Jesus and The Lamb

Earl Arnett has constructed a “fifth gospel” that presents a plausible version of Jesus’ life that includes a twin brother. There are no miracles or transcendental events in this gospel--just Jesus, his friends and family interacting in a highly volatile Palestine ruled by Romans and royal oligarchs. He tells the Jesus story from the perspectives of a wide variety of historical and fictional characters: Salome, sister of Herod the Great; John the Baptizer, his mother Miriam, brother James, Mary Magdalen, disciples John, Peter and Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas. The narrative also includes encounters with a cynic and a priest of Pan. Established church figures in both the Catholic and Protestant worlds will probably not like this gospel, since there are no virgin births or resurrections. Instead, Jesus struggles to prepare for a divine Kingdom in the passionate belief that the Jewish God will intervene in history and establish justice for humankind. Arnett believes that “Jesus and The Lamb” stays true to a Christian message but modifies it for relevance in a secular age. Readers may even find a source of comfort and inspiration.

Despite lingering notions of “gospel truth” many scholars and students of Christianity now recognize that the four gospels of the New Testament tell an incomplete, partly fictional story. With this recognition, writer Earl Arnett has constructed a “fifth gospel” that presents another, plausible version of Jesus’ life that includes a twin brother. There are no miracles or transcendental events in his story--just Jesus, his friends and family interacting in a highly volatile Palestine ruled by Romans and royal oligarchs. There are surprises in the narrative that contradict traditional Christian theology, but the reader will find a more human Jesus and twists on "history" that remove some of the puzzles in the traditional gospels. He tells Jesus’ story from the perspectives of a wide variety of historical characters: Salome, sister of Herod the Great; John the Baptizer, his mother Miriam, brother James, Mary Magdalen, disciples John, Peter and Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas. Fictional characters, including a cynic and priest of Pan, add new perspectives to Jesus' message. Established church figures in both the Catholic and Protestant worlds will probably not like this gospel, since there are no virgin births or resurrections. Instead, Jesus struggles to prepare for a divine Kingdom in the passionate belief that the Jewish God will intervene in history and establish justice for humankind. Arnett believes that “Jesus and The Lamb” stays true to a Christian message but modifies it for relevance in a secular age. Readers may even find a source of comfort and inspiration.

Earl Arnett is a former Baltimore Sun reporter, feature writer and critic who has lived in Maryland since 1966. He spent his childhood in Indiana, California, the District of Columbia and Austria and graduated from high school in Tokyo, Japan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Wabash College and spent three years with the Army Intelligence Corps in Baltimore, Los Angeles and Mainz, Germany. Following his resignation from the Sun in 1980, he became a music entrepreneur with his wife, singer Ethel Ennis, and later entered the academic world as teacher of writing, liberal arts and music criticism at the University of Baltimore and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He is the author of three books: “Send Me Up a Blanket” (humorous recollections with Daniel Joseph), “Lovely Lady” (modern fiction) and “Maryland, A New Guide to the Old Line State” (with Bob Brugger and Ed Papenfuse) as well as the producer of several record albums. He lives with his wife in Baltimore, where he now makes his living as a free lance writer, multimedia producer and occasional consultant in community development.