A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion– a Review

Last updated on: July 16, 2015 at 1:28 am by Ben Witherington

A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion– a Review 2015-06-15T20:03:33-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The second volume in the Week in the Life series (IVP,$13.87, 292 pages), the first of which was my A Week in the Life of Corinth, focuses on the life of Roman centurion stationed in the unstable eastern end of the Empire. Appius is a centurion who is profoundly injured at Dura-Europa and ends up in more of an advisory capacity in Capernaum during the lifetime of Jesus. Gary Burge (NT prof at Wheaton) brings to bear his considerable knowledge of the Gospels and their contexts as well as his knowledge of the Roman army and its inner workings to bring to life some of difficulties and dilemmas a centurion would face as he tries to protect the vulnerable eastern borders of the Empire, especially vulnerable due to the Parthians (the successors to the Persians), famous for their war-like ways and their horseback riding archers. The Parthians were indeed the most feared of the adversaries the Romans faced as one got closer and closer to the Tigris and Euphrates. They may even be alluded to in the Book of Revelation.

This volume in the series is simply loaded with detailed information in boxes that helps the reader understand a variety of aspects of the first century world, including just how Hellenized even the Holy Land was in Jesus day, especially in places like Caesarea Maritima and Sepphoris. The Romans might not have been in every village and town in the flesh, but their shadow was long and covered the land like a blanket. There are all kinds of pictures as well as information (see especially the Kindle edition where the pictures come to life much better) meant to help the reader actually interpret what is going on in the story. Some may find the sheer number of these boxes a bit overwhelming as they continuously interrupt the flow of the story right from the outset, but in the end one can skip them or read them later. It’s your choice. What of the story itself?

Gary’s decision to focus mainly on three characters, all part of Appius’ familia (Appius, and his slaves Tullus and Livia) is wise in a novella of this length, as there is not a lot of room for lots of characters or lengthy plot developments. And seeing the action mostly through the point of view of Tullus is interesting, and helpful. In some respects the story could have been called ‘A Week in the Life of a Slave’. Slaves of course were property, and in this case Tullus became a slave due to the misfortunes of war. Gary’s descriptive powers are good, and he has a fine eye for details that matter to the plot. Happily as well, there are very few typos or errors in the whole book, though at one point Pompey Magnus is said to be a Roman general from the seventh century B.C., but this is surely just a typo for first century B.C. My major complaint is that there seems to be too much crammed into this one week in terms of the action, and by the time one gets to Capernaum things really speed up and we even hear ‘during the first month when Appius was in Capernaum’, but surely he is only there for a part of a week if our title of the book is any clue.

There are some nice surprises, twists and turns in the story, and Gary saves some of his ‘reveals’ until just the right juncture in the story to keep the reader interested. I could have wished for a little more development at the end of the book which stops a bit abruptly. All in all, this is a good story, based on good scholarship and it fulfills the rhetorical requirements of good ‘ancient literature’ to both please and inform. This book would work well for a class in NT Intro, or on the Gospel of Matthew, or for that matter for a Sunday School class. We’ll look forward to the future volumes in this series (sneak peak— A Week in the Life of Jerusalem is coming, the week in question being the disastrous one in A.D. 70 when the Temple fell to Titus).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 15, 2015

Jacob Arminius Theologian of Grace-- Part Fourteen

Next Post

July 16, 2015 Anticipate Ants, Antics, Antiquarians, and Antiques-- Marvel's Ant-Man

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz