Joshua In the Holy Land [Paperback]

Joseph Girzone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1993

In the sequel to Joshua and Joshua and the Children, Joshua retraces the path taken two millennia ago to lead his followers to peace in the world. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As this unsurprising installment in Girzone's bestselling Joshua series (following Joshua and the Children ) opens, the simple carpenter Joshua is wandering in the desert in the Middle East. Finding a lost lamb, he returns it to its owner, the prominent sheik Ibrahim Saud, then cures a little girl in the sheik's encampment of a deadly snakebite, thus gaining the Arab's eternal gratitude. Their ensuing friendship opens the possibility of success for Joshua's true mission, bringing peace to the Middle East. He unites like-minded Jews, Arabs and Christians as the Children of Peace, hoping to end strife by forming personal bonds between peoples. Under the guidance of the gentle, mysterious holy one, the movement increases and multiplies until it topples governments and creates the basis for lasting peace with justice. This accomplished, Joshua departs like a religious Lone Ranger, leaving those he touched asking, "Who was that Holy Man?" Talky and slow-moving, the narrative shows Joshua splitting his time between visiting the sites associated with his (i.e. Jesus's) previous life and preaching didactic sermons. Even the Children of Peace comes off like some odd 12-step program where participants do everything but say, "My name's Khalil, and I'm a hatemonger." For the millions who have found Girzone's previous efforts so enjoyable, however, Joshua's latest outing will provide more of the same. Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Girzone's enormously popular Joshua series (The Shepherd, 1990, etc.) continues, now taking its charismatic, Christlike protagonist to present-day Israel, where his updated parables and common-sense approach to peace spread oil on historically troubled waters. Just exactly who is this fellow? Girzone never quite says he's Jesus of Nazareth back for another round with a screwed-up world, but he hints heavily. The young man always knows the names of people he meets for the first time; he never gets worried; he knows Israel like the back of his hand; and he never talks in contractions. On foot (sandaled), the friendly, well-tanned young man wanders into an Arab camp bearing a lost lamb belonging to the granddaughter of the local sheik. Hitting it off with the aged sheik (but not with the sheik's son), he stays to supper and later that night cures the granddaughter of snakebite. It's the first of a string of miracles for which Joshua takes no credit, pointing out that that sort of thing is God's work. The grateful chieftain provides the friendly Jew an entree into the Arab community, the first step of a nonpolitical peace process that actually works. Strolling around Israel, Joshua chats up Christians, Moslems, and Jews, making friends and followers wherever he goes, pointing out quite sensibly that things aren't going to be better until everybody stops indulging in vengeance and gets down to the work of getting along. There are numerous parallels to events of two thousand years ago, but the actors are new, and the results more upbeat. Affecting at times, and never smarmy. Still, not for the cynical. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Simon Schuster Trade; 1st Collier Bks Ed 1993, 1st Printing edition (November 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020199090
• ISBN-13: 978-0020199090
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,412,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story written for our present time and world condition., April 5, 1999

By 

[e-mail], Jim Stephens (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joshua In The Holy Land (Paperback)

I read this book by Joseph Girzone immediately after returning from my first trip to Israel. I was reading his first book "Joshua" on the way. And began "Joshua and the Holy Land" on the 12 hour flight back to the USA. What I really enjoyed about the story was the reality that was presented in the characters that encountered Joshua. I also appreciated greatly the accurate portrayal of the places that were involved in the story, especially the reference to the first place Joshua met offically with his group of followers: "Seven Arches Hotel". While on tour in Israel, our first hotel was Seven Arches. The story made the trip stay all the more alive in my mind.

I also appreciated the hopeful message that Joseph Girzone leaves with his readers. It is a contageous message that hopefully can spread in real ways to the leaders of our world today.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking book, March 1, 2000

By 

Norma McAfee (Woodstock,Ga) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joshua In The Holy Land (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book. It is extremely well written and contains many true to life situations. It exemplifies ways that we could all work together for peace. It visits sites that Jesus was familiar with and walks you through gospel territory. Mr. Girzone knows how to captivate his readers. I would have liked to hear a homily presented by him. A great storyteller.

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Another fine story, but with non-biblical theology, April 23, 2003

By 

Calvin Zito "CalvinZ" (Boise, ID USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joshua In The Holy Land (Paperback)

I've read "Joshua" and "Joshua and the Children" and enjoyed both of them. I recently started reading "Joshua in the Holy Land" and considering putting it down. If you are a born-again Christian, you may struggle with some of the "sermons" given by Joshua in this book.

Speaking to a group of Jews, Arabs, and Christians, he tells them that they all have the same heavenly Father and that they will share the same eternal reward because of their faith in the Father. I have some real problems with this - it's not consistent with Christian (Biblical) doctrine which teaches that through faith in Jesus Christ we are saved. While Christians and Jews do share the same Father God, from what I've studied of the Moslem faith, the attributes of allah are not the same as our GOD of the Christian faith.

So while the intent seems good, the former Catholic priest Joseph Girzone should better understand the teachings of the Bible before writing more modern day parables about Jesus that are inconsistent with His teachings in the Bible.