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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
The Gospel of Caiaphas by Nicole Diamond Austin is a fictional telling of Joseph ben Caiaphas, who has always been infamously portrayed as presiding over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Austin recreates Caiaphas, from childhood in a priestly household, to his rise as the high priest of Jerusalem under Roman rule. After his father dies defending the temple during civil unrest, Caiaphas is taken into the home of Annas, where he is educated in Scripture, law, and political governance. As successive governors assert control over Judea, he learns to balance religious authority with imperial expectations. He marries Rivkah, linking himself more firmly to the ruling priestly family. His appointment as high priest places him at the epicenter when a Galilean teacher enters Jerusalem, disrupting the temple order. Caiaphas has to decide how to respond, setting events in motion that will shape his tenure and define his legacy.
Nicole Diamond Austin’s The Gospel of Caiaphas reimagines the life of Israel’s high priest within the volatile political and religious world of first-century Judea. This is historical fiction with sweeping period detail, and Austin paints Jerusalem cinematically. The Chamber of Hewn Stone, where council deliberations shape policy, conveys the formal gravity of temple governance, and the limestone rooftop walkway encircling Caiaphas’s estate overlooks Herod’s Palace in the distance. Caiaphas is a supremely intriguing main character, and he truly is a man shaped by conviction, ritual obligation, and the burden of office. Austin juxtaposes this against Pontius Pilate, a ruler prepared to assert imperial will over sacred boundaries, placing Caiaphas in continual negotiations between faith and empire. The direction of the book is toward the wider history associated with Jesus, but Austin keeps it firmly centered on Caiaphas and his responsibility within the priesthood. With elegant writing and a brilliant backstory, this is a saga worth its weight in gold. Very highly recommended.
