The Illusionist

I picked this up a couple of years ago in Swansea, Wales on the remaindered table of one of those now common dumping bookshops. In fact, I buy most of my books like that, since it is this safest way to get to know new authors. This is one of the only novels I have read that actually actively changed not my life, but my perception of certain matters. The story is about Simon Magus, a man who is mostly remembered, if at all, for having been a great magician at the time of St Peter, who summoned demons to make him fly and was then brought to shame by the Saint himself and the power of God. Ms Mason weaves the story of this extraordinary man around the turbulent ambience of the time. She demonstrates how during Jesus' own lifetime and later there were various miracle makers abroad, attracting great audiences with their shows. Simon Magus, a man of no religion, bisexual and with a penchant for young boys, mixes with the early Christians including Peter, not on enemy terms, but perfectly civilly. He travels around making great illusions for all to see, but always remains essentially a man. Although the subject matter may seem unexciting to some, the book is extraordinarily gripping and entertaining. The author demonstrates in a very convincing manner, but without being pedantic, how the God of the Old Testament, the Jewish God, is in contradiction to the forgiving God Jesus spoke of. Although he is already dead at the time of the story, Jesus becomes very much alive and human to the reader. I am not sure what kind of effect this book will have on Christians, I'm sure it will cause quite a stir,but for me, a more than convinced atheist, it did a lot to change my view both of Jesus himself, and of Christianity, which sadly now as ever, has often little to do with the teachings of its unfortunate namesake.