The Deep Dive

I love to do research. Maybe it’s my library background, or maybe I can attribute my love of research to having a curious mind. Whatever the reason, I’ve just started a new writing project and the deep dive into historical information has been fascinating. Nothing makes me happier than coming home from the library with a tote bag full of research books.

A couple months ago, I was neck-deep in Western history, particularly events occurring around the time of the California gold rush and the Oregon Trail. I learned about cholera, the Crow Indians, how to pan for gold, and the perils of crossing the Forty Mile Desert without an adequate supply of water. Now I’m researching the beginnings of Christianity and untangling the very complex knot of who’s who and how they relate to each other, along with the daunting task of figuring out which theories I want to believe or at least utilize. Was Mary, the mother of Christ, a virgin all her life, as some scholars maintain, or did she have six other children after him? Were Christ’s siblings actually step-brothers and step-sisters (since Christ was fathered by God, not Joseph) or were they cousins? Or were they half-brothers and half-sisters from Joseph’s earlier marriage? Were three of Jesus’ brothers apostles or were they absent from the Christian ministry until after his death? There are a lot of theories/arguments and a lot of historians or religious authorities who have found multiple paths to their own truths. But one definitive line of reasoning? Unh-uh. That doesn’t exist.

Dates are iffy, too. Christ might have been born in 4 BCE. Or 6 BCE. Herod died in 4 BCE . . . maybe. Yes, Josephus wrote that there was a lunar eclipse just prior to Herod’s death, and there are accounts of a lunar eclipse in 4 BCE that should help lock down his death date. However, it should also be noted that a different lunar eclipse occurred in 1 BCE, so maybe a death date of 4 BCE is totally bogus, and Herod died in 1 BCE, which then alters the timeline of when Jesus was born and how long he and his parents were in exile in Egypt. Time and again, I kept thinking of the phrase, “How long is a piece of string?” In this case, it could be multiple lengths. It just depends upon who’s doing the measuring.

Names are tricky, too. Joseph married Mary and he also had a sister-in-law named Mary. Just to complicate matters, one of Joseph and Mary’s two daughters might also have been called Mary. (Seriously? Could they think of no other name besides that one?) The names James, Jude, and Simon (the names of three of the four brothers) were common names of that era and were all attached to other people in the Bible, including Joseph's nephew, Simon or Simeon. I can only imagine the confusion that must have ensued at family gatherings. Did the siblings have nicknames? Did the Marys go by “Aunt Mary” and “Big Mary” and “Little Mary”?

At a certain point, I realized that I can—and must—perform due diligence when it comes to research, but ultimately, I will have to pick a narrative line I can work with and make it my own. I’ll set Jesus’ birth at 6 BCE and Herod’s death at 4 BCE. The Massacre of Innocents, when Herod ordered that all males ages two and under in the area of Bethlehem be killed, will take place between 6 and 4 BCE. I will give the siblings lives they might not have actually lived, and I will make them step-siblings, not half-siblings. I have the merest, faintest outlines of the siblings’ lives; I will fill them in with my own imagination, relying on my research to create a world that faithfully records what life was like in the first century. Given some of the conflicting information available, I think that is the best I can do.