James BeauSeigneur
In His Image (1997)
Author: James BeauSeigneur
Genre: Science Fiction/Christian (Apocalyptic)
Plot Summary:
Decker Hawthorne is a reporter for a small Tennessee newspaper who gets himself onto the scientific team examining the Shroud of Turin in 1978 through old connections. Later in 1988, one of the team members, Harry Goodman (Decker’s connection), clones living skin cells found on the Shroud. A male child is born, Christopher (after Columbus, not Christ) and raised by Goodman. Meanwhile, Decker gets promoted to a national magazine and is assigned to the Israel desk where witnesses the destruction of the Wailing Wall a day prior to being kidnapped and held hostage in Lebanon for 6 years. Soon after his escape (facilitated by a dream-like intervention on the part of Christopher Goodman), the “Disaster” (i.e. the Rapture) goes down. As time moves forward, many events pictured in Christian prophecy are touched on: the Temple is rebuilt, famines begin, the UN moves toward world governance after restructuring the Security Council to include 10 members instead of five, and Christopher begins rising through the ranks of the U.N. aware of his past (and in possession of some memories of his life as Jesus). SPOILER: A bit of twist on the author's part: It turns out that it was not Judas who betrayed Jesus, but John the Baptist. John, for some unknown reason, has never died, but has lived for more than 2000 years. He has now gained a group of followers who believe they are doing the work of God, but are actually adding to the destruction of the world. By the end of the book, Christopher has gone off into the wilderness for 40 days at which time he returns, confronts his nemesis at the U.N., and seems poised to take the reigns. The author is doing a good job of keeping me guessing as to whether Christopher will turn out to be the anti-Christ or if he's taking a less conventional stance with regard to interpretation of Biblical prophecy. The book is part one of a three book series, and I can only guess where this story is headed. Needless to say, I'm rather inclined to keep reading.
Geographical Setting: New York, Israel, Milan, Pakistan, Rome, Washington D.C.
Time Period: 1978-2019
Series: Book 1 of the Christ Clone Trilogy
Appeal characteristics:
The draw here is definitely the interpretation of prophecy. As with LaHaye and Jenkins’ Left Behind series, I was most fascinated with how the author pictured prophecy being played out since I’m quite confident that the story will stick to the standard apocalyptic framework that ends with Armageddon and the Second Coming. BeauSeigneur incorporates a lot of history to make his story even more compelling, going to far as to include footnotes not only of Biblical passages, but of news items related to the Shroud of Turin. There is a group of main players, but side characters are slowly woven into the story and become either adversaries or accomplices of God’s plan. The third category of character (i.e. those who have an inkling of what’s going on but who aren’t necessarily players) is best represented by the protagonist, Decker, who is working as press secretary for the Secretary-General of the United Nations by the end of the book. BeauSeigneur seems pre-occupied with making his story as plausible as possible not only by using footnotes, but by using regional spellings of words and dropping brand-name regional commodities like Israeli potato chips. Consider it a less straight-forward, yet more intriguing Left Behind, a series that definitely looses so chutzpah after the first three books.
Read-alikes: Anyone who enjoyed In His Image should definitely read Birth of an Age, the second book in The Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur. Those who enjoy Christian fiction that deals with the Apocalypse should read Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days, which is the first book in the Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Readers who are interested in Christian Fiction with with Science Fiction aspects to it should consider reading Karen Hancock's Arena, a Christy Award winner. This story deals with a woman who is sent into an alien world and must find some way to escape it. Anyone who was intrigued by the idea of cloning Jesus will want to read Jeff Long's Year Zero. This story is about a plague that is threatening mankind, and the only way to stop it is to clone someone from the time of Jesus and possibly cloning Jesus himself. Another excellent book dealing with cloning Jesus is The Jesus
Thief by J.R. Lankford. This story is remarkably similar to In His Image in that it is about cloning Jesus from DNA found on the Shroud of Turin. Finally, those readers wanting to learn more about the Shroud of Turin may want to consider The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-to-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic by Bernard Ruffin. This is a non-fiction account of the history of the Shroud of Turin and the scientific debate surrounding it.
Red Flags: no overt sexuality, overly harsh language, or graphic violence—though violence is implied, and the word “damn” is used. Lots of people die in nuclear explosions and the beginnings of the "plagues" are implied
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