William Koshelnyk, former Director of Public Affairs at Hillsdale College, released “My Brother’s Keeper,” a self-published e-book about James, the brother of Jesus, under the pen name Bill Kassel on March 1.
The novel, a work of historical fiction, peers into the private life of the holy family and imagines a world where Jesus’ older brother, James, clandestinely attempts to protect the son of God from the growing hostilities of first century Jewish political leadership.
“In this book I try to be consistent with Scripture. It’s not like the kinds of things you see on the History Channel that try to debunk the Bible,” Koshelnyk said. “I believe that nothing I have written is directly contradictory to Scripture, but I use a lot of imagination. I embroider the Bible stories I use, elaborately.”
Koshelnyk said he first became interested in writing about Jesus’ family by reading non-canonical texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Protoevangelium of James.
“I became fascinated with this stuff and I thought that there probably was a story in here, a whole different way of looking at the story of Jesus,” he said. “You have to take these texts with a bit of a grain of salt though; they’re not scriptural and there are good reasons why, in some instances. There’s just some silly stuff in there.”
Despite the using source material from non-canonical texts, Koshelnyk believes that looking at the historical context surrounding the gospel narrative can help Christians develop a fuller understanding of their faith.
“My objective is simply to get people to revisit the Christian story — to look at it with new eyes and to open their minds.” Koshelnyk said. “I think a lot of people stumble over the basic story of why anyone would want to kill the guy who was going around giving a lot of uplifting homilies, touching people’s lives in a positive way, healing the sick, and just doing all kinds of great things. I want to show people that there were reasons — social, political, economic — why Jesus and his mission were perceived as threatening to some people. And I think that would help people get over that stumbling block and take the Christian story more seriously.”
Although the book does not aim to eschew the truth about Jesus in any way, Koshelnyk has weathered criticism from both Catholics and Protestants alike.
“I’ve already heard, from the Protestant side, ‘this is a lot of Catholic hooey and legends and folktales,’” he said. “And one person from the Catholic side wrongly asserted that I’m trying to debunk the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.”
Kassel said that he is just trying to write an interesting story for the faithful, and is not trying to take the place of a religious authority.
“I would never claim that I’ve got the final insight on what was going with the Holy Family, but I think that I’ve presented a story that is plausible. It’s a way of thinking about Jesus and his relatives.”
“My Brother’s Keeper” is not Koshelnyk’s first novel. His first two works, “Holy Innocents” and “This Side of Jordan,” both available in e-book format, are what he describes as “religious mysteries.”
John Willson, professor emeritus of history at Hillsdale College, said Koshelnyk’s faith informs his work.
“Bill’s a multi-talented guy,” Willson said. “He’s an exceptionally good writer and musician and songwriter. This project is just one more way for him to reach out with his faith.”
“My Brother’s Keeper” is currently available only in e-book format. Koshelnyk mentioned that, as part of a fundraiser for Ave Maria Press, he will be hosting a limited printing for those interested. Email him at billkassel@sbcglobal.net.
