Book Review: The Last Disciple

I just finished reading "The Last Disciple," by Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer, the book I referenced in an earlier post as an alternative to the "faulty" theology presented in the Left Behind books by Terry LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

My bottom-line impression of the book is that it is, well, o.k. Not bad. Not great. Just o.k. Will I rush out to buy the next book in the series? No. If I happen to run across it on a sale rack somewhere, then I might buy it, but otherwise, I was not intrigued by the book to the point where I would go out and purchase other fiction books by these authors.

In my opinion, the book borrowed heavily from the storyline of "Quo Vadis" by Henryk Sienkiewicz, a much, much superior book without the theological trappings. As I read "The Last Disiciple," the parallels between the two were striking: the conscience-stricken Roman noble who secretly supports the Christian cause and who falls in love with a Jewish slave who is also a Christian (slight deviation from "Quo Vadis" -- Sienkiewicz had the Roman noble fall in love with a political hostage from Lygia who was a Christian). The Jewish slave is protected by a strong bodyguard, Maglorius, a retired gladiator who is described as a "bear" of a man (slight deviation -- in "Quo Vadis" the bodyguard is described as a "giant").

The intent of the authors to show the fault with the Left Behind books overshadowed the story line in the book. Where they had the opportunity to flesh out their characters and advance the plot, they took time to denigrate the theology of LaHaye and Jenkins. The main failure of the book, then, is that it is a theological book thinly disguised with a superficial fiction storyline.

It just wasn't a "fun" read. Whether you agreed with the theology in the Left Behind books or not, you have to admit they were fun to read. The LaHaye and Jenkins books were not deep writing and will never be considered classical literature or win a Nobel prize, but they were engaging and interesting and fun. You finished one book and were left with a hunger to know what happened to the characters in the next. True, once the series became popular and Jenkins and LaHaye sold out for money and stretched the original concept of seven books into 12, the story line dragged in places, but over all, they were a fun read that you could enjoy without really having to put a lot of thought into what you were reading. "The Last Disciple" was not that way.

As an analogy, I would say that if these book series were televison shows, the Left Behind books would be a reality series on a major network airing at 8:00 prime time, watched by the majority of the country. "The Last Disciple" would be the tell-all show about the reality series that aired at 11:00 pm on The Learning Channel -- it might be more factual, it might be absolutely correct in its story line, but it certainly isn't as much fun or as popular.