The Monk Who Came in from the Cold

“A ninth-century Irish monk travels to Byzantium and beyond in this
rousing historical novel by the author of the best-selling Pendragon
Cycle.”

Byzantium,by Stephen Lawhead (HarperPrism/ Zondervan, 646 pp.; $24, hardcover). Reviewed by Tim Stafford.

The crossover novel—a work of fiction written from a Christian point of view, yet appealing to general audiences—is an uncommon thing in this century. Catholic writers like Graham Greene or Evelyn Waugh have managed the trick masterfully, but their faith was so tormented by doubt that many believers, while admiring the art, may find the Christianity tortured out of recognition. Only a few Christian novelists have achieved notable sales while writing about a Christianity anyone would want to follow. (Susan Howatch and C. S. Lewis have done so in their very different ways, and Frank Peretti, too.) It is not easy to include God in a story aimed at a skeptical, materialistic audience, or to describe faith for those to whom pious is invariably pejorative.

Stephen Lawhead deserves notice in this context. He writes popular fiction, mostly found in the fantasy/science fiction section of your local bookstore. With his Pendragon series he became an undeniable commercial success, especially in the United Kingdom. Delving into the legendary history of early Britain, when Druids and Christians contested the future of the Celts, Lawhead wrote about people of faith and even showed the supernatural in a way that was not off-putting to unbelievers. He tapped the growing interest in Celtic lore, and, like all successful novelists, he told a good yarn.

Byzantium, Lawhead’s hefty latest effort, is something of a departure from his previous work in that it contains no fantastic elements (it is historical fiction), and most of the action takes place far from Britain. His protagonist, Aidan, is an Irish monk sent off to Constantinople with a party of monks conveying to the emperor an illuminated manuscript of Scripture. On the way they are attacked by Vikings, and Aidan is captured and enslaved. As chance would have it, Aidan’s Viking master sets off south on a raiding trip that leads through Russia to a far-off city that turns out to be Constantinople by another name. You might expect Aidan to reencounter his fellow monks there, but before that can happen, he becomes a spy for the emperor, falls in love with an Islamic beauty, is captured by an Arab army, enslaved in their silver mines, and …

But there is no need to give away more of the story. Through many twists and turns of plot, Lawhead keeps you turning pages. The book’s interest lies not in questions of faith (though religion is always present, as it naturally would be in that era) but in action, intrigue, and ancient lore. Many will read Byzantium, I am sure, without ever thinking to describe it as “Christian fiction.”

Yet it is very easy to imagine a reader, when he puts down the book, musing, “So that’s what that cross stuff means to Christians.” Aidan struggles with doubt throughout his long journey, and ultimately is reconverted (by his own Viking captors, whom he has more or less accidentally won over to Christianity) to faith in a God who suffered.

Byzantium is a crossover novel of a different kind. Lawhead does not hit you between the eyes with faith, as does, say, Howatch. In a gentle, almost casual way, his Christianity inhabits the book, unembarrassed. It does not seem to be the reason for writing. The plot, the adventure, the ancient atmospherics are Lawhead’s interest, and the reader’s. Yet they make a place where Lawhead and his Christian characters evidently feel at home. Maybe the reader who is attracted to this home will find the God who dwells there.

Short Notices The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job, and the Scale of CreationBy Bill McKibben Eerdmans 95 pp.; $9, paper God’s words to Job out of the whirlwind have been read by countless generations as perhaps Scripture’s most powerful instance of divine speech. Notwithstanding the library of commentary already devoted to these passages, Bill McKibben thinks we have not yet plumbed their depths. McKibben (whose Christmas meditation appears on p. 18 of this issue) draws our attention to what he calls “the first meaning” of God’s speech to Job: that human beings “are a part of the whole order of creation—simply a part.” That cuts deeply against the grain of human self-centeredness, and never more so than today when, without cease, “we are assaulted with just the opposite message, the notion that our desire is of utter and paramount importance.” But McKibben is writing not only to scold and shake us into change but also to celebrate the “untamed joy,” the “rapture” of God’s creation in the natural world.

Copyright © 1996 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

Christmas Unplugged: Should spending less and turning off TV be part of the church's mission to the world?

Cover Story

Christmas Unplugged, Part 2

Cover Story

Christmas Unplugged, Part 1

God's Missionary to Us, Part 2

Northern Ireland: Christian Peace Activists Refocus on Forgiveness

Evolution: Pope Says Evolution More than a Hypothesis

Military Chaplains Sue Over ’Project Life’ Ban

Colorado: Parental, Charity Tax Measures Fail

The Holy Inefficiency of Henri Nouwen

God's Missionary to Us, Part 1

Episcopalians: Penthouse Expose Could Spark Church Teaching

Lutherans, Episcopalians Talk Unity

Worldwide Faith News Goes Online

Voters Reject Betting Measures

Few Rank Jesus' Birth Top Holiday Focus

World Relief Staffers Murdered

First English Translation Published

Bethlehem Bible College Buys Land

Part of the Truth

News

Missions' Wild Olive Branch

News

News Briefs: December 09, 1996

Letters

Editorial

Judging the Justices

Editorial

When Relief Is Not Enough

What British Evangelicals Do Right

The Most Dangerous Baby

Fatherhood Aborted

News

News Briefs: December 09, 1996

Recovering the Chruch’s Memory

Sex, Drugs, and the Varieties of Religious Experience

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from December 09, 1996

Jerry Falwell's Uncertain Legacy

Bakker: Falwell Was ’Totalitarian’

Falwell's Son Could Carry on the Legacy at Liberty

View issue

Our Latest

News

Sarah Jakes Roberts Evolves T. D. Jakes’s Women’s Conference

At a record-setting event this fall, 40,000 followers listened to her preach about spiritual breakthrough and surrender.

Being Human

Walking the Camino de Santiago with Barrett Harkins

The missionary to pilgrims shares wisdom from the trail.

News

The Evangelical Voters Who Changed Their Minds

Amid a hyperpartisan electorate, a minority plan to vote differently than they did in 2016 and 2020.

News

Meet the Evangelical Expats Staying in Lebanon

Shout to the Lord in a Foreign Language

Worshiping God with words we don’t understand may seem strange. But I consider it a spiritual practice.

Jesus Is Still Right About Persecution

Nine truths believers need to understand to pray well for the suffering body of Christ.

The Bulletin

Electioneering

The Bulletin discusses the final presidential campaign push, churches in the age of screens, and the UN’s work in Gaza.

News

Argentina Moves to Officially Celebrate Its Evangelicals

Leaders are grateful for the government recognition but hope for further progress.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube