reaches of the Roman Empire. Parks writes a fantastic story of the developing friendship and respect of two outcasts whose inimical paths crossed badly until their hostile relationships began to serve one another's interests.

Corax and Jeshua share their deepest emotions, without much talk, and spiritually advance from their physical and mental clashing as they both elude and endure captivity in their odyssey of faith.

Corax's spiritual quest provides a vehicle for expanding the Essene background of Jeshua, who followed his cousin John into the ascetic fold and who had to flee Judea prior to his public life, due to his being a misfit and an alien Galilean. How wonderful it is to know that Jeshua's humanity and his failing could lead him to such faith and strength. This is the message of Park's novel. That the strenth and toughness of the messenger was required for the strength of the message.

This novel projects the message of the more common gospels, by recounting the actual events (in the novel) which led to Jeshua's spiritual revivfication and revelation.

The Gospel of Corax is highly recommended by a Christian clergyman as a sensitive, insightful, work. Far from being iconoclastic or heretic the novel gives substance, experience and intelligence to the educational and spiritual growth of Jesus during the unrecorded years before his emergence as a spiritual, religious and political force in the Empire of the Caesars.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting journey through ancient lands
Review: I almost threw this book away after about 50 pages, being a Christian and all, because it portrays Jesus, at first, as a hulking member of a gang of murderers and John the Baptist as a degenerate. That's a bit much. But I have an interest in the ancient lands where the story was to unfold, acoording to the flyleaf, and I know that some authors take a while to hit their stride. And indeed the writing gets better and better as one proceeds, as the author takes us through obscure lands of the east at the time of Christ, sprinkling his story with obscure characters from historical writings, for example those of Josephus. Dusty ancient beliefs and philososphies are brought to life through energetic characters we meet along the way. The ending seems a bit arbitrary, but at least there is a lot of action.