Transgression by Randall Scott Ingermanson
"Transgression" by Randall Scott Ingermanson is the first novel in the "City of God" series, combining elements of historical fiction and science fiction through a fascinating time travel narrative. The story follows Rivka Meyers, an American archaeologist, as she is thrust from modern-day Israel back to first-century Jerusalem, a time when the early followers of Jesus are beginning to spread his teachings. Rivka's journey intertwines with two men: Ari Kazan, an Israeli scientist with a complex relationship to faith and tradition, and Damien West, an avowed atheist intent on assassinating the apostle Paul to reshape history.
The novel explores profound themes, including the nature of belief, the intersection of Judaism and early Christianity, and the moral implications of altering time. Rivka, a Messianic Jew, navigates the challenges of her new surroundings with the help of a prostitute named Hana, while Ari grapples with his own doubts and a painful past tied to violence against his community. Their struggles highlight the tension between faith and skepticism, as well as the bonds that can form across cultural and religious divides.
As Rivka and Ari work together to thwart Damien’s plans, the narrative delves into questions of good versus evil and the ethics of intervention. "Transgression" not only brings historical context to the development of Christianity but also reflects on the coexistence of faith and science, ultimately presenting a story of hope, love, and the enduring power of belief in a transforming world.
Transgression by Randall Scott Ingermanson
First published: Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House, 2000
Genre(s): Novel
Subgenre(s): Historical fiction (first century); science fiction; time travel
Core issue(s): Atheism; doubt; good vs. evil; Judaism
Principal characters
Rivka Meyers , an American archaeology student and practicing Messianic JewAri Kazan , an Israeli theoretical physicist and lapsed Orthodox JewDamien West , an American experimental physicist and atheistHana , a prostitute who befriends RivkaBaruch , a faith healer who aids AriPaul , an apostle
Overview
Set in both modern-day and first century Israel, Transgression chronicles the time travels of one woman and two men and their encounters with Jesus’ early followers. The first novel in Randall Scott Ingermanson’s City of God series, Transgression received a Christy Award for futuristic fiction. Retribution (2003) and Premonition (2004) continue the chronicles of Rivka Meyers and Ari Kazan, characters introduced in Transgression.
The novel begins with American Rivka Meyers participating in a summertime dig in modern Israel. Eventually her journey takes her back to 50 c.e., a time when the ruins she explores were products of architecture, not fodder for archaeology. A fellow archaeologist introduces her to Ari Kazan, an Israeli scientist interested in the theoretical possibility of time travel. In his university laboratory, Ari collaborates with American physicist Damien West. Building on Ari’s theoretical knowledge, Damien creates a wormhole that allows him to journey back to first century Jerusalem, a trip planned to coincide with Paul’s historic visit to that city. Damien’s desire is not to meet the apostle but to assassinate Paul before he spreads Christianity to the Gentiles. The scientist hopes his intervention will alter the course of Western civilization.
Incongruously, Damien seeks, by killing Paul, to destroy the very technology that allows him to traverse time. He believes Christianity is linked to the rise of Western civilization and to the development of modern science, both of which he disdains; therefore he must nip this religion in its infancy. Damien is an avowed atheist and a disciple of Theodore John “Ted” Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber. Kaczynski’s published manifesto, with its mandate to destroy technology and save the earth, appeals to the scientist’s own predilection for a return to an agrarian society where humans, without the aid of machinery, labor to survive.
Rivka becomes an unwitting pawn in Damien’s plan to alter history. Damien uses Rivka as a guinea pig to test his invention’s safety. If she survives the crossing, he will follow. As she engages in a virtual reality game in the laboratory, he guides her toward the untested wormhole. Rivka passes through this conduit from modern times and arrives in ancient Israel. To her eyes, the setting resembles one more feature of the game she is playing. Only after escaping an attempted rape does she realize she has been physically transported through time. Inappropriately dressed for the culture she has entered, Rivka is mistaken for a woman of ill repute. A prostitute, Hana, rescues Rivka from the streets and provides this traveler from afar with appropriate attire, food, and shelter. Thus, the ostracized Hana enacts Jesus’ edict to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. The two women are able to communicate because of Rivka’s knowledge of ancient Aramaic.
As a Messianic Jew, Rivka believes in Jesus as the Son of God but follows Judaic practices. Entering ancient Jerusalem provides her a double thrill: As an archaeologist, Rivka views intact structures previously known to her only through their remnants, and, as a twenty-first century Jewish follower of Jesus’ teachings, she finds herself circulating among the first of her kind.
When Ari enters ancient Jerusalem in an attempt to locate Rivka and return her to her rightful historical era, her belief in Jesus and his rejection of Christianity clash. Unlike Damien, Ari does not wish to kill the apostle Paul, though the scientist blames Christianity for atrocities committed against the Jewish race over the centuries. Furthermore, Ari does not believe history can be rewritten. He reasons that their presence in a past age will not change the future; it will only reinforce events that will unfold as scripted. His idea is fully realized in the mosaic tiles that Rivka unearths in present-day Jerusalem early in the novel. Later, with Rivka stranded in ancient Jerusalem, fellow archaeologists at the modern site continue her excavation. The recovered tiles form a mosaic depicting Rivka and Ari’s wedding, an image of a present-day couple unearthed from the past.
These visitors from the future need helpmates to survive in a culture at once foreign and familiar to them. Rivka relies on Hana, and Ari finds his mentor in Brother Baruch, a Jewish healer. Although Baruch includes the teachings of Rabbi Jesus in his faith, Paul’s desire to share the good news with Gentiles strikes Baruch as too radical a break with Jewish tradition. Ari develops a renewed appreciation for his heritage through participation in Baruch’s observance of rituals. Additionally, the men’s friendship follows a parallel vein in their development of a love that must transcend the barriers of prejudice: Baruch’s for Hana, the reformed prostitute, and Ari’s for Rivka, the devout Messianic Jew.
Although Rivka and Ari succeed in subverting Damien’s attempt on Paul’s life, their efforts strand them in the past. In an ultraorthodox act of Sabbath observance, the electricity that sustains the wormhole is shut off by religious officials in modern Israel. Because Rivka refuses to return before assuring that Paul is safe, and Ari refuses to go back without the woman he loves, they remain together in the city of Jerusalem in a time before they were born.
Christian Themes
The time travels of an Orthodox Jew, a Messianic Jew, and an atheist allow all three to witness the development of the Christian religion fifty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. During this period, Jewish followers of the Rabbi Jesus were circulating his teachings in the streets of Jerusalem. The novel’s title, Transgression, refers to a number of transgressions, chief among them the characters’ violation of time, but there are also breaks with moral codes and religious laws. The novel addresses a number of religious themes, including the nature of good and evil and the divide between faith and doubt. Additionally, the novel offers a look at Judaism and its relationship to early Christian practice.
Randall Scott Ingermanson (a practicing physicist as well as a writer) allows faith in God and in science to coexist comfortably in Transgression. Science is presented as God’s contribution to humankind, another channel through which to understand God’s marvels and power. The true disbeliever in the novel is Damien, the sole character who disavows both God and science, and he is depicted as a villain. His very name identifies him as a demon intent on destroying Western civilization, both its predominant religion, Christianity, and its scientific body of knowledge. However, Ari and Rivka embody Judeo-Christian ethics when they set aside their differences (religious, political, and cultural) to aid each other and to thwart Damien’s scheme.
Rivka believes that Jesus is the true Messiah, but Ari’s doubts about God in general are more difficult to overcome. Raised in an ultraorthodox Jewish household, Ari saw his father killed by Christians during a street riot. Wary of conservative practices, Jewish or Christian, Ari places his trust in Albert Einstein and science; God and faith appear to him less reliable. However, faith overcomes doubt in ancient Jerusalem when Ari is the recipient of a miracle. Stung by a wasp, his supply of epinephrine destroyed by Damien, Ari suffers what should be a fatal bout of anaphylactic shock, until the prayers of Brother Baruch save him. This validation of the power of faith is sufficient even for the most skeptical of scientists.
Sources for Further Study
Ingermanson, Randall Scott. Who Wrote the Bible Code? A Physicist Probes the Current Controversy. Colorado Springs, Colo.: WaterBrook Press, 1999. The author of Transgression examines the theory that the Bible contains a code that can predict today’s events and concludes that such a code does not exist. Sheds light on his beliefs.
Mort, John. Review of Transgression. Booklist (June 1, 2000): 1854. Emphasizes the thriller’s clever blend of science, history, and theology. Provides commentary on the novel’s accurate and insightful rendering of events in first century Jerusalem, as well as its compelling storyline.
“Randall Scott Ingermanson.” Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2006. Offers information about the author’s career and a synopsis of Transgression.
Salm, Arthur. “Laws of Physics Are on His Side.” The San Diego Union-Tribune, August 12, 2001, p. Books 6. An interview with the author that describes several of his works, including Transgression.