Temple

15 thoughts on “Temple”

1. Man, those religious zealots sure do get pissed off when they are not receiving their tithe of 10%.

2. This is one those experimental shorts. I'm curious about how people react to the story – and that's all that it is. I spent some time researching the period and hope that I'm close to the mark from that perspective. The point of view of a Roman soldier was one that I felt wouldn't offend.

3. Nice little history lesson there… Well done! :-)

4. Good work. I enjoyed that.

5. Maybe I should have fleshed it out a bit more. It's difficult to tell how far to go and where to go with a few paragraphs on a topic that so many people view so differently.

6. Thank you Michael.

7. Entirely new point of view. Very good.

8. I thought that some historical fiction from unexpected perspectives would be fun to do.

9. I finished White Power and was quite entranced. Brought back old memories. My first duty station in 1969 was Cannon AFB and I was assigned to the 524 TFS. I probably worked on some of the planes in the story.

10. I feel like I’ve not only been treated to a great short story but also a history lesson on armour. You’re so knowledgeable.

    I enjoyed the different characters viewpoints and very fitting for a Sunday Sermonette.

11. The Roman soldier end of it was pretty much spot on I believe. I think perhaps that they would not have been allowed in the Temple courtyard though. The Temple had its own guards comprised of priests and Levites who controlled the gates and any access within the Mount. As an officially sanctioned religion, the Jews could run their Temple as they saw fit without interference from Rome as long as taxes were paid and they kept the zealots under a lid. But Roman soldiers inside the Mount? Perhaps not.

12. While everything that you say is true, the Romans taxed the profit and had their own stake in the exchange of currency which lay at the heart of the transactions at Passover. My take on it – a view from a Roman Auxiliary, may or may not bear on history. Such is the nature of historical fiction. We know that at times of political unrest that Rome kept it's soldiers visible. Though there was no unusual unrest in that timeframe (the Judas of Gamala revolt and execution was 25 +/- years past by then), this activity took place in the "Court of the Gentiles". For that reason, I felt that putting two squads of Roman soldiers present to show presence — might be plausible — maybe not.

13. The armor portion of the lesson (no segmentada, as most artist renderings show) was likely the most accurate part of this historical fiction. But you never know.

14. Irrespective, Roman Auxila, had they been present, would not have interfered in the transactions – or of the disruptions caused by Jesus. As you point out, the Temple did have its own guards who were present to keep order. Study of the details of Roman rule elsewhere (mostly from Pliny's writings) suggested that they would have had a reminder present of who's who. If you recall, it was Pilate (I believe the following year) who put Roman standards on the Temple and the Sanhedrin went crazy because of it. For all of these reasons, I went in the direction that I did.

    It's always touchy to write on the Life of Jesus and anything that involves that time period because one must infer in an epoch that is so closely studied. I wrote a book (over a decade ago) about the involvement of the British Secret Service in America during the period from 1850-1865. Naturally, it is a period of American history where there is VAST interest and documentation, but winnowing out details of clandestine activity this far in the past was difficult and called for areas of speculation (educated guesses). Same sort of thing with this short.

15. Thanks Don. It's very nice of you to say. I always appreciate kind comments such as those.

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