Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World by Bruce W. Longenecker is a great read for anyone fascinated by the cultural settings of early Christianity.  Written as a fictitious exchange of letters, primarily between a nobleman named Antipas and Dr. Luke, the writer of Luke’s gospel.  The book is written in a way that is engages the imagination, yet maintains a level of historical accuracy that is seldom demonstrated in historical novels.

If you want to know more about the world in which the New Testament was written, but have a hard time getting excited about a text-book, this book is for you.  However, if you are a fan of fiction (and not a fan of history) you may quickly become bored.  The book is written to be a collection of letters and therefore reads as the voice of two or three narrators, thus leaving out the action, metaphors, etc. that normally accompany great fictional works.

If you are looking to get a broader picture of the customs and manners of the New Testament world in a way that is more engaging than a regular text-book, then  this book is for you.  The retail price of The Lost Letters of Pergamum is $17.99 (Paperback), and is available around the web in places like Amazon.com for $12.23. I gave it four stars.

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