Customer Reviews

Junia: The Fictional Life and Death of an Early Christian

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Deceptively simple in its telling, this powerful story should be required reading in all Christian middle school curricula. Boys will enjoy its detailed and historically accurate recounting of life in the Roman Empire, while girls will empathize with the adolescent struggles of Junia and her friends. All (adults included) will find their faith strengthened by reading this tale of the ordinary apostleship and heroic martyrdom of everyday Christians almost 2000 years ago.

How can anyone, living comfortably in the 21st Century, possibly relate to the early Christian martyrs, those champions of the faith who were fed to the lions or beheaded for their beliefs? Fr. Michael E. Giesler has built a bridge across time in his book, Junia. With a clear understanding of ancient Roman history and a deft hand for spinning a good yarn, Junia is the touching story of an adolescent girl who converts wholeheartedly and then gives up her life rather than renounce Christ. This book is a page-turner from the word go, and the character of Junia is warm and likeable. Her cheerfulness and devotion shines not only across the centuries, but across the generations. I read it, my 11-year-old daughter read it, her friend read it, their religion teacher read it...and it's about to make the rounds again!
A reader from Connecticut

This is a must read, especially for young people! I was suprised how exciting it was. Judging by the title, I thought it had been written for high school girls, but I found myself (an adult male) enjoying it immensely. I was even more surprised by how many details about life in ancient Rome it mentioned, as well as some interesting insights into human nature, and a good picture of the life of the early Christians. Great book!

Junia is the daughter of a wealthy Roman senator. She (and most other Romans at that time) thought Christians were superstitious criminals, who were cannibals (who eat human flesh). That is, until she finds out that her best friend Marcia was persecuted because she was a Christian. With the help of a Christian slave, Junia is on a quest to Christianity. I love this book because it tells you about the sufferings of the early Christians. I highly recommend this book.

This is a marvelous little story that contains quite a lot of depth for its small size. Ultimately, it is a tale that graphically illustrates Tertullian's famous phrase, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

Junia is the 2nd century daughter of a rising Roman senator who is also a Stoic. Junia embraces her father's stoicism, and like her brother Marcus is interested in learning various philosophies, but she is most fascinated by the actions of her best friend, Marcia. A tragedy leads Junia to discover the shortcomings of her own beliefs and the beauty of a discredited religion.

A common problem for novels documenting the conversion of someone to Christianity is the author's inability to make the conversion believable. Typically, the person in question converts too suddenly or appears to convert for no noticeable reason. This is not the case in "Junia." Giesler relates a clear and believable path that Junia follows from irreligious stoicism to faith in Christ. He does a wonderful job presenting the various philosophies and religions present in 2nd century Rome in a non-forced way; combined with his detailed portrayal of 2nd century Christianity, you really feel that you are transported back to the time of the catacombs and martyrs!

This book is very readable for both adults and teenagers. I would not necessarily recommend this book to the youngest of readers (i.e. under age 12), as it does deal with some adult topics that might not be appropriate for that age. But it would be a wonderful gift for a teenager to show them how the Lord has worked in all ages and all situations to bring people to him.

If you don't mind staying up all night reading this is an awesome book. I couldn't put it down. So, as a bonus, I had the rare (for me) opportunity to watch the sunrise, as I slowly closed this book.

Loved this novel - spent all afternoon reading it and couldn't put it down. Shows in wonderfully true-to-life form the way the faith is spread by lay people, by the apostolate of friendship and confidence. Many lessons for Christians of today.

Well worth the read. As with most Christians today, we take are faith for granted and don't even stop and realize how difficult life was for our early church brothers and sisters. Although this is a fictional account of the lives of a few early Christians, the book still reflects the truth and reality of everyday life of our church! Every faithful follower should own a copy of this book. My daughter-in-law is just finishing the book and I hope the rest of my family takes the time to read it also.

My daughter (13-year-old) said this was the best book she ever read and recommends it to everyone, so of course I had to read it. Excellent book!!! I went on to read the second book, Marcus and loved it more than Junia. My daughter hasn't read Marcus cuz she doesn't think anything can surpass Junia.

Junia is the first book in what is now a trilogy - Junia, Marcus, and Grain of Wheat - by Michael Giesler, in which we are introduced to a slice of Roman society in which Christianity is fighting to take hold.

Self-described as fictional history, this book give a fine, albeit brief introduction to the lives of Christians living in Rome in the early to mid 2nd century (about 140 or so). While the earliest persecutions of Christians in the Roman empire started with Nero about 62 AD, in the mid 2nd century it was still quite illegal (thought not unheard of) to be a Christian.

Christians lived with the constant fear, the ever-present "Sword of Damocles" of accusation ... accusation of that "heinous crime" of being a Christian, of being faced with the the very real decision of remaining faithful to the Lord vs. denying Him, of gaining eternal life at the cost of this one (right now!) vs. a continued, ignominious earthly existence. That choice was faced early and often by Christians in Rome in this era, and the characters of this trilogy are no exception.

Yet it is into this seemingly insurmountable weight of popular persecution that the Church drove, standing up to the lies and slanders with faithful purity, with the radical message of the Gospel of Life - with holiness and joy.

As a result, in a relatively brief span - a few hundred years - the unknown sect of Christianity swept through the known world, converting even pagan Rome.

The author has done a fine job of making this reality tangible, of giving us a taste of what our ancestors in the faith were willing to do to retain that faith. The books are very fast reads, yet convey quite a bit of factual context as well.

If I have a criticism it is that they are too fast, that I would have appreciated lingering longer in this world a bit, in getting to know some of the characters better. Perhaps I'll feel differently after the third volume (Grain of Wheat), up next and promisingly thicker ... don't know yet, but I will report back in the review of that volume.

In any case, in this day and age where many either take their faith for granted or have casually let it slide away as either too much trouble, inconvenient, or irrelevant, it is perhaps quite instructive to consider just what price the early Christians were willing to pay for that very same truth, for that relationship with the very same, unchangeable God.

One note: I gave it four instead of five simply due to the length question, perhaps exacerbated because I'm somewhere in the bowels of reading The Red Horse at this time, a very fine novel (by Eugenio Corti) which weighs in somewhere past the average piece of healthcare legislation ... but far, far more interesting!

Update: a team of folks put together a music video (featuring an original song, in the style of "Into the West" at the end of Return of the King) which may be seen here: [...]