This was a very disappointing read. It has a great theme, but it is carried out very poorly. It should be an exciting and informative book, but it is written in a style that makes the Hardy Boys look like great literature. It is difficult to believe that it could get an adult reader excited about the story. Davila's goal seems to be to make others aware of the Gnostic Gospels, but by divulging that in such an elementary style, it causes the reader to doubt his expertise in the subject. ( )

It's funny, I reviewed this book back in July after finishing, and posted it! But just got a note today that it wasn't here and I had to review. So here is a BRIEF review as I don't want to write the entire thing out again.

This book had potential to be a good book. I figured it would be something like a Dan Brown book: full of facts and a great mystery story that kept the reader entertained and turning pages. I was sadly mistaken.

I found this novel to be a venue for the Author to give a personal lecture on the information of the Gnostics instead of portraying it as a novel. I fought my way through to the end hoping that it would get better. I think that this book would be better as a non fiction so that the author would have full attention on his ideas. ( )

I have to agree with some of the reviews I've read that this book just sort of throws information at you without a well-done narrative structure. However, it is interesting information, though unremarkable if you've ever read Elaine Pagels.

Shabby ideas and thinking poorly woven into a weak narrative structure. If I ever had a friend who incessantly lectured me in every conversation the way characters in this book do, (ie: Chloe), my story would likely be about an aggravated assault.

Put together with such a polemical and remarkably inaccurate revisionist picture of the formation of the Christian church, ('Many scholars' do NOT believe this stuff), The Gnostic Mystery resembles an undergraduate mind attempting to link the dots of material they don't actually understand.

To the point, the revealing of various 'facts' in this book are consistently framed by the tone of great discovery. Certain characters make declarations, and everyone else responds with wondrous surprise or eager questions for more. The impression given is that the authour thinks he is actually revealing something tremendous or significant that heretofore has been hidden away. For example, quoting randomly from almost any page in the book, like page 187: "'What?' Punjeeh asked incredulously, further puzzled by her . . ."

Ironically, (and painfully), this book actually contains nothing significant, and certainly nothing that's new - (His bibliography of 27 books includes 4 by Pagels, and 1 by Tom Harpur) - except of course for the material that Davila has simply made up. In the end, Davila actually has to create a fictitious Gnostic document to make his point. Why? Because real Gnostic material does not say what his personal issues need it to say. Since reality won't give him a legitimate basis for his revisionist fantasy, he has to fake it to contest for his own whipped up version of Gnostic thought and history.

It's worth saying that the real work of a religious or spiritual thinker is to struggle through the questions of fear and guilt that his character Jack says he never understood in "traditional church teaching. One cannot simply avoid or drop them. And so instead of creating fictional religious alternatives that 'feel' better to his 21st century vanities, he would do well to dig into those areas which really are a mystery to him.

But I suspect that Davila isn't actually interested in mystery at all. Instead, his real interest is in being the one majestically to dispel 'mysteries' for everyone else, even if he has to make them up in the first place. He's been reading Harpur for sure . . . ( )

While I am certainly not hostile to either organized religion or gnosticism, this is not a particularly good book either as a novel or as a thinly disguised polemic on religion. Certainly, anyone who is familiar at all with the books and scholarship of Elaine Pagels, particularly "The Gnostic Gospels", her study of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts, will find the book unremarkable in its thesis. Certainly, even as scholarship, Pagels books are far more engaging than Davila's novel.

It is true that in the marketplace of ideas and diversity of beliefs within the early church, Gnosticism lost out. Not because of its ideas or a conspiracy by more established sects, but because of its own lack of any coherent organization and internal factionalism. ( )

You know how in (stereotypical) bad SF you get scenes of scientists standing around giving each other (and the square-jawed but non-scientist action hero) long infodumping speeches about some obscure (or made-up) science? This is exactly like that, but with religion.

I wanted to like this book. I have an interest in religion and in the Gnostics in particular. But the writing style just didn't do it for me. I didn't care about the characters (except to be annoyed, with Jack in particular) and the plot was almost nonexistent. Subtract the bombings and you could almost substitute it for an unfunny sitcom episode. Also, any semblance of plot ends about forty pages before the book does, and from there on out it's just speechifying about Gnosticism.

It seems to me that Mr. Davila is passionate about what he believes, and that's a good thing, but putting it into the framework of a novel would've taken a gentler hand to turn out interesting. If you can see that an author is trying really hard to do something (in this case, create suspense, with the short chapters and the jumping around in time) they're not succeeding at it. Also, there's nothing wrong with the word 'said.' Characters don't need to spend all their time exclaiming and remarking and making faces every time they say something. But that's just a pet peeve. ( )

This book is one of many which follow the pattern of the DaVinci Code. However it doesn't live up to its promise, in large part because it seems to be confused in genre: is it a mystery novel or a religious text? Given it presents as a novel, the author would have benefitted from a good editor. Parts of the story line were excellent and I would have loved to see them developed; other parts were poorly written and slow moving The characterizations of the Palestinian boys were well drawn; other characters relied on overly heavy descriptions and stereotypes. The material on early Christianity and gnosticism read like an undigested textbook, and included a number of factual errors. I don't recommend it - there are better works in competing genres. ( )

After reading the synopsis, I thought this book was going to be a great biblical mystery that would enthrall and leave me wanting more. Wrong! It was boring, trite and I stopped reading half way through. I have only added it to my library in order to review it. In fact, I disliked it so much I gave up on it and put in on the free book shelf at work. Maybe someone else will enjoy it. For my part I was bored, bored, bored and more than a little annoyed by the thinly disguised religious lecture. ( )

As a Catholic, I found this book very interesting. First off I did think it was a crime mystery but realized early on it was more the actual mystery of the Dead Sea scrolls and Gnostics. If you would like to know more about the Gnostics in fiction form then you will really enjoy this book. I felt it got a little preachy in the middle of the book but for the rest it was a good read and I enjoyed it. ( )

This is a great book. I feel many people would enjoy this book, but sadly I was unable to read and enjoy it as the content was flat and in some places hard for me to follow. I feel that this book would be a great story for someone that likes mystery and Christian books, but I had to much trouble with it to finish it. ( )

In the thirty-third of his life, Jesus Christ, er, Jack Stanton died and so he went to Jerusalem to be resurrected. While rekindling his faith in Catholicism, he buys an old scroll from a Palestinian boy. After having it translated by an attractive religion professor named Chloe, who despite being Greek and living in Jerusalem and maybe never visiting an Anglo-speaking country, has a perfect grasp of the English language, it turns out to be part of the Gnostic Mystery scroll. From there, Chloe educates Jack and his friend Punjeeh on the similarities of the Bible with ancient myths, concentrating mostly on Greco-Roman ones.

The book gives a detailed account of the Gnostics' position in the early church, but there is so much of it that it can be hard to digest. Also, the style is very didactic despite the Socratic method of questioning in order to break up the monotony of Chloe's lectures. On the other hand, the book gives a selective bibliography in case somebody wishes to pursue the matter more. Not recommended to read in one setting. ( )

I was really excited to get this book; the blurb sounded fantastic. Randy Davila is an excellent writer, but this book just didn't go anywhere and insults his readers' intelligence, hence my two-star rating for good writing, a good idea for a plot, no action, and assuming the ignorance of his readers.

The book lacked action and really seemed to be a lecture on what I should believe about Biblical history. However, that's not why I wanted to read the book; I expected something more along the lines of David Gibbins, and that was a terrible mistake. This book is mostly lecture, and no offense, but I'd rather go to lectures by Bart Erhman as I did in college; Prof. Erhman did not assume I was completely ignorant where Davila did. In addition, Erhman's lectures were always highly entertaining, and I cannot say the same of Davila's. Davila treats his readers as if we haven't a clue about Biblical scholarship or much of anything. This is not my field, but I knew much more than his high flying, supposedly well educated characters.

If this book were re-worked, made to be faster paced, less preachy/lecture-y -- it would be a winner. This would require more action, more character development, and more excitement. Sadly, it read like a draft rather than a polished novel. ( )

While I enjoyed reading this book, it was not due to the story line which I found to be not the main strength of the book. Instead, the strength and most interesting part of the book were the theological discussions between the main characters about alternative religious theories.

I was very excited to begin reading this book and was not disappointed!!!! It held my attention and taught me a few things I didn't know about the history of Christianity. Although a novel it had the tendency to read like a lecture, Still, I would highly recommend it as a great read. The characters were very well built and their commonality was believable to the reader. I enjoyed the two professors and their part in assisting the main characters in understanding their find.

If this book would have been published 7 years ago, I would have found it more intriguing, however due to the influx or Dan Brown type literature flooding the market at the moment, I have to say "meh". ( )

The Gnostic Mystery is a fairly straightforward fictional story focusing on the discovery of two ancient scrolls. Throughout most of the book the narrative focuses on an American travel named Jack, but several other characters play an important role as well. The book focuses on two aspects: the discovery and transaction of the scrolls themselves, and (more importantly) the content within these scrolls, produced by the ancient Gnostic Christians and highlighting some of the doctrines they believed in.

The books seems to focus a great deal on the discussions between the characters about the history of Gnosticism and its eventual decline during the early years of Christianity. I definitely found the theological discussions interesting. Keep in mind that the perspective of the book is pretty much pro-Gnostic, so it's possible that some readers who have a very traditional theology will raise their eyebrows at some of the concepts. An appendix of the book includes several sources as well, so that one who is interested in the topics in the book can continue to explore more of the Gnostic history and theology.

The main disadvantages of the book? I thought the plot itself was simplistic and somewhat predictable. The most bothersome aspect is that during the theological conversations, whenever one of the characters makes an interesting point, the other characters go out of their way to praise him or her. This was excusable at first, but around the end of the book, when Jack begins to understand the theology of the Gnostics and mentions his understanding, he is complemented extremely frequently! This bothered me.

Other than that, I liked the book. ( )

Overall, I would say I liked this book and it was worth reading. However, I really think the author should have divided it into 2 separate books. I think the fiction part was done well and would have been an enjoyable read had he developed that storyline more. I think the fact part of the book should have been a non-fiction book. The information he tells the reader is great and you can tell he did a lot of research to give such detail.

But, I really didn't like the delivery of the information. First off, the dialogue in the scholarly part of the book was just plain terrible. The four main characters were two grown men in their 30's who grew up Roman Catholic and then there were two professors of religion. While the professors were explaining everything about the history behind the origins of Christianity to the two men, I kept "forgetting" that this was an intelligent adult conversation - the two men really seemed like naive children. And the professor's "teaching" just really felt like they were putting on a documentary for children who really had no clue and needed things to be spelled out and explained simplistically.

It really is curious how different the dialogue was between the novel part and the scholarly part of the book! It almost felt like two different authors. Nearly EVERYTIME Punjeeh would address his longtime friend Jack, he would say "my friend". That's just not natural speech. "My friend" should really be reserved to express closeness at a really intense moment. And they both seemed just so incredibly naive! I don't think that two people who grew up in the Roman Catholic would be "that" clueless about some of the information, not to mention that Punjeeh was actually a doctor, a medical doctor, but still someone who had received a lot of schooling nonetheless.

Now, I really really enjoyed learning facts about the history of the church that I didn't know - some of it I already knew. In a way, I think the dialogue "had" to be so simplistic in order to enable the professors to adequately explain the facts so that a reader of any level could understand thoroughly. But, as I said earlier, I think that information would have been much more enjoyable to read in a non-fiction setting.

Many readers have been offended by the scholarly information dispensed, others have appreciated the information like I have. I think the author did an excellent job of getting the facts out all-the-while respecting how hard it is for some Christians to hear the information. I don't think the author dealt with the information in an insulting way at all. It's simply that some of the historical facts discussed will be shocking to some readers.

If you're looking for a good suspenseful read - I would pass this book up; if you're not comfortable reading information that might confuse the current view of your faith - I would pass this book up. If you are okay with learning some challenging information about the origins of your faith, then read this book. ( )

I, like others, was ready for a good book weaving in history with a mystery. Like others, I was disappointed with the story and the pace. I felt like I was being lectured, and not by a good lecturer. The potential is there, but the delivery lacking! ( )

I enjoy mysteries that skillfully weave historical fact in with a good plot. Unfortunately, The Gnostic Mystery fails to meet this challenge. The author has merely dressed up a religious tract with the trappings of a plot. With dialogue that reminded me of the juvenile fiction I read as a boy, this book simply is a must-miss. ( )

It was difficult to get into at the beginning because of the story shifting backwards and forwards, none of which added to the storyline. The story was OK, but not outstanding. The sidebar about a suicide bomber seemed contrived. The writing style seemed geared to teenagers, aside from the odd instance of profanity. Based on the way the book ended, with one of the main characters planning to visit the US, I suspect there's a sequel in the works. ( )

The Gnostic Mystery by Randy Davila is a fictionalized explanation of the Gnostic Christian movement thinly disguised as a thriller. There are no thrills in the book, and few redeeming features.

The story goes back and forth between the lives of two Palestinian teenagers who discover ancient scrolls in a cave near the Dead Sea, and an incredibly clueless, yet very successful and rich, American businessman visiting Israel. The boys who discovered the scrolls hide them in a tree, from which they are stolen and sold to tourists by a cousin of one of the boys. One of the tourists is the American businessman, who ends up showing it to an attractive (of course) religious scholar who translates the scroll and explains in nauseating and elementary detail its significance as an Early Christian Revelation. The rest of the story concerns finding the second scroll (sold to a schoolteacher from Baltimore) and more dumbed-down explanations of Early Christian beliefs.

The characters in this short novel are really only there so that the author can write a book about Gnostic beliefs. It just barely hangs together as a novel because the characters are so poorly written. The Palestinian teenagers might as well be Texan or Iowan. There is nothing in their behavior that sets them apart from poorly written American teenagers. The businessman is supposed to be very successful and smart, but comes across as very ignorant and naïve. There is no real action in the book, and certainly no suspense, so comparing it to The Da Vinci Code, as the blurb on the jacket does, is highly misleading. Here’s an example of some of the dialogue:

““Let’s open it up,” Caleb said.
“Do we have to?” Youseff pleaded…
“These could be valuable ancient writings,” Caleb said…
“Oh, stop being such a baby,” Caleb scoffed, “and lets head back. I want to take it to the antique shop and find out what it is.””

““An ancient letter from the Gnostics,” Punjeeh exclaimed, “What a find, Jack!”
Jack stared blankly across the desk at Chloe, Punjeeh, and Professor King. He was really feeling like a first grader in this group. Finally he had to ask, “So who the heck were these guhnostiks?” He deliberately pronounced the silent G.”

The best thing about this book was that it wasn’t very long, only 197 pages. It was very poorly written, and had hardly any plot. It does contain a bibliography with works I recognize from noted Gnostic scholars, and I did actually learn some things from the book that I hadn’t known before; however, I prefer to learn about religion from non-fiction books. I like to read novels for pleasure, especially when they’ve been compared to The Da Vinci Code. This wasn’t a pleasurable read, and I only slogged through it so I could write a review for the LibraryThing.com Early Reviewers Group. I don’t recommend this book, but do recommend a book for people who might be looking for a different interpretation of Jesus’ life: The Secret Magdalene by Ki Longfellow. ( )

I was honestly unimpressed by the Gnostic Snore fest. The author started out as a short story writer, and it shows. The book reads like a poorly written Dan Brown novel, which is really saying something as Dan Brown can really only write one book OVER and OVER and OVER AGAIN. Normally with something like this I'd say its okay if approached as completely worthless popcorn fiction, but it really gives popcorn fiction a bad name.

As I am very fascinated with Gnosticism and other people's opinions of it (who the Gnostics were is certainly a source of contention is academia!), I was very interested to read this book. Although simple I found myself somewhat bored by the pace of the book. I think if I had read it when I was still in high school I would have enjoyed it more and felt it was more suspenseful overall. It's not intended to be a scholarly work, but the author has done his research and his views on Gnosticism are clear throughout. The dialogue often felt contrived and I thought that the story would have benefited from more attention to making the dialogue more realistic. For what the book discusses, it's certainly worth the read! ( )

I liked this book. The book was well written about the interactions with Jack, Chloe, Punjeeh, & the Professor were pretty clear. Reading the descriptions of Israel were for me the best part for it is unlikely that I will actually get a chance to travel there.

The Gnostic Mystery is a deceptively simple book. The plot is simple enough, a tourist's experience learning about the Gnostics in the Holy Land. However, the plot obscures the book's deeper purpose of conveying Gnostic ideas. I would have rated this book more highly if the plot had been skipped in favor of an academic discussion of the Gnostics, but the author included a list of such books in the back for further study. Still, The Gnostic Mystery would serve a young (~early high school) audience well and spur them toward a greater understanding of Christian history and Gnostic thought. ( )