Editor’s Note: The Last Apostle is a book by Short Fiction Break regular contributor, Cory Barnett. We are posting the book one chapter at a time. A new chapter will go up every Saturday morning. Below (following the Preface) you will find links to all the chapters before they go live. If you enjoy the book, please share it with friends!
PREFACE TO THE LAST APOSTLE
By Cory Barnett
This book is historical fiction. Maybe I should be more specific and say that this book (this series of short stories) are fiction, loosely based on some historical facts.
I am sure that the studied scholars will find things in the book that they disagree with. So let me repeat.
This book is historical fiction.
I love the story of Paul. More than because it is a Bible story. Because it is a really great story, with heroes, villains, and villains turned into heroes.
And most commonly all we ever hear are the cold facts. He went here, he did this, and then this happened to him.
And I tired of reading facts about him.
I wanted to imagine what it must have been like to be a devout Jew turned follower of Christ. What would make someone like him change direction so dramatically?
We detach ourselves from the events because we are reading cold dead history.
We lose the impact of what it may have been like to be executed by people throwing rocks and boulders at you. What thoughts go through a person experiencing ship wrecks, demonic people, being arrested, making and losing great friendships, etc.
I wrote this book for anyone that wants to visualize the life of Paul in a third dimension.
And then I encourage you to not stop with this book. See for yourself. Dig into the Bible and read the story of Paul. I hope reading it causes you to be amazed by him as much as I am.
Read it and enjoy it. Remember…historical FICTION.
I hope this book helps you fall in love with Paul and the story of his life like I have.