A Tale of the Christ Author:Lew Wallace In 1880 Union General Lew Wallace was stationed at a Western outpost when he began writing Ben Hur to dispel the boredom of his job. General Wallace who fought in some of the major campaigns of the Civil War was also questioning the meaning of his faith when the novel was written. — There are few who do not know the basic premise of this novel an... more »d fewer still who have not seen the monumental MGM film based on it. This story chronicles the life of Judah Ben Hur and his desire for revenge against the Roman Messala and all of Rome for the wrongs done him and his family.
In plot the story is simple enough. Ben Hur has been wrongly convicted of an attempt to kill the Roman Governor of Judea and sentenced to death on the Roman galleys. His fortune has been stolen and his family locked away in a dungeon. Ben Hur survives the galleys and defeats his enemy in the now famous chariot race at the Circus at Antioch.
If this were the end of Wallace's story we would have been left with a decent story of revenge and nothing more. However, Wallace incorporates into his story (bookends it really) with the story of the Passion of Jesus.
Wallace uses the coming of Jesus to examine the issues of his own faith. To analyze the dual nature of Jesus as King and Redeemer. To Ben Hur and the fiercely nationalist Jews of his time the world was waiting for a King to come to overthrow the power of Rome. Ben Hur sees this king as an element of his revenge against Rome and uses his restored fortune to build an army in support of the king.
By the end of the novel Ben Hur realizes that the King was not to come to overthrow Rome but to be a Redeemer of souls. That the kingdom to be created was not to be one of this world.
Wallace's narrative takes some time to get used to. It is sluggish and detail oriented. Literally everything is described. If you are looking for a fast read this book is not for you. If you are looking for a novel in the grand scale which also works as a powerful religous meditation give this one a try. The book was a great best seller when it was written and it can still be powerful 120 years later.« less