Book Review: "The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt"

In his book The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt, history professor Joseph Loconte visits the account of the two men walking on the road to Emmaus found in Luke’s Gospel account.  These two men had been followers of Jesus, and this was the day that the tomb of Jesus had been found empty, and Cleopas  and his friend (his name is not given in the Bible) are struggling with the notion that Jesus could be alive. They had witnessed his crucifixion and burial three days prior, and now they are confronted with word that Jesus was alive. They were confused and struggling with what to believe as it seems everything they had previously believed was falling apart. 

In this book, Loconte uses the story of how Jesus carefully lead these two men to illustrate to us how that God leads us to the truth of the resurrection of Christ and how that resurrection impacts our lives. He uses the media, culture, tradition and a host of real life characters to relate the gospel message to our own lives.

While this was not a “cliff hanger” that had the reader clinging to the book for the next nugget… it was instead a book that caused me to spend much time in thought and introspection. Don’t let that statement discourage you from the book… far from it, for I highly recommend this book. I loved how Loconte used modern characters and events, as well as historical references to illustrate his message.  This book does an excellent job of illustrating how that we are all “searchers” trying to find our way to God in relation to our lives. In life, each one of us at some point in our life struggles with the God question and what we believe, just as these two men did. Loconte does a wonderful job of guiding us to the truth found in Christ.  Do yourself a favor… read this book! Then read it again.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review of it.