Taylor Caldwell, the original very popular Taylor of the 1940s, stated that she and her husband researched 1,000 books and spent over 40 years in the writing of the great Christian, historical novel about Luke, the author of his eponymous Gospel and the book of Acts, and traveling companion of the Apostle Paul.

I first read this novel over 50 years ago and my wife has read and re-read it twice in the past year. We obviously recommend it to the readers of my blog. Caldwell is Roman Catholic so the novel does echo this view of Christianity though it is not a Catholic polemic in any way. It is a fictionalized account of Luke’s (called Lucanus in the book) life adeptly woven into what we know of him from the Bible and Church history. It is a tragic and triumphant story of the sacrifice many people made to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the first few centuries of the Church.

Why do I mention this here? Because of this footnote Caldwell included in her novel on page 410 concerning the three hours of darkness that occurred during Jesus’ crucifixion.

“An enormous earth quake occurred at this hour in Nicaea. In the fourth year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, Phlegon wrote that “a great darkness” occurred all over Europe which was inexplicable to the astronomers. The records of Rome, according to Tertullian, made note of a complete and universal darkness, which frightened the Senate, then meeting, and threw the city in to an anxious turmoil, for there was no storm and no clouds. The records of Grecian and Egyptian astronomers show that this darkness was so intense for a while that even they, skeptical men of science, were alarmed. People streamed in panic through the streets of every city, and birds went to rest, and cattle returned to their paddocks. But there is no note of an eclipse; no eclipse was expected. It was as if the sun had retreated through space and had been lost. Mayan and Inca records also show this phenomenon, allowing for the difference in time.”

My wife has also recently read and re-read “A Crown of Life: A Novel of the Great Persecution” by Brian Patrick Mitchell a protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who holds a PhD in theology from the University of Winchester; an MTh in Orthodox studies, also from Winchester; and a BA in English literature from the University of Cincinnati (whose football team, the Bearcats, will be playing our beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers in Arrowhead stadium tomorrow Aug. 28 at 8:00pm. Also rumored to be in attendance will be Bearcat football alumni Jason and Travis Kelce along with his newly announced Fiancée Taylor Swift. Go Huskers!)

“A Crown of Life” is a tender yet heartrending story of what a young, wealthy woman endured for the sake of Christ. We recommend these excellently written and always engrossing novels for the young adult or mature Christian in your life who needs to understand what being a Christian often entails.