phyllish
Written on Sep 4, 2018
A Story of An Overcoming Faith
My rating is 4.5 stars
Rome at the time of Nero was a hotbed of intrigue, treachery, corruption, and violence. For the Christians, it was worse. Timos was torn between succumbing to his great fear and surrendering His cares to Christ.
Based on a prominent historical figure, Praetorian Prefect Sextus Burrus, Deep Calling Deep examines the life of a man close to Emperor Nero and ponders what his life might have been like and how he might have reacted to exposure to the prisoner, Paul.
Timothy, nicknamed Timos, was the other main character in the story. I loved the way the author showed him as fallible, a young man who experienced fears and doubts in the face of persecution. Hmm. Maybe a little bit like I can be at times. If you are at all like me, then perhaps you have always assumed that because he was so close to Paul, he was a strong man who never wavered. Yet if that was the case, then Paul wouldn’t have charged him to pursue faith or to fight the good fight of the faith and take hold of eternal life in his first letter to him.
The story was immersed in Scripture and gave glimpses of what it might have looked like for Paul to be under house arrest. And what life might have been like for the early Christians there in Rome. It gave hope and showed how to have peace in the midst of trials.
I was tempted to look up some of the Romans from the book while I was reading to see what happened to them, but restrained myself. I’m glad I did because it meant that I was surprised at the ending. I loved reading the author’s notes at the end and learning a few more details about Sextus.
This review was originally posted on Among the Reads
I would like to thank Carole Towriss for giving me a copy of this book. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.