Theo, upon finding a fifth Gospel, becomes an overnight sensation. He is beloved, he is hated, but more than that he is an ordinary man propelled into extraordinary circumstances. Theo's pragmatic and plebeian concerns make the book funny, cringey and completely relatable. The ending, where Theo is confronted with the consequences of his actions, is marvellous: part redemption, part sorrow, part relief, it is the crystallization of what makes humanity beautiful after the worst has been described.
This is a little masterpiece that shows how our faith and beliefs shape our worlds. ( )

This is a short book, at 210 pages (Ironically - perhaps knowingly - matching the book's internal publisher who states that "The Fifth Gospel .... with wide margins and large spacing").

Theo is an academic, a translator of Aramaic, who believes - rightly or wrongly - that he's the best in the West, and probably the East too. He is remarkably un-self-aware, whilst also self-centred, so does not care for the curator of the Mosul museum, even after the man gets himself blown up whilst escorting Theo round the damaged museum. He doesnt really care that (rather why) his girlfriend has dumped him before he even returns to Canada. He cant understand why all the major publishers wont touch his translation, but gets angry when a small publishing house offers him *only* 250,000 dollars to publish what is, in effect, stolen goods. All he cares about is the translation of the 9 scrolls he found hidden in the belly of a pregnant woman statue.

Theo goes from zero to a sensation in the matter of weeks, and the effect of the book on the general population has unpredictable results. The scrolls found in the Mosul Museum, once translated, tell the story of Jesus from a first hand witness and it's not what people expected or hoped for. Jesus was a man, who was crucified, and died on a cross having emptied his bowels and bladder down the cross. He didnt die surrounded by his apostles, just with a number of lesser known women who turned up each day. He wasnt buried in a stone covered grave, and wasnt resurrected on the third day. The scribe of the scrolls was a gossip and a spy, who didnt really follow Jesus and was a sick, boring man when he wrote his story.

Theo goes on a promotional tour, and becomes almost Christ like (if you believe Malachi) in what happens: his word and fame spreads out of control; his Amazon reviews and unbelievable (and as badly spelt as you would think); people are prepared to kill others and themselves over what they believe the message is; and Theo finds himself captured, tied up, covered in crap and forced to denounce his work before being shot and let outside to die; thankfully he gets on his way to the hospital where it seems he dies, only to be brought back to life.

Not a laugh out loud book, but one that passes a day in reading and has some decent analogies

That was it? That was not enough.
I *liked* what was there, but the idea deserved, and *needed* more. ( )

Theo Griekenperl discovers some papyri hidden in a statue in a bombed museum in Iraq. They turn out to be an eyewitness account of Jesus's last days on earth written by Malchus, the high priest's servant mentioned in the gospels. Theo's life changes dramatically when he publishes his translation of the papyri.

It's an excellent black comedy satirising the publishing circus of "The Da Vinci Code" and other books purporting to expose the truth behind the gospels. But the connection with the story of Prometheus is tangential at best. There are some explicit references to "Prometheus Bound" at one point but otherwise it's a real stretch, you have to be really looking for it. But then maybe that's the point? ( )

The Fire Gospel is an entertaining short novel about a man who discovers an authentic set of scrolls written by a witness to Jesus' final days. The scrolls' author provides a number of shocking revelations about this time, particularly relating to Jesus' crucifixion, which shake a number of fundamental beliefs of Christianity. Reminding me a bit of an episode of Black Mirror, Michel Faber, The Fire Gospel's author, uses the publication of these scrolls in order to provide a hit-and-miss satire.

Don't get me wrong: I loved the book. I like the subject matter and appreciate the brevity with which it was told. But because The Fire Gospel was so short - closer to being a novella rather than a novel - it didn't really satisfy in all of the things it was trying to satirise. On one level, it is trying to rework and update the story of Prometheus from Greek mythology, who in his benevolence gave fire to mankind. This is compelling, but the parallels aren't always easy to see. The book also seems to be satirising the modern publishing industry, media sensationalism and, most importantly, religious hysteria and the unwillingness of people with 'faith' to open their eyes. But because it was so short, it didn't seem like it had said everything it wanted to say. What it did manage to say was interesting, but you finish the book wanting more. To this end, the book's ending didn't really wrap things up with the tautness one might expect. The final chapter or so didn't really make much sense to me.

It's interesting, funny (the Amazon reviews written in response to the scrolls' publications are a treat) and pleasantly satirical, but it was too short to do justice to all of its ideas. It felt like it was reaching for something more, and I wish it could have grabbed it. Whilst the story tried to rework the Greek myth of Prometheus, the book itself left me in a state of mind that reminded me more of the story of Tantalus, who was condemned by the gods to stand in a pool of water, with the fruit of a tree above always just out of his grasp and the water always receding every time he stooped to take a drink. ( )