"The Farce of the Millenia"

In THE UNSPOKEN POWER OF ROME, Benning presents by way of a work of historical fiction what he presents upfront to the reader as his own historical thesis about the life of Christ - that Christ did not in fact die on the cross. The book begins with the appointment of Pontius Pilate as governor of Judea, and follows Biblical events to the supposed death of Christ. I intend to discuss the book on a number of levels, including evaluating Benning's historical arguement and whether the book succeeds as a piece of historical fiction. I would like to state up front that if you are a Christian who dislikes having their beliefs questioned, then this is most definately NOT the book for you.

First, I would like to evaluate the historical thesis presented by Benning. Part of the reason that I elected to review this book was that I am a gradutate student in ancient history, and was slightly intrigued to see how exactly he made his argument. I have to admit that I am rather disapointed. First, I would like to point out why I am treating this work of fiction as a historical argument. Benning says from the first pages of his work that his intent is to prove one thing, namely that Jesus did not die on the cross, although in fact his thesis is much more involved than this. Also, the majority of historical fiction takes real circumstances and events and places fictional characters in those contexts. For that type of historical fiction, a great deal of leeway should be allowed the author. Benning, however, has taken the characters of Pontius Pilate, John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth and placed words in their mouths and assigned motivations to them. This should not be done lightly, nor without evidence. Evidence is the one point where I felt Benning's work to be truly lacking. His justification for undermining a religion consists of a bibliography of half a page, and no reputable secondary scholarship, although he claims to have done extensive research. The vast majority of his citations come from the gospel of the Bible, where Benning has chosen to highlight and ignore pieces of different books to suit his thesis. He addresses discrepancies in the Bible claiming to choose those versions which make the most sense. Unfortunately, this is not an entirely sound method of evaluating even the most specious of ancient sources.

Benning presents an elaborate conspiracy by Pontius Pilate. John the Baptist, and later Jesus of Nazarath were in fact sponsored by Pontius Pilate in an attempt to subvert the Hebrew people from within. Both are dissillusioned with the Hebrew faith. Jesus in particular is portrayed as a selfish man, willing to manipulate and decieve his people - willfully allowing them to draw the false conclusion that he is the son of God and performing fake miracles, culminating in resurrection - which was possible because he did not die on the cross. In theory, this could be an interesting hypothesis. Benning has no evidence of these assertations, however, only an elaborate game of what if that he plays based on a handful of references from the Bible, and what he percieves as the purpose of the teachings of Jesus - to subdue the Hebrew people, force them to bow to the authority of Rome, and pay their taxes. Without evidence of any Roman collusions, this is not the historical argument that Benning presents it as - it is an elaborate game of what that promotes a specious argument.

On purely literary terms, I found the book to be somewhat average. There were a number of particulary typographical errors that jumped out at me, which was somewhat detractory. The writing felt somewhat stilted, and it took me nearly a hundred pages to get involved in the book, even as I was somewhat interested to see how Benning developed his argument. His characterization, despite the leeway taken with historical characters, comes off as somewhat uneven and not always understandable. For the discerning reader who is looking to read what could be an interesting take on history and will not be offended by the assertions within, this is a fairly interesting book. By and large, however, this is not a book that I would recommend, especially to anyone of Christian faith who is easily offended.

Reviewed by Bonnie Rock
Posted January 27, 2003

Summary

This book is an historical novel that takes place in the first century A.D. during the Roman occupation of Judea. The author introduces a remarkable theory postulating a heavy and direct Roman involvement in the formation of the early Christian movement. The perspective is realistic and representative of the people and times. Every word and page in this novel builds towards an amazing climax of one of the most important and potentially misunderstood events in the history of the world. The proposed theory is well formed - intrinsically supported by a flood of revealing evidence in the epilogue and footnotes throughout the book. "The Unspoken Power of Rome" sheds new light on the early days of Christianity and the motivation behind its beginning.