The Lost Disciple

Whitten, prize-winning reporter and author ( A Day Without Sunshine ), here imaginatively reconstructs the tumultuous career of Demas, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, who is mentioned only three times in the New Testament. According to his record in the fictional Thessalonian Apograph, Demas was the well-born son of Roman-Jewish parents who turned reluctantly to the teachings of Jesus as they were articulated by a young woman whom he later married, and by other followers of Christianity in the Roman province of Judea. Both attracted and repelled by the charismatic Paul, a ``scolding runt . . . and the bearer of words about love,'' Demas struggles with his identity, and with his ambivalence about the Jesus story, eventually leaving Paul to follow his own mission. Richly embroidered scenes of violence, lust and eroticism capture the colorful early panorama of the Middle East as Whitten weaves his powerful story about a provocative, tirelessly questioning voyager. (Oct.)