Batholomew's Passage

My review of Batholomew's Passage, a book we read recently during the Christmas season.  It's themed around Advent, which I don't get big into (feels too much of works righteousness) but the book was ok:

We read through this as a family during the Christmas season, and while it's a tame adventure story inter-woven with Biblical places and characters, it also tends to feature plentiful eye-rolling sequences that really push the boundaries of plausibility (I realize the author was aiming for a cliff-hanger after each section, but some of these were just ridiculous: avoiding snake pits, nearly being trampled by Romans, fleeing along the top of aqueducts, etc.)  Another point of contention would be some of the grimace-worthy bad theology nestled into the story (p.44 - "But the price of freedom is that He(God) has no control over some of the storms and tragedies we face."(!!)  That's a wacky Arminianism edging almost into the realm of deism (the kids and I had a good laugh at that part, though).  If you celebrate Advent and are looking for a mildly-entertaining yet flawed bit of reading for the kids, this is worth it.  Just use a little discretion with some of the wonky theology.