The Gospel of the Twin

By: Ron Cooper

Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman

An ancient legend claimed that Jesus had a twin brother named Thomas. An extra-biblical text that dates from perhaps as early as the late first century CE (which would make it the same age as the biblical gospels) claimed to be the secret teachings of Jesus as recorded by "Judas Didymos Thomas". The Greek word "Didymos" and the Aramaic word "Thomas" both mean "twin."

While only several Greek fragments of this manuscript, dating to the early second century CE, actually exist, a manuscript written in Coptic from the fourth century was discovered in 1945. This gospel of Thomas contains 114 purported sayings of Jesus, many of which resemble passages in the New Testament. Drawing upon years of extensive research in early Jewish and Christian history and recent work on the historical Jesus, acclaimed novelist Ron Cooper focuses on Thomas of Nazareth, old and bitter after years of self-imposed exile from his homeland, who returns to Jerusalem to write a book about his identical twin brother, Jesus. Disgusted by how others have perverted his brother's message, Thomas wants to set the record straight. But in doing so, he must try to unravel the enigma that was Jesus.

Provocative, inventive, and sure to be controversial, The Gospel of the Twin draws upon scriptural and ancient, non-biblical sources to present an imaginative version of the founding of Christianity through scenes of violence, tenderness, and mistaken identity that will change the way the world thinks about Jesus. For fans of such books as Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan, Killing Jesus by Bill O'Reilly, and even such Dan Brown novels as The Da Vinci Code, Cooper's The Gospel of the Twin may also appeal to listeners of such sophisticated Bible scholars as Bart Erhman, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and Elaine Pagels, all of whom have written academic works as well as books more accessible to the general listener.

©2015 Ron Cooper (P)2015 Bancroft Press

An interesting perspective on biblical terms...

Would you consider the audio edition of The Gospel of the Twin to be better than the print version?

The narrator gave life to the insightful message this book was intended to portray. That integral message could not have been achieved without the audio version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jesus because he found insight in the most dire of circumstances. His enigmatic thinking gave great purpose to this book.

What does Charles Henderson Norman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He did a great job! His voice brought the story alive.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I loved it! I wish it could have been longer. The message was invaluable.

Any additional comments?

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

Extremely thought provoking read.

If you could sum up The Gospel of the Twin in three words, what would they be?

Not long enough.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Gospel of the Twin?

Returning to his home and finding only his brother in a mostly deserted village.

Which scene was your favorite?

Conceiving the idea of using Thomas as the risen Jesus to promote their ideas.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I would have listened to it in one sitting , but never an option for me.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was provided by the author, at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast."
The author being a biblical scholar put a lot of credence into this book. To me the fact that I was disappointed when it came to an end means a good book. That was the only reason I gave it 4 stars, I wanted more. Who knows how much of it could have actually happened.

Unique take on the familiar Gospel story

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a fan of biblical historical fiction (I know, oxymoron, right). This story follows the Gospel narrative from the New Testament pretty closely. But the perspective is not from just any follower of Jesus but, rather, from the perspective of his identical twin brother, Thomas. This perspective allows well known sayings of Jesus and certain events to take on a whole new meaning, sometimes just turning out to be normal mundane events that were re-interpreted because the Gospel writer in the Bible didn't know the inside story or behind-the-scenes events. I especially appreciated the author's ability to take the often limited descriptions of Jesus' disciples and create fully formed, seemingly realistic characters. I highly recommend this story to anyone who is not going to get hung up on Biblical literalism or doctrinal heresy. Whether religious or not familiarity with the Gospel accounts in the Bible is not required but does add to the humor of the story. Oh, I forgot to mention. . .this story is quite humorous while not being completely irreverent like Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal".

I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator. He has kind of a gruff down home drawl that didn't initially seem to fit with this story. But I got used to it and it didn't detract from the story.

I am supposed to disclose: This audiobook was provided by the author at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

Biblical Fiction more believable than the Bible!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

No. It was a well thought through book with a failry origional (to me anyway) idea. As we are all familiar with the Bible and it's characters it gave the whole book an oddly familiar feeling, and I felt the author put that to good use.

If you’ve listened to books by Ron Cooper before, how does this one compare?

No this is my first book from Ron, I will look for more from him.

Have you listened to any of Charles Henderson Norman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes I have, and I must say I like how he narrates this book, his performance is as good as the others I have listened to from him. Charles has a nice even voice and is easy on the ears whilst listening.

Did The Gospel of the Twin inspire you to do anything?

It made me think a little more about the stories we have come to know out whole lives reading the Bible, and the many things in it that don't make sense, seem to make a little more sense if we look at it through the eyes of Ron Cooper.

Any additional comments?

This is an interesting book whether you are religious or not. It's very very clever, and well written; historical fiction.

I received this book for free in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Imaginative, for sure. And a bit controversial.

Though this can be called a biblical story, it is more a creative retelling than a faithful narration. Thus there is a lot of inventive filling in the blanks for explaining the miracles and even the resurrection. The basic idea in the book is that Jesus was a regular human being who intended to be a political rebel against the Roman government. But he wasn’t ready to go against them with swords, rather with his words. Thus he begins preaching for a peaceful change. Thus the entire biblical story turns into one of Machiavellian politics and conspiracies. There are some elements of satire and humour but the overall impact is more of a shrewd politico-dramatic thriller.
The plot keeps going ahead at a steady pace but the Indian elements that keep coming up at random points damaged the core focus of the story and distracted me a lot. Also, some of the words sounded anachronistic.
My faith isn’t dependent on such retellings, so I just distanced myself from my belief system and read this as a novel. If, however, you can’t compartmentalise the believer in you from the reader in you, you might be too enraged by the content because it is quite blasphemous. I was better prepared for the scandalous Christian fictionalisation than the hackneyed Indian one because the latter was totally uncalled for.
The audiobook clocks at 9 hrs 20 min and is narrated by Charles Henderson. He does an excellent job and his voice suits that of Thomas wonderfully. He also doesn’t go out of his way to provide distinct accents for the multitudinous characters but just reads them in a natural way. I enjoyed his narration.
All in all, 3 stars from me. I liked this fictional twist to “the greatest story ever told” but I wish it had stuck to the gospel narrative and not added Indian masalas.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.