LETTERS TO LUKE
from his fellow physician, Joseph
of Capernaum
by Joe E. Holoubek, MD
Little Dove Press, Shreveport, LA
2004,
547 pages
www.letterstoluke.com
The book is a recounting
of the Gospel stories through the eyes of a physician who lived and practiced
in Palestine during the first century AD. "Letters to Luke" is
a series of 148 letters written by Joseph, a doctor residing in Capernaum,
Galilee, to his friend Luke, another doctor who subsequently becomes Luke
the Evangelist. The letters describe Joseph's life as a physician and how
he and his wife, Elisa (also a physician), came to know Jesus. The setting
is in Palestine during the public ministry of Christ, and the letters describe
in detail His public ministry, death and resurrection.
"Letters to Luke" is
really several stories. It is a description of village life, as well as
medical education and practice in the first century AD. It is secondly
a synthesis, with careful integration of both Old and New Testament accounts,
of the public life of Christ. It is next the story of how a doctor
describes and reacts to his developing knowledge of the Messiah. Finally,
and perhaps most importantly, it is an autobiography of a remarkable
physician and Catholic, Dr. Joe E. Holoubek and his wife Dr. Alice
Holoubek.
Dr. Holoubek is an outstanding
physician, teacher, Catholic and, as "Letters to Luke" demonstrates,
writer. His writing style is direct and to the point. The flow of the narration
makes for absorbing reading.
One must, at this point,
mention the key role his wife, Alice Baker Holoubek (after whom Elisa is
modeled), who is also a physician and scholar, and without whom this book
would never have come to be, plays in the story and in Dr. Joe's life.
Dr. Holoubek, after medical
school, a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and five years in the Army settled
in Shreveport, La, where he and Alice practiced medicine for 45 years.
Dr. Holoubek has been active as a medical scholar and writer, Catholic
layman and, in particular, as an organizing force in the Catholic Medical
Association, being that organization's president in 1961-63.
Not only is "Letters
to Luke" an outstanding example of devotional reading about the life
of Christ, but at a deeper level it is the love story of Dr. Holoubek for
his wife, as portrayed in the lives of Joseph of Capernaum and his wife
Elisa.
In summary, this is a
remarkably good book on several levels and a fitting tribute to a great
physician, husband, and writer. It is a fine narrative about the life of
Christ. It is also, at another level, the love stories of Dr. Holoubek
for both Christ as well as his wife.
"Letters to Luke" includes
as endnotes biblical references, for each Old and New Testament citation. It
also includes eight pages of bibliography and indices.
It should be noted that,
while "Letters to Luke" is a bit on the expensive side ($39.95)
it is a handsome book with a fixed bookmark and well worth an honored place
in your library.
July 2004
|
Book Review