January 6 feature: The Bronze Bow

I fell in love with Elizabeth George Speare's storytelling ability with The Witch of Blackbird Pond, so I was interested to read The Bronze Bow, the Newbery Award winner of 1962. This is the story of orphaned Daniel, a 17-year-old Jewish boy living at the time of Jesus. Daniel's desire for revenge leads him swear an oath and  join a band of rebels dedicated to overthrowing the Romans. The book describes both the political climate of the time and the actual physical climate and landscape of Israel. As a Christian, it was an interesting fictional look at how some Jews wanted to view Jesus--as military general posed to deliver the Jews from the Romans. Over the course of the book, Daniel's encounters with Jesus lead him to a different view. My reservation with the book was that it doesn't focus on the grace that God gives. It has the tendency to look at Jesus only as a good teacher and not as the Savior. Nevertheless, I found myself wondering how I would have viewed Jesus had I lived during that point in history, a tribute to the author's engaging style.