I was down at EWTN this week talking about my new book Mystery of the Magi-The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men. One of the questions was, “Why is this book important?”

I think it is really important because it is not a religious book. It is not published by a Catholic publishing house. It is not preachy. It is not arguing the case for the existence of God. It is not hitting people over the head with arguments.

Instead it is a history book published by a history publisher. It is a detective story that digs deep to discover who the wise men really were and it goes into great details with lots of juicy information about the Near East at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Why does this matter? Because the default setting for an awful lot of people in our society today is the idea that the New Testament is a mish mash of fables, fairy tales and legends. People think that yeh, maybe there is some historical truth to it, but it was so long ago and we can’t know much about stuff back then and anyway why does it matter? Science has disproved religion right?

It is also assumed that archeology and science have disproved religion when in fact my book shows that the reverse is the case. Because such amazing advances have taken place in historical research, archeology, textual discoveries and forensics, history is showing more than ever the historical basis of the New Testament. My friend Robert Hutchinson’s book Searching for Jesus lays out some of these new discoveries in a wonderful way.

Mystery of the Magi does the same thing. I have cut through all the accumulated legends about the Magi and got “just the facts Ma’am”. Because of this, readers will come away (I hope) impressed with the simple truth of the gospel account. Doubters, skeptics, those who are lapsed from the faith will therefore come away from the book with an increased understanding and respect for the reliability of the gospel accounts.

And that can’t be a bad thing.

So if you are looking for a good gift for that doubter, lapsed Catholic, agnostic or atheist friend or family member–a book which is not confrontational or argumentative, but still makes a good point. Look no further.

Go here to order the book from my website. Remember subscribers get a 15% discount and can ask for an inscribed copy.

Go here to access the book on Amazon, get the e-book or audio book versions.