The Word (novel)

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The Word
The Word - Novel Dustcover.jpg
First edition cover.
Author Irving Wallace
LanguageEnglish
Genre Mystery
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date
March 27, 1972
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages576 (first edition)
ISBN 0-6712-1153-6

The Word is a 1972 mystery thriller novel by American writer Irving Wallace, which explores the origin of the New Testament of the Bible.

Contents

Plot

The plot of the novel is based around the discovery within Roman ruins of a new gospel written by Jesus' younger brother, James in the first century. In the gospel, many facts of Jesus' life, including the years not mentioned in the Bible, are revealed not to be as factual as they were once thought to be. Steven Randall, a divorced public relations executive running his own company in New York City, is the man hired by New Testament International, an alliance of American and European Bible publishers, to give publicity to James' Gospel as published by them. The project has been top-secret for six years, and now it is about to be unveiled to a world long in need[ according to whom? ] of Christian revival. However, as Steven gets more involved in the project he runs into several questionable circumstances, as radical clerics centered in Central Europe oppose the publication of the document, since it would give ammunition for the conservative churches to keep the flow of worship from the top to the bottom, instead of bringing the faith to the masses. A struggle for control of the World Council of Churches, the suspicious absence in the project of archeologist Prof. Augusto Monti, the original discoverer and whose daughter Angela is a potential love interest for Steve and the potential notion that the newly discovered gospel itself is a forgery made in the 20th century instead of a legitimate historical document, all are guaranteed to make Steve question the worth of the new job he is undertaking, and the newly re-found faith in God he acquired along with it.

Locales

Topics

Wallace touches on several topics related to the origin of the Bible, and current issues of Christianity, while writing the book:

Reception

The Word was a New York Times best seller. It spent 31 weeks on the list, two of which were at #1. [1]

TV miniseries

The book was made into an eight-hour miniseries (4 episodes - 2 hr. each) that aired on CBS Nov 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, 1978. It starred David Janssen as Steven, Kate Mulgrew as Steven's first lover Darlene (renamed Tony in the TV version), Florinda Bolkan as Angela, James Whitmore as George Wheeler, Eddie Albert as Ogden Towery, Geraldine Chaplin as Naomi Dunn, Hurd Hatfield as Cedric Plummer, John Huston as Nathan Randall, John McEnery as Florian Knight, Ron Moody as LeBrun, Diana Muldaur as Claire Randall, Janice Rule as Barbara Randall, Martha Scott as Sarah Randall, Nicol Williamson as Maertin de Vroome, and Mario Scaccia as Prof. Monti. Tessie O'Shea, a British singer who does not appear in the book, makes a cameo as herself. [2] A cut, 3 hour version was released on VHS in 1996. The entire miniseries has never been released on home video in any form.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douay–Rheims Bible</span> English-language Catholic Bible

The Douay–Rheims Bible, also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church. The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty-seven years later in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees plus the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament, was published in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bauckham</span> British theologian (born 1946)

Richard John Bauckham is an English Anglican scholar in theology, historical theology and New Testament studies, specialising in New Testament Christology and the Gospel of John. He is a senior scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Robert Beckford is a British academic theologian and currently Professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester, and has associate roles as a Professor of Black Theology at The Queen's Foundation, and a Professor of Theology at VU University, Amsterdam. His documentaries for both the BBC and Channel 4 have caused debate among the religious community, instigated policy change and won national and international awards.

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References

  1. "Adult New York Times Best Seller Lists for 1972". Hawes.com. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  2. "The Word".