Joseph Loconte - The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt

PRAISE FOR THE SEARCHERS

Every once in a while a book comes along that is so elegant and beautiful and vital that you cant imagine the world without it. Joe Locontes The Searchers is a masterpiece, one of those rare books you will want to give to almost anyone, believers and non-believers alike. It overflows with wisdom and information about the very thing that makes us human, our search for meaning in the universe.

ERIC METAXAS, NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR
OF BONHOEFFER: PASTOR, MARTYR, PROPHET, SPY

Fresh, powerful, and often hauntingly beautiful, The Searchers starts with the well-known account of a brief, ancient journey and leads us on a tour of deep, modern issues that no serious searcher can evade. With this book, Loconte moves beyond the journalist and the historian to write as a poetphilosopher on the deep questions of life.

OS GUINNESS, AUTHOR
OF LONG JOURNEY HOME

Hope turns out to be based on reality, not on wishful thinking. Joe Loconte brings good news for the hopeful.

JOHN WILSON, EDITOR,
BOOKS & CULTURE

Combining his skills both as a journalist and as a historian, Joseph Loconte brings his storytelling gifts to an ancient story. Moving gracefully from the world of the Gospels into our contemporary world, Loconte probes our modern struggles for meaning, hope, purpose, and faith. He writes with energy and passion on topics and questions we all eventually confront, whether believers, seekers, or skeptics. No matter the camp you are in, you will benefit from these original reflections on our common human condition.

MICHAEL CROMARTIE, VICE PRESIDENT,
ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER

Joe Locontes journey down the road to Emmaus is a worthy read for spiritual travelers who are wearied by false religion, hypocrisy, and scandal. What can we learn from the risen Christs dialogue with the disciples along the road? Loconte shows us.

CHUCK COLSON, FOUNDER OF PRISON FELLOWSHIP AND
THE COLSON CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

As a journey of the mind, Joe Locontes The Searchers gives both the devout and the skeptic cause to cheer as well as to argue, to defend convictions and to unload long-borne burdens. Jesus often did, too. Just as much, and also like Jesus, The Searchers invites us on a journey of the heart, blending syllogism and story, logic and longing, history and hope. For any seeker of truth, it is a journey well worth taking.

JEDD MEDEFIND, AUTHOR OF UPENDED, PRESIDENT
OF CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE FOR ORPHANS, FORMER
ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF
FAITH-BASED AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

Joe Loconte has woven together a beautiful tapestry that will inspire, challenge, provoke, and encourage any reader of any background. For those who do not profess a particular faith but have a seeking, enquiring and open mind, this book will give serious food for thought and fuel for further enquiry on your journey. For those already walking a path of faith, this will renew and re-energize you for the journey ahead.

BENEDICT ROGERS, WRITER AND HUMAN RIGHTS
ACTIVIST, CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE; AND
AUTHOR OF BURMA: A NATION AT THE CROSSROADS

THE
SEARCHERS

OTHER BOOKS BY
JOSEPH LOCONTE

The End of Illusions: Religious Leaders
Confront Hitlers Gathering Storm

Seducing the Samaritan: How Government
Contracts Are Reshaping Social Services

THE
SEARCHERS

A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt

JOSEPH LOCONTE

2012 by Joe Loconte

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Author is represented by the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, www.alivecommunications.com.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked nkjv are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-40027-482-6 (IE)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Loconte, Joe, 1961
The searchers : a quest for faith in the valley of doubt / Joseph Loconte.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-59555-446-8
1. Bible. N.T. Luke XXIV, 13-35--Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Jesus Christ--Appearances. 3. Faith.
I. Title.
BS2595.52.L63 2012
226.406--dc23

2011050532

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mom and Dad
For my grandparents,
Giuseppe and Esther Aiello and
Michele and Theodora Loconte,
and for the children of Ventotene

If I can get to the celestial city, I am sure to be in safety there: I must venture.

John Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress

The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from... Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home?

C. S. LEWIS, TILL WE HAVE FACES

Contents

Preface
A CONVERSATION ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

In the area of Palestine, during the period when Rome was transforming itself from a republic into an empire, charismatic religious leaders might arise to challenge imperial rule. Their campaigns inevitably ended the same way: arrest, trial, and swift execution. Such appeared to be the case with a Jewish leader known as Jesus of Nazareth. After an immensely successful public career that lasted until about AD 33, he was seized in the city of Jerusalem and crucified by the Romans on the charge of sedition.

Just days after his execution, two of his followers fled the scene to seek sanctuary in their hometown of Emmaus, not far from Jerusalem. Along the way they encountered another traveler, a stranger, who seemed unaware of the deadly turn of events in Jerusalem. A portion of their conversation has come down to us through the writings of a Gentile, most likely the author known as Luke. A physician by trade, Luke was a careful chronicler of the early Jesus movement. His record of eventsbased in part on the recollection of eyewitnessesis widely recognized for its historical precision and accuracy. The following passage is Lukes account of their provocative conversation.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along?