The idea for Doctor Luke’s Assistance came to me in the late 1990s, based on my study of the scriptures, and harmonizing the gospels. I thought through a plot for a couple of years, but hesitated writing it. To think I had the ability or stamina enough to write a novel seemed self-aggrandizing.

I began writing Doctor Luke’s Assistant in late fall 2000. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to accomplish, including major and sub-plot lines. I completed 15,000 words, then put it away as life got busy. I picked it up again in late 2001, and worked mostly steady through 2002, completing it on January 8, 2003.

I’ve since been through it three complete times. The first time through was for consistency of plot, and adding descriptions where needed. The second time through was for adding a plot line and to make the story consistent throughout. The third time through was for improvement in language: eliminating passive voice, making the dialog more natural, and the language more concise.

I am now in my fourth round of edits, reading each chapter slowly, looking for anything odd or out of place, for a wrong word, a missing quotation mark, an excess modifier. I have done this through chapter 32; only 33 through 36 remain. At that time, for the moment I will consider the book complete, and will cease editing.

I have submitted Doctor Luke’s Assistant to all the CBA publishers that don’t require agented submittals, and all turned it down. Now I’m submitting it to agents. Well, actually I met with an agent at a conference this past November, and he like the pitch enough to ask me for a partial submittal. I haven’t heard anything. My plan is to finish the edits, then wait and see what the agent says. At that point I will shift gears to Documenting America, or possibly to a second novel.

Augustus struggles with Christianity. Although not a religious Jew, he resisted giving Christianity an honest consideration, even though he found much attractive in Luke, the church, and Jesus. The resurrection was the main problem he could not accept.

A young woman in the church, Keziah, caught Augustus’ eye, and he fell in love with her. To improve his chances with her, he bribed a government official to obtain the release of her father from false imprisonment over a tax issue. This, when discovered by the government, almost brought the entire research and writing project to a stop when Luke is accused of planning the crime Augustus committed.

Claudius Aurelius has Luke confined to Jerusalem, until a new governor comes to Israel and Aurelius makes a trip to Rome. Luke and Augustus go to Galilee for an intensive seven months research before Aurelius returns.

As the work progresses, the political situation in Jerusalem grows worse. At the end of three years, the massive biography is done. The first events of the Jewish revolution causes Claudius Aurelius to make one last attempt to destroy Luke’s work. In the end, Luke must rely on God, with many praying for him, to not lose everything he worked for.

The next post will tell the status of the book.

For the next few posts, I’ll talk about my other works in progress. Documenting America will likely be my main focus for a month or so, but I want to get some thoughts down on these other things.

Doctor Luke’s Assistant is a novel about the writing of the gospel of Luke, told through the point of view of a Jewish scrivener he hires as a research assistant. Luke returns to Israel to write a massive biography of Jesus, intending for it to be multiple volumes. Knowing he, as a Gentile, can’t get in to certain places or talk with certain Jews, he hires a Jew for the job. Augustus comes from a Jewish family that was partial to Roman rule, and far away from the practice of Judaism. He works for Luke only because he has lost his job with the Roman government. So the expected circumstances are not there: Luke, the Gentile, follows the teaching of a Jewish rabbi, while Augustus, the Jew, prays to no God.

Beginning in Bethlehem, Luke and Augustus research Christ’s life in a series of interviews, document searches, and a lot of luck–that is Augustus calls it luck, while Luke calls it answers to prayer. Over a three year time frame, the book is written. It is the size of the Bible we know now, or larger when the research notes are added. In a month Luke will sail to Rome with the finished product.

During the three years, the researchers are hounded by both the Roman government and the Jewish establishment, neither of whom want the book written. Augustus chances to run in to a school chum who works for Rome, and another one who works for the high priest. He doesn’t see that these two are bringing reports back to their employers, who can then harrass Luke and Augustus. The situation with Rome is not helped when Luke runs afoul of Cladius Aurelius, a scheming, corrupt assistant to the governor. Aurelius dogs Lukes steps and does much to hinder the work. Still, the book is written.

Later I’ll write more on this, about how Augustus nearly causes the work to cease.