Arlon Stubbe

The OUTCAST Arlon Stubbe

Two men with stories to tell, one with a mission to write it all down. Both stories center on yet another man's life . . . and death. Travel with LUKAS of Antioch into the hill country of Perea to meet the second man, called an "Outcast" by some. Hear their stories and let yourself be shaped by what is said. You know their names. But there's more, much more. Bar-Abbas is one of the characters in the New Testament about whom we know almost nothing. Other than brief gospel references to him as a 'bandit' or 'robber' and a murderer, history has nothing to tell us about him. So, who was he? What kind of crimes did he commit that resulted in a death sentence, and what impact did it have on him when he was released from prison and spared execution in favor of Jesus of Nazareth? Many novels have been written, trying to answer those questions, but most of them fail to adequately deal with all of them. The OUTCAST offers a fuller treatment of Bar-Abbas' life and the possible impact on him of being freed. In addtion, how did the Evangelist named Luke gather all the material for his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles? The Q source, or Quelle as it's known in scholary circles, answers much of that question when it comes to the Gospel of Luke. But Luke travelled with St. Paul and got firsthand information from observing what that apostle did. It stands tor eason that he must also have travelled throughout Galilee and Judah to gather more firsthand details for his writings. Connect Luke with Bar-Abbas, as The OUTCAST does, and we get a compelling sense of what might have gone on between those two, if they'd met, and what a fuller account of Bar-Abbas' life might offer. Like other works, this book is fiction. Yet it offers a possible interpretation of events that spurs the imagination and, if nothing else, raises issues that might otherwise go unnoticed. Enjoy this fairly brief work that brings together the best of scholarship and faithful creativity!