Roman Numerals

The Second Art West Adventure

Ben Witherington III, Ann Witherington

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9781606085486
  9781498253291
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621893448
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: African American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

In this second novel of the series, Art West seeks out the meaning of the mysterious symbolic number 666 while exploring sites in Egypt and Turkey. He discovers an inscription in southern Egypt at the Philae Temple in Aswan, which reads, "He is many men and no man, towering like the sphinx, dead and alive, but who knows what he thinks? Back from the Styx; 666." Who is this sphinx-like man? Could he be relevant to the twenty-first century? These questions lead Art to investigate possible connections between the Coptic Gospels and Coptic Orthodox beliefs. In the middle of such investigations Art is involved in a harrowing prisoner exchange in Israel at the hands of Hamas, and he discovers the origins of Christians wearing crosses. He also tangles with the notorious terrorist El Tigre. Set in the context of Middle East tensions between Muslims, Christians, and Jews, this fast-paced thriller explores the meaning of eschatological or "end times" language for the earliest Christians, who, while trying to spread the kingdom of God, faced the rising tide of the kingdom of Caesar and his emperor cult. Along the way West learns some apocalyptic secrets destined to change his life forever.

Table of contents

• Roman Numerals
• Desert Storm
• Tours and Guides
• Philae Revelation
• Living Coptic
• Amulet Chasers
• Black Market Bargains
• A Train of Thought
• Twin Brothers, Singular Mother
• Man Down
• The Tiger and the Talisman
• Flower Power Revisited
• The Tale of the Ambulatory Amulets
• Take Me Out to the Ball Game
• Hung Up on Judas’s Gospel
• Meanwhile Back on the Home Front
• The Emperor’s New Groove
• A Moment of Grace
• Gaza Stripped
• D.C. Confidential
• Dispatched with Dispatch
• Stuffed in Turkey, Bound in Bethlehem
• The German Connection
• Manny Things Unexplained
• The Priene Inscription
• Dog’s Day Afternoon
• News Flash
• Coining a Phrase
• Plane Suppositions
• In a New York State of Mind
• The Way the Ball Bounces
• First Report from Caesarea
• Dancing with the Stars
• The Gift and the Swap
• The Miracles of St. Sama’an’s
• “I Looked over Jordan, and What Did I See?”
• Long Time Gone
• Saving Grace
• Have a Little Talk with Jesus
• Gaza Stripped . . . Again
• Law and Order in the Big Apple
• Go into Your Closet and Pray
• Playoff Fever
• Geburtstag’s Birthday
• Issah Intervenes
• The Old Via Maris
• The Tiger vs. the Cat
• The Journey to Sinai
• Amstutz’s Antiquities
• “Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make”
• Grayson’s Gesture
• The Midas Touch
• Bad News Travels Fast
• Ankh-Xiety on the Strasse
• Short-handed Manny
• A Mother’s Work Is Never Done
• Johannes’s Bark
• Funeral for Jesu
• Tracking the Tiger, Recovering the Cat
• Deciphering Apocalyptic Amulets and Ankhs
• Grace Notes
• Hoop Dreams
• Grabbing a Tiger by the Tail
• An Answer from Amstutz
• Road Trip to Galilee
• Championship in the Balance
• Caesarea Philippi and the Gates of Hades
• Abbas, Father
• The Trial of the Tiger, the Triumph of the Cat
• An Engaging Conversation
• The Emperor’s Old Clothes
• Total Immersion
• Author’s Notes