With historical time travel
Soccer Mom in Galilee
Originally entitled "A Most Fantastic Dream" and "SuperMom in Galilee," published under the pen name Rachel Stackhouse.
Rachel did everything right. But no matter where she was, she had the feeling she was supposed to be someplace else…
When an agnostic suburban soccer mom lies down with a migraine, the last thing she expects is to wake up in a dusty, smelly courtyard in first-century Galilee. Befuddled, shocked, and -- as a woman traveling alone -- in fear for her very life, Rachel is grateful to be taken in by two wealthy women on a mission: the financial support of a charismatic rabbi from Nazareth. Jesus is a real up-and-comer, the women insist, with a knack for motivational speaking. You’ll love him! But Rachel has never been “a believer.” And even if she were, the swarthy, robust, and greasy-haired man to which she is introduced hardly strikes her as deity material. Then again… sometimes, she isn’t so sure.
Based on both scholarly depictions of Jesus of Nazareth and research into daily life in the first century, we see through Rachel’s account a fresh, earthy, and wholly pragmatic portrait of the historical Jesus. We see the rabbi as he might have appeared to the little-known women who bankrolled his travels and to the disciples’ wives who seasoned his stew. As Rachel experiences the resiliency and raw courage of these women, unsung and unrecorded by history, she is forced to wonder whether it is her own frenetic, perfectionist life that is truly the fairy tale.
Complete with commentary and discussion questions by a New Testament scholar, the reader is invited to spy on one woman’s vision of the events of first-century Galilee, and to wonder what might have been…
First Edition 2015
Edie's Scoop
Wow... where to begin? I envisioned this book in the middle of a migraine and completed its first incarnation in 2005, long before I started into the ebook business. What followed next was a long and painful process of querying agents and publishers. Though many expressed interest in the premise of a modern woman encountering Biblical characters, it was an idea before its time -- Christian publishers wouldn't touch any book with the "hocus pocus" of time travel (amidst other sins of nonconformation to the genre) and mainstream publishers felt it was "just too Christian." Frustrated, I set it aside. But diehard fans of the story encouraged me to press on, and after much soul-searching I decided to pair the story with commentary from a New Testament scholar who could add historical and religious perspective to my fictional imaginings. The result? A highly unusual novel that can either be read on a beach... or discussed in a book club!