The Betrayal : The Lost Life of Jesus: A Novel

There is an alternate story of the life of Jesus. One the early Church fathers found so menacing they outlawed the books that documented it, ordered them burned, and threatened anyone found copying them with death. International bestselling authors and award-winning archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear put more than thirty years of exhaustive research into this fascinating novel.

In A.D. 325, Brother Barnabas is a student of the ancient holy texts. These books paint a portrait of Jesus that is radical, heretical, and irresistible. In the writings of Mary Magdalene, Phillip, and James, Barnabas finds clues to a secret he must protect at all costs. But the Ecumenical Council of Bishops has just declared his cherished books "a hotbed of manifold perversity." Emperor Constantine has decreed that the documents must be burned and that anyone found copying them will be executed as a heretic.

Barnabas's monastery is attacked. Brother Barnabas flees with his trusted companions, but they are being followed, for the True Church cannot allow them to find the most sacred place on Earth. In fact, it will do anything to stop them...

“I've read many books on Jesus. Few range as widely or as deeply into his life and the early centuries of Christianity as The Betrayal. A passionate book about a man who changed the history of the world.” —Thomas Fleming, New York Times bestselling author of Lights Along the Way: Great Stories of American Faith

“This is a unique and creative telling of a vital story and offers a depth of knowledge and information unmatched in any other work of fiction.” —Lewis Perdue, New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Legacy