The Last Gospel (novel)

Other language editions

Among its international editions The Last Gospel is titled Le Dernier Evangile in France and Il Vangelo proibito in Italy [3].

Plot Summary

1st century CE: the lame Claudius, not yet Emperor of Rome, travels in the year 23 to Galilee where he meets a charismatic young carpenter, Joshua of Nazareth, and is inspired by his philosophy of heaven on earth. Claudius records the carpenter’s words on a scroll that he takes back to Rome. Later, after the Nazarene is crucified, Claudius becomes emperor. He fakes his own death and disappears from imperial Rome to contrive an ingenuous plan to hide this secret gospel of Christ from those who would destroy it. 21st century: archaeologist Jack Howard and his team of researchers first learn of this last gospel when excavating Claudius’s secret library near Pompeii. Following the trail of clues Claudius has laid out, their quest takes them from Italy to London, California, and finally Jerusalem. All the while the mafia and elite Vatican henchmen are hot on their heels, willing to stop at nothing to prevent Christ’s true message from being discovered. Eventually they find the Gospel of Jesus. In the epilogue the whole scene of Claudius meeting Jesus is shown. The words of the Gospel are: " The Kingdom of heaven is on Earth. No one shall stand in the way of the word of God. There shall be no Priests. And there shall be no Temples."

Review

This novel suffers in comparison with The Da Vinci Code, which it so clearly emulates. Brown’s book, for all its flaws, inspired a wider debate on the mystery of Mary Magdalene and the divine feminine within Christianity. However Gibbins’s central theme that the historical Jesus would have been mortified by the ungodly deeds of power-mad churchmen through the ages seems rather obvious. Those who aren’t hungry for deeper revelations might enjoy the book as a fast-paced, escapist read.

Controversy

This book appropriates the title of a previous work of fiction by David Howard, published in 2000 by Discus Books:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Gospel-David-Howard/dp/1584441151/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-2&qid=1394674876

Howard's book has a curiously similar plot line about undiscovered Bible scrolls and the true words of Jesus. Publishers Weekly summarized the plot as follows:

"It is 2021, and Rafaela Baruch da Costa, a historical linguist, is poised for triumph. In her early 40s, she has finally met the man of her dreams and become pregnant. Moreover, Rafaela is part of a team of scholars about to publish the Isaac Papers. Recently released by the Vatican, these first-century scrolls make the Gnostic Gospels look tame. They reveal shocking truths about the New Testament era: Mary Magdalene had an affair with the disciple Thomas, for starters, and Peter framed Judas. But all is not well. Mohammed, Rafaela's lover, turns out to be married, and disgruntled believers leave threatening, obscene messages on her machine. To complicate matters further, Rafaela discovers that a text she and her fellow scholars thought was simply Hebrew gibberish is actually an elaborate code predicting a terrible earthquake that will strike Jerusalem in a matter of weeks. Mohammed, who has the ear of several international higher-ups, jets off to Israel to try to avert disaster. As the earthquake's date approaches, he tells Rafaela that he plans to leave his wife and marry her. But first, they have to live through the cataclysm and surmount the threats."

It strains credibility that the author and publisher of the second "The Last Gospel" was not aware of the first. The first "Last Gospel" by Mr. Howard has continuously been available on Amazon.com since its publication in 2000. Any simple Internet search would have revealed the title, author and plot summary.

"The Da Vinci Code" may also have borrowed from Howard's "Last Gospel," although it is more plausibly original.