"I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me." These words, written by the apostle Paul to a first-century Christian named Philemon, are tantalizingly brief. Indeed, Paul's epistle to Philemon is one of the shortest books in the entire Bible. While it's direct enough in its way, it certainly leaves plenty to the imagination. A Week in the Life of a Slave is a vivid imagining of that story. From the pen of an accomplished New Testament scholar, the narrative follows the slave Onesimus from his arrival in Ephesus, where the apostle Paul is imprisoned, and fleshes out the lived context of that time and place, supplemented by numerous sidebars and historical images. John Byron's historical fiction is at once a social and theological critique of slavery in the Roman Empire and a gripping adventure story, set against the exotic backdrop of first-century Ephesus.
"We underestimate the power of a well-told story in order to reconstruct the historical drama of the New Testament. John Byron shows himself not only to be a fantastic storyteller but a creative scholar who provides cultural insights into Paul's world that we would not otherwise understand. We follow the slave Onesimus as he leaves his home, meets Paul, and eventually becomes a Christian leader re
Gary M. Burge, professor of New Testament, Calvin Theological Seminary
"John Byron has written an imaginative and historically informed novella about slavery in the ancient world, specifically in the early church. He takes you into the story of Paul, Philemon, Onesimus, the cities of Asia Minor, and the plight of slaves. It is filled with information about the ancient world, living conditions, gods and deities, travel, and what it was like to be a slave in the first
Michael F. Bird, lecturer in theology at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
