Synopses & Reviews
“A story for the ages begins with the story of one man.”
From Nino Ricci, one of Canada’s greatest literary talents, comes a novel destined to be the book of the year. Set in a remote corner of the Roman Empire at a time of political unrest and spiritual uncertainty, Testament is the timeless story of how one extraordinary man, a man of enormous charisma and passionate belief, alters forever the lives of those around him.
Told from four distinct points of view, Testament opens as Yihuda of Qiryat first lays eyes on Yeshua, a holy man. Yihuda, a dedicated freedom fighter, is energized by the heated discussions he has with Yeshua about a kingdom for the Jews — a place Yihuda envisions as a political entity while Yeshua imagines it as a state of mind, a philosophical rather than physical kingdom. Irresistibly drawn to Yeshua’s sharp intellect and fierce sense of purpose, Yihuda quickly finds himself within the holy man’s inner circle.
Miryam of Migdal meets Yeshua when her merchant father invites him to their fishing village. Yeshua, a man of proud bearing and quiet dignity, talks to Miryam as no man before has, opening up for her a world of ideas, of limitless possibility, and of love. Freed from the salting sheds, Miryam travels with Yeshua through Galilee, encouraging the many to question the teachings of the powerful few.
Another Miryam, Yeshua’s mother, is seduced and abandoned as a young girl, forced into a marriage to save her family from disgrace. When Yeshua is born Miryam vows to keep the circumstances of his conception hidden, naming her husband as the child’s father, making her sacrifices at the temple, and having her son circumcised. It is evident that Yeshua is a child of unusual talent, though Miryam tries desperately to conceal his potential, afraid that his gifts will only bring him under scrutiny.
From his hilly pastures, Simon of Gergesa, a Greek shepherd, watches the Jewish preacher he calls Jesus. Frustrated with the smallness of his life, Simon determines to see a bit of the world by following Jesus on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Thus Simon comes to witness Jesus’ final days. And though he is uncertain how to assess the preacher’s legacy, Simon is sure that having known the man he now sees beauty, where before there was none.
About the Author
Nino Ricci’s novel Lives of the Saints (1990) won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the F.G. Bressani Prize. The novel was also a long-time national bestseller, and was followed by the highly acclaimed In a Glass House (1993) and Where She Has Gone (1997), which was a finalist for the prestigious Giller Prize.
Reading Group Guide
"My starting point was that this character was not divine."
From Governor General’s Award-winner Nino Ricci, one of Canada’s most highly acclaimed literary voices,
Testament is a bold work of historical fiction. Set in a remote corner of the Roman Empire at a moment of political unrest and spiritual uncertainty, it re-tells the life of a holy man of enormous charisma who alters the course of human history. Grounded in extensive research, and written with the poetic sensibility that has earned Ricci an international reputation,
Testament vividly recreates first-century Palestine in elegant but accessible prose to explore the story of the man we know as Jesus.
Testament at once distances us from the familiar accounts by using Hebrew and Aramaic names. Moreover, he offers the story of Yeshua (Jesus) through the eyes and testimony of four fictional followers, reminiscent of yet utterly different from the Gospels, giving fresh perspective and a captivating narrative to an age-old story.
- Yihuda of Qiryat (Judas Iscariot) is a rebel freedom fighter working for Rome’s overthrow, who sees Yeshua come in from the desert. He is drawn to him; and yet he is full of doubt, always an outsider, too intellectual to simply accept and be accepted. “Tell me your secret,” he thinks, “make me new.”
- Miryam of Migdal (Mary Magdalene), whose family make a living curing fish, is captivated by the way Jesus includes her among his followers, who he encourages to ask questions and challenge him. For this woman, kept back by society from intellectual stimulation, he “reached inside me with his words to touch the inmost part of me.”
- Yeshua’s mother Miryam tells us plainly that he was the result of a rape by a Roman legate; she was forced to marry an old man named Yehoceph, and give birth in his rough lodgings. Her eldest son quickly set himself apart from his siblings. She shows how he learned from different teachers, always quick to challenge received knowledge.
- Finally, we read the account of Simon of Gergesa, a Greek shepherd who sees Jesus with hundreds of followers on a hill across the lake, and comes to the shore to hear him. « This was strange enough, for a Jew, to come out in search of us Syrians and Greeks. » Simon, who finds great sense in Jesus’ teachings, relates to us the last days of the Jewish preacher.
Nino Ricci says: “From the outset I assumed that Jesus was somebody who, in whatever way, was greater than I was, someone I wasn’t going to get to the bottom of.” So he used the technique of circling around the subject, giving different facets, trying to show by suggestion something that cannot be simply explained. “You can’t describe the light and you can’t portray the light, but you know the light is there because it is casting shadows.” In these overlapping narratives with varying interpretations, each narrator seeing the holy man according to his or her needs, we also see how the story may have been transformed through countless retellings.
“I don’t think he saw himself as the Son of God. I think that was a later overlay.” Ricci is not the first novelist to approach this central figure of Western civilization : notable others include D.H. Lawrence, Nikos Kazantzakis (who aroused much anger with his
Last Temptation of Christ), Anthony Burgess, Jose Saramago, Norman Mailer, recently Jim Crace. However, Ricci ignored the divine element, using naturalistic explanations for the Bible’s miraculous events. “I find it much more interesting to think of him as having been a real person…who tries to change things in a human way with only human powers. To me that makes him a great man -- and a model.”
For research, Ricci travelled to Israel and Jordan to visit the Biblical sites; for an understanding of ancient Mediterranean peoples, he drew on knowledge of Italian folk culture and his experience with tribal peoples in Africa. He also read widely and deeply, from the Roman historian Josephus to contemporary academic works by a group of American scholars called the Jesus Seminar, especially John Dominic Crossan’s
The Historical Jesus. Though controversial elements of the story drew some accusations of blasphemy, even the portrait of the virgin birth as a rape is grounded in research. Ricci did not expect true believers to be his readers, given the premise that Jesus was not divine.
“Canadians tend to be tolerant of other points of view,” however, says Ricci, and he finds controversy refreshing as long as it sparks analysis and discussion. The Jesus of
Testament is a revolutionary teacher who continually challenges people and forces them to think for themselves. “Most writers feel it’s their job to stir up the pot a bit. If you’re not doing that, why bother?” The book has captivated many readers and provides much scope for debate with its bold depiction of Jesus. “Do I believe that it somehow represents the truth of who Jesus was? No. But I believe that it gives a way of understanding his character that sheds light on who he may have been.”
1. Nino Ricci is a writer often praised for his ability to create utterly believable characters and to “recreate the world entire and make us believe in it” (The Globe and Mail on Lives of the Saints). What challenges do you think he faced in this regard when writing Testament?
2. Says the Edmonton Journal: "There is no miraculously cured leper, no jaw-dropping walking on water, no inexplicable raising from the dead, no divinely catered loaves and fishes and no wedding feast with that wine-into-water business in the gospel according to Nino Ricci."
(a) Ricci tries to create plausible reconstructions of how the miracle stories might really have occurred without divine intervention. Can you discuss a couple of examples and say how convincing you found them? Why does Jesus have a gift for healing, according to Testament?
(b) According to Testament, how, and why might these stories about a charismatic teacher have been transformed into myths of miracles by a divine healer?
3. Ricci has said: “It seems to be that he was arguing for a way of remaking the world by remaking your perceptions.” With the prisoner Ezekias and the ‘possessed’ girl, Yeshua cleans their faces to make them seem human again. How does this relate to his philosophy?
4. How does Nino Ricci succeed in making the life of Jesus new for us? Why does Ricci want us to see him afresh?
5. Ricci has said he feels it only increases our sense of wonder if Jesus is human, not divine; then we can try to learn from him without having to believe in the divinity. “If he was just a man… it might be something we can learn from and follow in the footsteps of.” What do you think Ricci would like us to take away from his portrait of Jesus (Yeshua)?