The story begins, some 2000 years ago, when a 13-year-old indigent, Jewish boy, named Joshua, got up in a temple and asked some questions to a rabi. The boy was evicted. He witnessed the most repulsive execution of the Mosaic Law - his cousin Rachel was stoned to death because her in-laws could not find the token of virginity on the bed sheet of her wedding night. Joshua's visit to the Temple of Jerusalem did not help him either. He found this House of God defiled: degenerated to a flee market; teeming with screaming vendors, yelling money changers; filled with tourists unsteady with wine; and harlots sprawling the crowd negotiating with potential customers.
Dejected by the theocratic atrocities, disillusioned by the prosaic executions of the Mosaic Laws, and disheartened by the hatred between neighbors, a 15-year-old Joshua left Israel and embarked on a journey in search of his ancestry, the meaning of man's existence on earth, and his relationship with his creator.
Joshua's odyssey took him from Galilee to the great library of Alexandria where he had a chance to study forn the entire knowledgeof the universe ensumbled in one place, unde one roof, in one dialect, the fullfillment of an Aristotlian dream made it happen by the Ptolemies-the decendents of Alexander the Great.
Joshua's quest took thim to the ancient Rome at the period of Pax-Romana. He learned the tough outer shell and the soft underbelly of his occupiers. Joshua mastered Cicero- his Ciceronian style of rheteric buy using resonating words juxtapositioning one opposite the other in one sentence that will ring like a musical rhythum: His sermon on the mount is a classic example of Ciceronian rhythum: “Blesses are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the mercyful, for they shall receive mercy.”
From the splendid Roman Forum, Joshua's Odyyssey to him to the Acropolis in Athens where he learned the genious of Socrates by asking simple day today questions to the Athemnians and the political savy of Plato and the savant in the logics of Aristotle.
Joshua continued his journey to the ancient Babylonia where he read the first ever written story of manknind- The Epic of Gilgamesh. In Gilgamesh he read the original stories of the creation of the universe, about Adam and Eva, about the great flood, about the great boat that Noah built and about the lawas of Hamurabi and numerous other stories.
Joshua decided to follow the footsteps of Cyrus, Darius and Alexander via the silk route to cross the Khyber pass to enter India. Entering India he did, and went to Taxila the greatest university of all in his times. In Taxila he learned the fundamentals of Hinduism, the Vedas, the Upanishadsts, Buddhism and Confuscianism.
Finally his odyssey took him to a small hermittage in Mathura wher he learned about the epics of Ramayana, The Mahabharatha and The Bhagvat Gita. It is here in this hermittage that Joshua met the mysterious Sukanya.
After seventeen years of exhaustive travels and gaining invaluable insights from the philosophies of the East and West, an enlightened Joshua returned home to Israel, confident with courage, emboldened with knowledge and humbled with wisdom. He was ready to speak his mind- a new philosophy of consciousness- about man and the meaning of his sojourn on earth.
At a time in Israel when talking to a strange woman in public was blasphemy, Joshua had the courage to enter a stoning scene of a harlot. He grasped the harlot by the wrist, hoisted it and challenged the crowd, “Who amongst you without sin may cast the first stone.” The harlot was let free. His words and the news of the non-stoning of the harlot raised ire amongst the elders and the Pharisee. Joshua had a following and he was deemed a threat by the elders.They evicted this trouble-maker from one synagogue after another. He traveled the villages and towns of Upper Galilee talking to people about a new order of hope and salvation. His followings steadily increased. He was confronted by the elders, but was received warmly by the meek and downtrodden. One day before a Sabbath, there was a melee at the Temple of Jerusalem. Joshua had a brawl with the money changers and the animal sellers. “He must go,” the Sanhedrin decreed. The next night the Temple police arrested Joshua for questioning.
The Jewish people waited for five thousand years for a prophet. When he came, they did not see him. The world waited for another two thousand years to hear what made the prophet say what he said, without a divine intervention, but they did not hear it. There are several myths and missing pages in the Bible. Further, Josephus did not say much, the Dead Sea Scrolls did not contribute anything more, Mark, Luke, Mathew and John said a few but marred by speculations, superstitions, myths and miracles. My novel, JOSHUA the Odyssey of an Ordinary Man, a narrative historical fiction is the epiphany to this long-awaited mystery in human history.
Jesus, the hero of this book, is the most fascinating man and influential philosopher to have ever walked the earth. This book, the first ever serious attempt, to explain the philosophy of the man, the myth and truth, revealing what made him say what he said, without a divine intervention, will have a wide readership at this time of our history, when religious fundamentalists are on the move, blowing themselves up proclaiming, “My God is mightier than your God!”
Joshua's story meticulously brings back to life the people of the ancient world and their way of life, history, inventions, arts, architecture, philosophy, religion, science, ethics, and, above all, the brilliant illumination of the physical and metaphysical aspects of the ancient world.