Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1 and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top five grand prizes!

*The hunt BEGINS on 3/18 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.

*Hunt through our loop using Chrome, Safari, or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).

*There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt–you have all weekend (until Sunday, 3/21 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way. Our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.

*Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors (including me!) are offering additional prizes along the way.

I’m Angela Hunt, the author of more than 150 books, and today I’m featuring my upcoming release A WOMAN OF WORDS. It’s the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, after the resurrection. Where did she live? What did she do with her time? What happened to her?

Here’s a synopsis: Disciple Matthew, a former tax collector, is invited to work with Peter, James, and John in Jerusalem. He dreams of preaching and performing miracles like his fellow apostles, but he finds his dreams postponed because of a request from Yeshua’s mother. Well aware of the passing years, Mary asks Matthew to help her record the stories of Yeshua while the eyewitnesses are still alive. Reluctantly, he agrees, though the longer he and Mary work together, the more difficult their task becomes. Not only are they pressured by opposition from friends and foes alike, but Gaius Caesar, better known as Caligula, is determined to raise a statue of himself in the Holy Temple, even if it means killing every man in Israel. As Matthew works to save his people, Mary encourages him to come to terms with issues from his past. When they finally near the completion of their project, Matthew realizes that the job he reluctantly accepted might be his God-given destiny.

I believe–with good evidence–that Mary wrote–or worked with a writer–to record all the stories of Jesus. What made me think Mary would do this?

I asked myself, Who witnessed most of Jesus’ life? Who had firsthand knowledge of His birth, His youth, and the beginning, middle, and end of His ministry?

I could think of only one person: Mary. His siblings were with him a great deal, but they were not disciples and did not follow Him around Galilee. His adoptive father, Joseph, was most likely deceased by the time Jesus began His ministry. But Mary was present during His conception, birth, youth, and ministry. She traveled with Him. She was with Him at the cross and must have been close to the other women when they learned of His resurrection. More than any other living person, Mary was best equipped to tell the story of Jesus.

But could she write? Were women literate in the first century?

Salome Alexandra, queen of Judea until her death in 67 BCE, established schools for girls. The women may not have been as formally educated as most men (after all, they also had to learn how to run a home, cook, sew, and handle a host of other domestic duties), but they were literate.

a hebrew text from an old jewish prayer book

I am sure Mary could write. She must have felt intimidated by so large a task (I know the feeling!), so I had her enlist Matthew, who would have spoken Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, the common language of the day. As a tax collector, Matthew would have been fluent in languages and skilled with pen and ink. He would have frequently written reports for his Roman overseers. He would have friends—or at least acquaintances—among the Romans, and he would have been shunned by his fellow Jews.

Matthew’s involvement in the writing of an early biography of Jesus is substantiated by the words of Paipas, a leader in the early church who lived from AD 70–160. In an ancient document, he noted, “Matthew . . . arranged the sayings [of Jesus] in the Hebrew language.” Since Papias could not be referring to the Gospel of Matthew, which was written in Greek, he may have been referring to a Hebrew biography of Jesus. If Mary did not have a hand in the writing, she must have been interviewed for the work.

Such was the genesis of the idea for A Woman of Words.

Here are the Stop #17 Basics:

If you’re interested, you can order A Woman of Words on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, Wal-Mart, Target, or from your local bookstore.

CLUE TO WRITE DOWN: ARE

LINK TO STOP #18, THE NEXT STOP ON THE LOOP: ELIZABETH GODDARD’S PAGE.

But WAIT! Before you go, I am offering an additional prize: two copies of my latest gift book, SIT. STAY. FOREVER, the perfect gift to celebrate the life of a beloved dog. All you have to do is follow me on Facebook. 🙂 If you live outside the United States, I will send you an epub file of the book.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

1 Comment

  1. Ferne Knauss

    Thank you for your participation in the Spring Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Giveaway. It is always exciting to learn of more authors to add to my to-read list when multiple authors participate in giveaways together. Thank you!

    Reply

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