The Man in White

Johnny Cash wrote a book about the Apostle Paul? Yes! And here's the rundown on The Man in White.

Johnny Cash was actually a capable writer. He clearly put a lot of research and time into his exploration of the pre-conversion life of Saul of Tarsus, and felt a strong personal connection to the apostle. He has great description of Paul's mystical experiences, and most of the characters in the book are well drawn.

On the other hand, I'm not very convinced of Cash's interpretation of Saul's character before his conversion or the relationship he had with the Sanhedrin and his fellow pharisees. In Cash's story, the Sanhedrin views the Christians as heretics and worthy of death, but at the same time they view Saul as a dangerous and rather annoying fanatic. The high priest is only too happy to give Saul the required letters simply in order to get him out of Jerusalem. Of course, the Bible doesn't paint a clear character picture for us so it's mostly just a matter of personal interpretation, and Cash is careful not to contradict the Scriptures in any particulars. The ending felt a bit rushed as well, and there were a couple of factual historical errors that were clearly simple editorial oversights; Diana is called the goddess of love, for example.

To be honest, I most enjoyed the lengthy introduction to the book written by Cash. It details his spiritual journey as a Christian through his later years of addiction to pain killers up through the death of his father. I especially liked the image of Johnny Cash traveling with a saddlebag stuffed with three Bibles, and copies of Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius. Cash writes nonfiction with much more ease and style than he does fiction.

Overall I would recommend this book for fans of Johnny Cash as an interesting curiosity. Also for folks who are big fans of historical fiction, this is a shortish read that you may want to check out as well. Otherwise, you're not missing out if you give this one a skip.