The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New

Testament World

Bruce Longeneker

Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003.

192 pp. Paperback. $16.99.

Reviewed by Matt O’Reilly

Bruce Longenecker's The Lost Letters of Pergamum is a work of historical fiction

that recounts the events of the final year of the life of Antipas, a Roman
nobleman. While fictional, the story grows out of the tradition attached to the
martyrdom of Antipas mentioned in Revelation 2:13. As Senior Lecturer in New
Testament studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Longenecker's
imagination is fueled by his expertise in the history of Christian origins. This
book provides a creative and fascinating story within which is couched an
introduction to the historical situation in which the New Testament was
composed and early Christianity began to spread.

The story is told through the medium of a collection of letters written during in
the year 92 AD. The letters were the correspondence of Antipas and Luke, the
writer of the third gospel. They recount the thoughts of Antipas as he read
through Luke's gospel and discussed its interpretation and implications with its
author. These letters include a wealth of introductory information about events
and figures of the period such as gladiatorial games, the Pharisees, Josephus,
Pilate, and the emperor Domitian. Perhaps one of the book's most important
contributions is the picture painted of life in the culture of honor and shame and
the practice of benefaction in the Roman world. Unfortunately, this cultural
context too often remains little known outside of scholarly study of the Bible.
Longenecker provides the average reader with a glimpse of how a Roman
nobleman might have understood and received the teachings of Jesus which
challenged the systems of civic honor and benefaction. The author also provides
vivid descriptions of the characteristics of the earliest life and struggle of the
church. All of this historical information is conveyed creatively in the fictional
letters such that I was often so caught up in the story that I forgot I was reading
first century history. Along the way, the author proposes interpretation of and
historical insight into many passages in the gospel of Luke. I highly recommend
this book as an introduction to the historical and social context within which
Christianity was born and the New Testament written. Enjoy!