Paul Donsbach on Knights of the Lost Temple: The Bronze Scroll
In this first book of the Knights of the Lost Temple series, The Bronze Scroll exposes the surprising truth about the world’s greatest ancient mystery. When investigator Sam Romero arrives in Rome on assignment, he has no idea that his life is about to change forever. Embarking on a journey that tests his beliefs and even the meaning of truth, he joins forces with the lovely Rebecca Schreiber, an Israeli journalist, and his friends Jason Baldwin and Steve Bellamy, to decipher the ancient mystery at the heart of the latest corporate scandal.
Co-author Paul Donsbach is a Texas native and a lawyer. Raised in an era when those working for social progress were rooted in religious faith, he believes that many of today’s problems likewise require a renewed commitment to spiritual ideals.
Co-author Alia Sina was born and educated in the greater San Francisco Bay area. She was raised in a first-generation, close-knit Afghan American family. Some of her formative experiences involved her interactions with people who embrace cultural diversity, as well as those who are hostile to families from a different background.
If you want more about the authors, don’t forget to check out their website! You can visit Rebecca's blog (under pen name) or connect with both authors on Facebook and Instagram.
What was the inspiration behind Knights of the Lost Temple: The Bronze Scroll? What sparked the initial idea?
As co-authors, Alia Sina and I wanted to write an adventure-romance novel with a spiritual angle, in which the characters work on an unsolvable mystery. We viewed an impossible mystery as a symbol of the discontents of modern life, when it seems that all the great discoveries and adventures are behind us. We chose an ancient treasure map known as the Copper Scroll (but actually made of bronze), which was found in a Dead Sea cave almost 70 years ago and which archaeologists and scholars have dismissed as an unsolvable enigma.
To our surprise, in the course of writing the book, our characters ended up deciphering this ancient scroll and figuring out where most of the treasure sites are located (in particular, treasure sites listing more than eight tons of gold and silver and a certain lost Ark). It wasn’t even that hard, as our main character ran word searches in the e-book version of the writings of an ancient historian named Flavius Josephus, using the treasure site listings on the Copper Scroll.
Having been humbled by our own characters, we now feel that perhaps nothing is unsolvable. Maybe we’re living in a time of great discoveries after all. Perhaps what our characters are saying is that we should at least try harder to make the world better. It’s the only world we have, and we should do our best to improve it while we’re here.
Can you tell us more about your characters, Sam Romero and Rebecca Schreiber?
Sam is a dashing and confident attorney who handles
corporate whistleblower cases for a global law firm. He has uncovered corporate
scandals and solved their mysteries all over the world. When he meets Rebecca,
a journalist who writes about corporate and governmental scandals, he quickly
learns how much they have in common and how gifted and spiritually present she
is. He wants to know more and, to his surprise, they both end up getting
personally involved in his latest corporate scandal—on the wrong sides. They’re
both professionals and know that they shouldn’t be dating. But can they resist
forbidden love? When the corporate scandal turns out to involve a spiritual
quest, can they work together to solve the greatest mystery of the ancient
world?
Can you tell us more about this Copper Scroll? Was it one of the Dead Sea scrolls?
The Copper Scroll was found by archaeologists in a Dead
Sea cave in 1952. Although the original name stuck, testing showed that it was
actually made of bronze—with a small amount of tin (about 1%) added to the
copper. The metalworker who created it would have known that such a small
amount of tin would not have given the metal the resilience and strength of
bronze. Thus, it must have been seen as something symbolic. But what could that
be?
As co-authors, we never expected to solve any of the
Copper Scroll’s mysteries and had intended to use this as simply a plot device
echoing our theme that the world has largely run out of solvable mysteries. It
seems our characters knew better, and they started running word searches of the
ancient historian Josephus’ writings, using the treasure site descriptions on
the Copper Scroll. To our surprise, they started getting matches that solved
this ancient scroll’s mysteries one by one.
What we learned is that the Copper Scroll was made in May
of 66 CE, at the outbreak of the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire,
Probably made by the chief high priest of the Jerusalem Temple (or another one
of the leaders of the provisional Judean government), it was made of bronze to
be used for metaphorical purposes at the high priest’s speech in front of the
Bronze Gate to the Temple. (Josephus, Jewish War 2.17.3.) In the Jewish
tradition, bronze represented the offerings and sacrifices necessary to access
the divine, with the outer sanctuary being decorated with this metal. In his
speech, the high priest urged peace negotiations with the Romans to end the
revolt, which would otherwise surely end in catastrophe. It would be difficult
to give up the people’s yearnings for independence, but peace always involves a
degree of sacrifice.
Ostensibly created as an inventory of the Temple’s
treasury, the Copper Scroll had a deeper meaning as a message of peace, using
the biblical metaphors added to many of the 60 treasure site descriptions. Site
1 represented the Roman governor’s theft of 17 talents (about 900 pounds) of
gold and silver from the Temple, which had triggered the revolt. (Josephus,
Jewish War 2.14.6.) This site’s location—the Valley of Achor—was not a physical
site, but rather a metaphor for the divine punishment the governor would suffer
for his crime. After all, wasn’t the thief Achan stoned at this biblical
location for stealing gold and silver from the Temple? (Joshua 7:20-26.)
Similarly, sites 3, 56, and 58 weren’t actual treasures
but simply an accounting of the annual taxes paid to Rome, as recorded in
Josephus’ writings. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 17.11.4-.5.) Likewise,
site 48’s reference to the traitorous Absalom, the rebellious son of King
David, was an allusion to the high priest’s son, Eleazar ben Ananias, who was
leading the militants’ uprising and violently opposing his father’s efforts to
find a peaceful end to the revolt. (Josephus, Jewish War 2.17.12.)
The Copper Scroll’s treasure sites don’t all seem to be
metaphors. Or are they? Two of the treasure locations—sites 47 and 57—list
legendary locations of the lost Ark of the Covenant. In an apparent
acknowledgement of the Judean and Samaritans’ competing versions of the lost
Ark story, the high priest listed both a hiding place in Jerusalem (an
underground cistern by the Pool of Siloam) and one in Samaria (an underground
space at the summit of Mount Gerizim) as the locations of the lost Ark. As
co-authors, we wondered. Were these just metaphors or something more?
The last treasure location—site 60—seems to convey the
real meaning of the Copper Scroll. Referring to the Book of Kohelet
(Ecclesiastes in the Christian tradition) as an explanation for all of the
other treasure sites, the high priest’s meaning seems clear. As this biblical
text represents, the purpose of life is not chasing gold and silver or material
things. Rather, there is a time for peace and love and all things under heaven.
This seems to have been the high priest’s message. Judgment belongs to the
divine. It is not man’s place to judge the Romans, but rather to work for peace
and seek justice in his own works.
In any event, our characters enjoyed learning about the
Copper Scroll and working to find those mysterious locations of the lost Ark
(or two). We don’t want to spoil the surprise ending of our novel, but we can
say that the rogue corporate villain got more than he bargained for when he
tried to use the lost Ark for his sinister plans.
How were you able to collaborate with each other during the writing of this book? Do you live near one another or did you mainly do it mainly through the computer?
Alia and I had expected the co-writing process to be at
least a little tedious and difficult, particularly in this time when getting
together in person can be difficult to arrange. But it turned out to be the
opposite. Working together remotely ended up being effortless and harmonious.
We talked by phone daily and exchanged draft sections of the book at least once
each day.
As our co-writing progressed, Alia and I realized that
it’s our differences that give meaning to the writing. She’s a believer in
new-age Islam and in the power of miracles, and I believe in logic and science
and grew up in the Christian tradition. We found that these different
perspectives, and the male-female aspect of our writing team, gave our writing
a three dimensionality that our writing otherwise wouldn’t have. With those
miracles, of course, perhaps there’s a greater spiritual dimension as well, but
we’ll develop that more in the next book in our series, The Last Pharaoh.
In a recent interview, you said you wanted to surprise your readers with stories of making the 'impossible' become real. How were you able to accomplish that? .
In writing our adventure-romance novel, we found that the
characters can experience all the normal human doubts and skepticism. But, as
they accept that they don’t have all the answers, they learn to trust the
spiritual side and begin to seek wisdom more intuitively that way. What we
found is that perhaps life involves both aspects—a material world based on
practical, logical realities, and a spiritual existence that transcends
everything and gives it meaning.
The Copper Scroll itself seems to embody both aspects of
life. It’s an ancient treasure map to some real locations and actual treasures,
to be sure, but more importantly a metaphorical guide to more important
destinations—peace, tolerance, and understanding.
How does it feel to be a debut author?
Our writing experience seems to have been both humbling
and uplifting. As we work together and edit each other’s contributions, we
realize daily that our work is so much better as a team. For my part, it’s
humbling to think that I could never write as well solo as I do with Alia. But
it’s also been uplifting to be involved in a writing project that ended up with
so much personal meaning. It seems possible to write about both the practical
and spiritual aspects of our characters’ lives, which can lead to insights in
our own lives as well.
Will there be more collaborations between you two with future books?
Alia and I have already started writing the second book in
our series. The series is entitled Knights of the Lost Temple, and our second
book’s title is The Last Pharaoh. It’s set in Egypt, of course, but also
involves some adventures in Greece and Italy. From the beginning, we wanted our
series to explore the different spiritual traditions in the world, both ancient
and modern. So our characters will be traveling around the world, having
adventures in some pretty exciting and interesting locations.
Most of the same characters are returning, and we can’t
wait to find out whether the sparks of romance between Sam and Rebecca will
turn into true love. We’re hoping the characters can solve another mystery too.
We just hope there aren’t too many snakes involved in the story. Those ancient
tombs in the desert can get pretty creepy at night, and snakes don’t help.
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