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.
as part of our nightly family worship. It's a fun little book intended to be read around the Advent season (Yes, we've missed this window by a few weeks, but it's still a good read.) The writing isn't always perfect, the theology can be a little wonky from time to time (with an Arminian edge), and some of the "cliff-hangers" can be a little bit contrived, but otherwise it's a fairly fun read. And while some of the thematic material might be a little bit creepy for younger readers, Ytreeide does do a nice job with some of the historical realism with details about the Roman occupation, the Dead Sea, the Essenes, etc. A section each night makes for a nice part of family worship time during the Christmas season.
