Jesus is completely loving and merciful towards those in need in the Gospels. But against the powerful, the Son of Man showed cunning knowledge of how this world, with so much evil in it, works. Where did the Messiah’s amazing shrewdness in earthly matters come from?
Learning and Loving, Book 2 of the Spirit War trilogy, covers Jesus’s hidden, growing-up years. Specifically, from 17 to 30 years of age. Here we see how He was formed as a man, and where his worldly wisdom came from.
The Messiah’s education formula in Book 2 is a mix of the conventional and the extraordinary. He learned about people from his parents, siblings and community. About business and building from Joseph his step-father. About farming and livestock from his agricultural neighbors. And from both his parents about Jewish scriptures, because his family had the privilege of a complete set of old testament books.
How would you react if, secretly knowing that your son is the Messiah, you found out from scripture that his destiny was to die on a cross? Mary and Joseph face this crisis in Book 2 of The Spirit War.
Learning and Loving provides early introductions of three important characters from the Gospels: Simon Peter, John the Baptizer and Mary Magdalene. Their stories provide action, adventure and romance, while foreshadowing their roles during Jesus’s ministry in Book 3.
The loving part of Learning and Loving is a major plot element of the book. Jesus comes to know that he is the Messiah, at the moment when his love for the woman in his life crystallizes. He must choose, between his Godly mission and the love of his life.
Jesus’s choice to take on his redemptive mission for humankind has devastating consequences for the woman he loves. But the Father grants his son’s deepest wish, to rescue her first, before starting on his mission to redeem all men and women.
Book 2 of The Spirit War could easily be a work apart from the story of Jesus in the Gospels. Even so, its 244 pages fit neatly between the well-known Nativity story in Book 1, and the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’s public life in Book 3. Learning and Loving is by far the most romance-oriented book in the trilogy. Mary and Joseph, and Jesus and Mary Magdalene, shine as human lovers in the most profound sense.
Author’s personal note – a satisfying aspect of fiction writing is how characters can take on a life of their own as a plot develops. I have always been intrigued by Mary Magdalene. There is just enough about her in the Gospels to conclude that, if Jesus had a special woman love, she has to be the one. Introduced in Book 2, Mary Magdalene flourished into what this author considers the most surprisingly captivating character in the Spirit War trilogy. Readers will have to also read Book 3 to see why.
Quotes from Spirit War readers on Amazon
“Learning and Loving qualifies as a stand-alone book. Part 1 and Part 3 develop around re-tellings of well-known stories in Christian tradition. But Part 2 starts with a virtual blank slate, a thirty-year period about which the gospels say little or nothing. The author has turned that gap into a well-taken opportunity. Despite the power of Part 3, where everything is resolved, Learning and Loving stands out for the best character development in the trilogy.”
“For those of you who think of Jesus as the Son of God, for those who love fantasy with all their heart, for those looking for a new perspective on an age-old story, THE SPIRIT WAR is the trilogy you’re looking for.”
“What makes The Spirit War such success is the intertwining of imaginative yet plausible fiction with scriptural fact that makes for a truly coherent and enthralling story that ultimately leaves you feeling like this is what an omniscient view of what took place two thousand years ago might have been like.”