“In This Way We Came to Rome: With Paul on the Appian Way”

Start with two verses – Acts 28:12-13. The apostle Paul, after the shipwreck and three-month stay on Malta, lands at Syracuse, and then sails to the seaport of Puteoli, about 150 miles south of Rome. His party stays with Christians in Puteoli for a week, “and in this way we came to Rome.”  

Luke, the writer of Acts and by implication part of Paul’s group, goes on to explain what happened to Paul in Rome – up to a point. The account ends without knowing if Paul’s appeal to Caesar was heard and acted upon, if Paul was then executed or released, presumably undertaking another missionary journey (some say to Spain), before returning to Rome at some point in the future and then executed by beheading (Roman citizens weren’t crucified). 

 

Glen Thompson, professor emeritus of New Testament and Historical Theology at Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong, and Mark Wilson, founder and director of the Asia Minor Research Center in Turkey and a research fellow in biblical studies at the University of South Africa, were intrigued with that summary line, “and in this way we came to Rome.” It encapsulates about 150 miles, or about a week at a normal walking pace for Paul and his party. What would that have been like? What would they have seen? What can non-Biblical studies in history, geography, and social customs tell us about this journey?

 

The result is In This Way We Came to Rome: With Paul on the Appian Way. Using modern resources and historically contemporary sources (like the letters of Cicero), the co-authors reconstruct Paul’s 150-mile journey into something like a contemporary travelogue. It’s a fascinating story based on extensive research.

 

After an introduction, the book is divided into seven chapters, each explaining a day’s travel by foot along the Appian Way and the towns, buildings, monuments, roads, and geography that would be experienced. They then add a conclusion, speculating where, exactly, Paul might have stayed (or been required to stay) in Rome itself. 

 

The book is profusely illustrated with maps, diagrams, charts, and photographs. The surprise is not how little of that 2000-year-old journey is left, but how much. The Appian Way is still visible in many places, and many of the tombs, monuments, and even a few buildings still stand. And, of course, the mountains, hills, and inclines are still there, allowing the co-authors (and the readers) to easily imagine what it might have been like in roughly 60-62 A.D. 

 

If you’ve read any of the works by British archaeologist Sir William Ramsey, then you will have an idea of what In This Way We Came to Rome offers. It’s an impressive feat of scholarship.

Top photograph: The Appian Way, where Paul and his companions would have walked. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. 

 

Some Monday Readings

 

Ten reasons why we love Van Gogh – Martin Bailey at The Art Newspaper.

 

Charts – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count? – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

On Marshall McLuhan – Benjamin Carlson at The Free Press.

 

Rembrandt & the Prodigal Son – Rod Dreher.