The Gospel of Afranius

Eskov self-published the novel in 1995 after several Russian book publishers turned him down, as they feared the book could spark a controversy and draw the ire of the resurgent Russian Orthodox Church.[1] As of 2020, the story has received five stand-alone editions in Russian (2001, 2003, 2005, 2016 and 2019) and has also been republished in a 2018 anthology.[2] In 2003 it was also translated to Polish.[3][4][5][6]

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is a non-fiction essay and polemic in which the author, a Russian biologist, challenges the claims made by Josh McDowell, an American evangelical apologist and evangelist, in his book The Resurrection Factor (1981).[1] McDowell's book argues that events portrayed in the New Testament, specifically, the resurrection of Jesus, cannot be explained by science and have to be seen as a proof of the direct intervention of God. Eskov took McDowell's book as a challenge and decided to publish his own in response. In this part of the book, he engages with a number of McDowell's arguments.[1]

The second part of the book is a novel is a dramatic portrayal of Jesus, through a story of Afranius, in the novel said to be the head of Pontius Pilate's "secret service", and his successful manipulation of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The Romans are concerned with the violent opposition to their rules from the factions associated with the religion of Judaism, and design a plan (Operation Fish) to create a new, more pacific religion that would weaken the Judaism faction while being less antagonistic to the Roman rule. For that purpose they chose a new sect organized around Jesus Christ as the most suitable to their goals, and infiltrate it with an undercover operative (Judas). Meantime, John the Baptist, seen as a competitor to Jesus, is executed. The Roman plot culminates with the Roman agents staging two fake resurrections (first of Lazarus of Bethany, second of Jesus). The plan succeeds at discrediting the rabbinical court (Sanhedrin) and deceiving the apostles who became convinced they witnessed a series of supernatural miracles, while in fact what they have seen were staged events orchestrated by paid performers and Roman agents.[3][4][5]

The story is Eskov's illustration of his preceding essay's positions, arguing that all the events as portrayed in the New Testament, and corroborated by known archeological and historical evidence, could be explained in a number of different ways without the need for supernatural intervention, with the particular fictionalized chain of events presented here being just one of many plausible alternatives.[1]

In 1997, it won the Grand Prix at the Festival of Science Fiction Authors in Odessa (Fancon).[1] It also won a Big Zilant award in 2001 at the Zilantkon.[2]

Reviewing the novel for Nature in 1998, Mikhail Mina noted that the novel is an expression of Soviet era state atheism clashing with post-Soviet resurgence of religious belief. He observes that it is both a pleasant read (with "humour [that] is sometimes biting, but never insulting") and a successful counter to McDowell, noting that the novel would likely "find many interested readers if it were published in English".[1][nb 1]

• Historicity of Jesus
• Jonathan Kirsch
• Live from Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal