The Tomb Builder

By E. James Harrison

Reviewed by Russell Y. Anderson
On 5/22/2011

Bonneville Books (an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc.), 2011 Paperback:
151 pages
ISBN-10: 1-59955-797-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-59955-797-7 Price: $11.99

Reviewed by Russell Y Anderson for the Association for Mormon Letters

I approach historical fiction with some hesitancy. It is nice to learn more history, but does the fiction part mean that you have just added more confusion to your historical understanding. I was surprised to learn how little we know about Joseph of Arimathea.

"Joseph's role in the life of Christ was so significant that each of the Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) mentions him by name, yet we know virtually nothing about him. Biblical scholars have debated for centuries where he came from, for there is no record of a city, town or village--either anciently or in the present--that has ever been known as Arimathea. In fact, the only reference to 'Arimathea' in the entire Bible is in connection with Joseph's name" (p. vii)

The author has the task to create a story that doesn't detract from the life of the Savior and yet gives us a glimpse of the type of man Joseph might have been. What types of sacrifices did he have to make? The story suggests that he has to make serious choices. His wife tells him, "It can't be like this, Joseph. You must decide. It is either the Jesus or me, but you can't have both." (p. 9)

Since the story involves the final days in the life of Jesus, I would like to have seen more of the trial and details of those events. But I can understand why the author chose to limit some of those details so we didn't lose track of Joseph and his story.

We know Joseph "went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus" (Matt. 27:58). It is interesting to see how the author lets us understand how humiliating that might have been as Joseph is shown in to see Pilate and Pilate doesn't even turn to face him.

There are many elements of the story that I don't think fit exactly with the events as I understand them, but that doesn't have a significantly impact. This book gives us an interesting portrayal of the tomb that was constructed for Joseph and the turmoil in the life of this man who gave up so much so that Christ might have a fit burial.

One of the nice things about historical fiction is that it gives a chance to bring other people into the narrative. This book provides a very interesting idea about how the wives of Nicodemus, Joseph and Pilate might have played a larger role than we know about from the scriptural accounts.


Copyright 2011