A Time To Act

A debut novel fleshes out one of the greatest stories ever told. Jesus is the foundation on which the New Testament is built, and it is his life story that both initiates and fuels the Christian Bible. Yet there is an argument to be made that the Apostle Paul—even more than Jesus—is the motor that drives Christian Scripture. No one writes more books in the Bible, and no one else is more responsible for both interpreting and shaping the spiritual messages of the early Christian church. Yet readers know little of the life of this biblical figure beyond a few scraps, and so many tantalizing questions remain. Who was this dynamo? What was he like? What drove the man who drove the growth of early Christianity? These and other questions propel this fictional extrapolation of the life of Paul—a 600-plus-page opus that puts flesh on the Bible’s bare-bones biography of this hero of the first-century Christian church. Readers get a glimpse of the author’s method in his retelling of the Scriptures’ first mention of the young Paul. In the book of Acts, Paul is present at the stoning of the Apostle Stephen—often considered the Christian church’s first martyr. In Acts, Paul is little more than a footnote, a “young man” at whose feet the madding crowd dumps its coats. In this novel, however, Shaul (Paul) is the instigator, the one who brings charges against Stefanos (Stephen) and who heaves the first stone. When the others throw their garments down, they do so as “a token of protection, ritually and publicly attesting to the chief accuser’s truth.” This is a clever move—and an ingenious reading of Scripture—but it also makes the young Shaul the captain of his own fate. Throughout this story—and others Knight (A Time to Hear, 2016) makes from whole cloth—Paul is an intriguing, potent, thoughtful force of nature, and readers will likely find that they cannot avert their eyes. The author leavens his thickly textured account with equal parts invention and respect. And best of all, he is true to the biblical original without slipping into a too-slavish devotion. Knight’s talent dazzles but never blinds. A devout yet deeply imaginative tale that focuses on the Apostle Paul.

This is an intriguing attempt to explore Paul’s many distinct personality traits, as a man at turns masterful, vengeful, proud, hateful, and brilliant.

In S. J. Knight’s A Time to Act, the life of the apostle Paul is chronicled from his birth through to the end of his first missionary journey, offering a fictionalized account of the first four decades of his adventures vividly rendered in a sweeping tale that combines themes of self-identity and religion.

The book explores the years of Paul’s life that are a matter of historical record, if details related to Paul specifically are scarce. The book fills in those gaps by crafting an ambitious portrait of this person whose writing profoundly shaped Christianity. As a child, Paul is shown as a gifted yet tormented student; later, he is a fiery rabbi bent on preserving the Jewish religion, until a vision of Jesus alters his mission. This vision leaves Saul, written here as Shaul, blind. After the disciple Ananias restores Shaul’s sight, he converts to Christianity as a fervent believer, joining the other disciples in spreading the new religion.

Though these events occur in the New Testament, in A Time to Act, Knight explores the possible months and years leading up to them by crafting hypothetical situations that help build Paul’s complex personality, such as scenes from Paul’s childhood where he is routinely bullied by classmates for his brilliance. His intellect is a great service to him later in the book, when his conversion work brings him into contact with mistrusting nonbelievers throughout the ancient world.

The story unfolds at a surprisingly quick pace, especially for this six-hundred-page volume. Paul moves quickly from one adventure to another, and the first forty years of his life are full of excitement, including war, religion, and miracles. Most of the major characters, such as the Christian disciples Ananias and Barnabas, appear in the New Testament, and they are well developed here: Paul is impetuous, fearless, and brilliant; Barnabas is Paul’s gracious sidekick; and various Romans are nasty and cruel.

It’s easy to follow the story, and the author’s style is simple yet direct—no unnecessary words or flowery phrases, but the tone is passionate and earnest as Paul and his companions travel across oceans, visit flourishing cities, and convert open-hearted people to the new religion. The dust jacket image—a massive flame leaping into a black sky—is an apt allusion to both Paul and the tumultuous adventures in the book. Through its examination of Paul’s adventures converting nonbelievers, the book is also about how he reconciles his own conversion to Christianity with his Jewish upbringing.

This is an intriguing attempt to explore Paul’s many distinct personality traits, as a man at turns masterful, vengeful, proud, hateful, and brilliant. Failure, redemption, and self-identity are thoroughly explored through explosive storytelling and historical dramatization that will make A Time to Act an appealing selection for conservative Christians interested in a new look at Paul the Apostle’s upbringing. BARBARA NICKLES

The Apostle Paul is one of the most important and intriguing figures in Christian history. Author S.J. Knight takes on this icon in the historical novel A Time to Act.

The author forewarns readers in the introduction that this is a work of fiction, so those looking for pinpoint accuracy are well-advised to set rigorous expectations aside. Knight uses historical and biblical fact as background in order to conjecture about how this historical figure came to be the man he was.

Paul (born Sh’aul) of Tarsus is unique in that he is a Jew with Roman citizenship and has studied in the Greek philosophical method. His father sends him to Jerusalem to study with one of the foremost rabbis, so young Sh’aul knows the Law inside and out. When he encounters an upstart group following the Nazarene desert preacher Jeshua, supposed to have risen from the dead, he begins to chase this rabble down in order to persecute them for not following the Law. But after a miraculous encounter on a desert road, he not only supports the preacher, but makes it his mission to spread Jeshua’s philosophy throughout the known world.

At 600+ pages, this book seems challenging at first glance, but it’s written in an accessible style that should appeal to older youth and adults. The main character is highly empathetic and readers will relate to his likeable portrait.

The story would, perhaps, be improved by more character development. Paul moves from scene to scene relatively quickly, and the narrative falls short of illuminating why and how he developed his way of thinking and acting. At times, the dialogue can feel stilted, and because Knight adds characters and events to biblical accounts, those well versed in Christian theology may prefer sticking to more traditional biographical works.

Despite such issues, however, readers willing to accept the premise of historical fact embellished in a fictional account will likely find this an engaging read overall.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.