The first decade of Taylor Caldwell's life coincided with a great resurgence of interest in the historical novel which suited the imperialistic mood of turnof-the-century America; and the decade of her breakthrough to the literary scene, the 1930s, was precisely when Hervey Allen, Margaret Mitchell, and Kenneth Roberts were enjoying remarkable success with their historical fiction. By nestling comfortably within this tradition for four successful subsequent decades, she has been labeled retarditaire and viewed as one of the standard-bearers of the big "old-fashioned" novel of pageantry and setting.

Tackling a Biblical setting, however, is as unusual as it is courageous, for with the exception of Quo Vadis (1897), Ben Hur (1880), and The Robe (1942), novels of Christ have not been popular.

That is why she shied away from depictions of Christ himself in her Biblical fiction. As she readily admitted, no book can tell the story of Jesus...