Rating: 
Summary: The greatest story ever told in the most boring way
Review: What could be more exciting for a scholar of religions than to find a lost gospel, written by one of the disciples of Jesus?
Certainly not this book. In a plot that's been tried before, William Barnhardt refuses to take truly daring chances. He instead relies on stereotypes and unrealistic plot turns. The characters were predictable, the plot devices unbelievable, and the final payoff unfullfilling.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, exciting and educational - all in 1 novel!
Review: In the last 3 years I've read this book 3 times - something I've done with no other book in my life. Each time you read it, or hear a friend describe it, or discuss it with other enthused readers, you find things in it you'd either never noticed, or just plain forgotten were there. The line between the fact and fiction is food for endless debate with anybody who has any interest at all the the lore of all traditional religions. Wonderful book
Rating:
Summary: The consummate examination of faith and modern man.
Review: GOSPEL tells the multi-layered story of the search for a lost manuscript that "might" just prove or disprove Jesus as the Messiah. Morever, within the story, the "lost gospel" is provided to the reader as insight into the years following Christ's death. The expanse of the book in time is matched by the march across 4 continents of 3 scholars determined to find and translate the writings.
This wondrous work features the kind of examination of faith seen rarely in literature. Much like the consideration of abortion in CIDER HOUSE RULES by John Irving, we see here how religion reflects in peoples and cultures. Each character's faith journey provides an unforgettable connection into the true meanings of faith and religion. The ending leaves the reader truly in the midst of the imponderable question where man leaves off and God begins
Rating:
Summary: Great winter read? This book is just plain GREAT!!!
Review: GOSPEL sent me to the back of my bookshelf for a long perusal of my Bible.
That hasn't happened in 15 years. But the quantity of fact found within the fiction made me only more curious for the truth.
And if you aren't that particular about the facts... then read the book anyway because the characters will suck you in and never leave that quiet corner in your mind where you sometimes contemplate changing your life. You never know... You might find that your life has already changed.
Rating:
Summary: A book of the highest caliber!
Review: Wilton Barnhardt intersperses so much fact with the fiction that it is impossible not to believe the unbelievable. I followed his characters and his line of reasoning in and out of so many dangerous places that I almost felt that the "End Times" were actually coming. Lucy's metamorphasis and O'Hanarahan's sputtering gruffness, as well as the exciting and intellectual locals make this a wonderful re-read... even though you know exactly how it comes out. Here's hoping that Mr. Barnhardt is done researching his new book and well on the way to the publishers
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS GREAT FICTION. Change your mind, if not your life.
Review: This is a literate adventure story/history/travelouge.This epic fiction has a non-fiction index, and that says a lot. Great winter read.
Rating:
Summary: A great book and he used to write for S.I.
Review: From the opening words, "I had lost my faith, Josephus.", to the final page, GOSPEL is a high action, high suspense, high humor chase across Europe, Africa, and North America. The characters are lovingly developed and intelligently written. Father O'Hanrahan is representative of all that is wrong and in many ways right with organized religion. And, you feel all the growing pains Lucy Dantan feels as she is drug along, or tags along, on a great adventure. In the past three years, I've read this book as many times and I'm in the middle of it again right now. What other book could keep you turning page after page while teaching you religious history and which saints had what cut off. Barnhardt's new gospel is truly an inspired work.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious bunk
Review: I managed to get most of the way through "Gospel" before giving up entirely. Barnhart may indeed have been to all the places he mentions in the book, but his gross mis-characterization of the University of Chicago at the start of the book really put me off.
I'm an alumnus of the U of C, and:
1) It is not a Catholic school; in fact, it was founded as a Baptist university and is now, of course, non-denominational
2) The "School of Theology" is actually the Divinity School, one of the best around, and does not have undergraduate students
3) Puttng a Catholic girl from Bridgeport at the U of C is about as appropriate as sending a white racist from Kentucky to Howard University.
Perhaps Mr. Barnhart confused the U. of C. with Notre Dame, 90 miles down the road in South Bend, IN? I seriously doubt he's ever set foot in the city of Chicago.
There have already been a number of comments about the trite stereotypes of the two main characters, so I'll skip over that. However, Mr. Barnhart's theology is a bit suspect, along with his knowledge of places.
This book, which I read several years ago, does share one thing with The Da Vinci Code. Its author is almost as smart as he thinks he is.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and funny
Review: Simply put, I did not enjoy this book as much as some of the other reviewers obviously did. As it contains more that 700 pages, the book provides a virtual around-the-world-in-80-days adventure quest involving a young graduate student in search of her errant mentor, an aging theology professor financed by the University of Chicago to lay hands on a missing gospel of one of the original disciples of Jesus. Sadly, the novel's most troubled aspect is in its trite characterizations. Lucy, the grad student represents the quintessential Catholic school girl laden with Irish Catholic guilt while Paddy, the professor in his deluded quest for notarity in the academic world, soaks himself with alcohol from all points of the globe. The only character worthwhile, the Holy Spirit, speaks in asides which are insightful and mildly amusing.
However, if you can get past the rather annoying personalities of the two main characters, focus on the gospel itself that heads each of the major chapter breaks, and enjoy how its revelation awakens the protagonists to their real missions in life, then the book can be called successful.
I was recommended this book after having read the www.Amazon.com reviews of "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. I must say that I was mislead; the books have little in common--Brown's style is much breezier, more in the adventure/screenplay genre--his focus is mainly on the unfolding mystery. Barnhardt's epistle deals more with the change in his characters than the actual plot--I think I would have liked more plot and less character. Barnhardt's resolution at the last chapter called "The Promised Land" mercifully comes off as campy in an otherwise seemingly serious tale of two lost souls that find their way back to an ever patient Holy Spirit.
Barnhardt's research combined with his imagination makes the book seem factual--it is his immense database of knowledge that urges the reader forward through to the end.
Recommended to those who like conspiracy theories and hidden ancient mysteries.
Rating:
Summary: The most entertaining book that I've ever read
Review: "Gospel" is fascinating! The story is one heck of a romp through
Europe, The Middle East, Africa and the early Church. I learned so much about Christendom and how our traditions that we take for "Gospel" came from that I've read it three times and have given the book to scores of friends, none of whom has disappointed. The footnotes, while they may bog down the narrative a bit, are so illuminating and compelling that you have to stop at each one and absorb them carefully. Do yourself a favor. Read this!
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