Jesus: A Novel.
Walter Wangerin, Jr., has made a niche for himself in writing novels based on Bible stories. The most ambitious, The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel, has been followed by Paul: A Novel and Jesus: A Novel. His works are orthodox and reverent, rather than revisionist, but he does make some odd choices in fleshing out his scenes and characters. For instance, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, makes nails to be used in crucifixions. (See an excerpt from the Publishers’ Weekly review.) This reminded me of the movie The Last Temptation of Christ – a very unorthodox work, and for me unedifying – in which Jesus the carpenter supplements his income by making crosses.
That Wangerin’s work doesn’t fall in the same category is evidenced by what people are saying about it, for example in the blog Novel Reviews and CB Reviews.