Yeshu: A Novel for the Open-Hearted

In this lyrical, Quaker retelling of the New Testament saga, readers are invited in to experience the resonant silences in the written record by joining the storytelling carpenter Yeshu, his young neighbors Daavi and Shoshana, and a band of fellow Jewish seekers as they travel through wilderness, village, and city in search of what is divine and what it means to be human. Brimming with adventure, laughter, and natural beauty, the quest they share forever alters their lives, and still impacts ours.
The brother and sister who are the eyes and ears of this telling step out of the obscurity of history to show us that the meaning of the public story we thought we knew eludes us until our personal story makes it our own. Before Daavi can take his first footstep at Yeshu’s side, Shoshana goes mysteriously missing, leading him on a search to save her that puts his own soul in the balance during his journeys with Yeshu and beyond.
When the novel opens, Daavi is a young lad helping out in his neighbor Yeshu’s workshop. He hands the carpenter tools and fetches him water from the village well. In return, Yeshu tells Daavi stories. Over time they forge a friendship that is deepened by the arrival of Yeshu’s second cousin Yohanan, who wanders the wilderness, emerging from time to time to sing praises of the natural world and baptize seekers of the spirit. Among those seekers are the “lost soul” Maria Magdalena and the exuberant Thunder Brothers, James and John. They treat the lad as their equal, and he blossoms in what will become enduring friendships.
The transformative impact of Yeshu’s teachings and example are illuminated in the dilemmas facing Daavi and his friends, and in the choices they make and avoid. They are challenged to embrace all living creatures as sacred, and the role of family and community are pitched against responsibility for the destiny of society. Each of them must answer their questions personally, and Daavi’s lifelong road to clarity of insight and effective action is neither level nor straight.
This book was written for readers, and listeners, of all ages and spiritual backgrounds.
This book was written for readers, and listeners, of all ages and spiritual backgrounds.
Through first-person narration that recounts spellbinding quests and adventures, the novel explores a variety of social and spiritual themes: peace and non-violence; contemplative silence; love and community; Earth care and the bond between nature and the spirit; justice and gender equality; and direct connection with a Greater Power—all of them in a non-dogmatic manner.