John Smelcer, Ph.D., is the author of over fifty books, many translated and published worldwide. His bestselling book of mythology, The Raven and the Totem, includes a foreword by Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth). With Russian Orthodox Archbishop Benjamin, John contributed to the revised map of global Christianity in the 10th edition of Living Religions (Mary Pat Fisher, Ed.). With the Dalai Lama, John co-authored a poem on compassion. He is currently writing a book about how war corrupts and unhinges conscience. Dr. Smelcer's education includes postdoctoral studies at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard, where he studied Buddhism, Islam and Sufism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, including the historical Jesus of Nazareth.
This slim volume is more of a message wrapped in the trappings of
story. None of it is anything unfamiliar to anyone who has read the
New Testament or any number of inspirational religious texts, but
it is a much-needed reminder of love and hope for an uncertain and
increasingly violent world. If you are looking to find out who
Simon might have been and experience his life, you will be
disappointed. However, if you need inspiration, you just might find
it within these pages. Historical Novel Society The book's simple
and eloquent prose invites the reader to read it deeply with an
open mind and heart.... For me as a social justice activist and
scholar, what moved me the most is Smelcer's emphasis, with much
simplicity, on how our spirituality or faith can be a force for
justice in the world.... The Gospel of Simon is a spiritual gift,
and I am grateful to John Smelcer for writing it. -- Tikkun, review
by Victor Narro John Smelcer generates a contrapuntal dialog as
witness to the untold story of Simon.... Smelcer's tale does not
come across as sermonizing, but as an internal dialog wherein he
finds himself asking and answering -- without being disingenuous --
the same questions even the most devout will ask of themselves....
Smelcer makes no claim that Christianity is the only way to heaven,
which leaves the doors open to a place for all the world's major
religions. Thus the great number of religious leaders and thinkers
who have read and offered their comments about the book and its
civility.... In showing us a man who answered the call, [Smelcer]
also shows us there is a righteous, if not religious, path forward,
if only we allow ourselves to take it. -- Ragazine Smelcer's
skillful use of narrative gradually builds in readers a sense of
the life-altering understanding and new confidence Simon gains.
Smelcer's dialogue in this narrative mirrors the markers of
disunity disrupting many facets of our contemporary lives.... This
type of book is overdue in Christian literature, and presents a
life-changing narrative for those who've lost their faith, for
those who are disgusted with the religious attitudes of some, or
those who are looking for an encounter with something or someone
greater than themselves. -- Alaska Dispatch News
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