The Missing Years Of Jesus: The Extraordinary Evidence that Jesus Visited the British Isles: The Greatest Story Never Told [Hardcover]

Did those feet in ancient time? Well, it is certainly possible. The author brings together a number of legends and folk tales of a youthful Jesus visiting various parts of the West Country and looks again at various passages in the new testament to see whether those tales have substance. Given the trade routes current at the time, when Britain traded tin and other goods with the Roman Empire, it is certainly probable that ships from the middle east regularly visited the west country, but I will leave it to others to read the author's work and make their own minds up as to whether the legends are true or not. If you have any interest in the folk traditions and legends of the UK, especially of the West Country, or even an interest in the early Church then this book is certainly well worth a read.

It should be noted that there was a great deal of information and text that didn't make this edition, which hopefully will see the light of day in further editions, along with a few more illustrations and photos. This was the over-riding feeling after completing the book, that although highly enjoyable and certainly thought-provoking, this was just the start, and that author's investigations will really bear fruit in a second or even third edition. Watch this space!

It has to be said that books about the life of Jesus do not normally feature highly on my `must read' list.

However, I made an exception when I heard a rumour that this book places Jesus not only in Britain, but in person at Stonehenge, and that it has been written by Dennis Price.

Dennis spent over ten years living within a few miles of Stonehenge, visiting the temple as many as three times a week, including private visits courtesy of English Heritage, and he also attended all the open Solstice celebrations during this time. Not only that, but he spent four years working for Wessex Archaeology with some of the foremost experts on Stonehenge.

He worked on the A303 Stonehenge Test Pit Project and he was closely involved with the discovery in 2002 of the King of Stonehenge, or Amesbury Archer, and the 2003 discovery of the Boscombe Bowmen. He's done a lot else besides in connection with Stonehenge, he's often to be seen talking with the archaeologists in charge of the excavations of the Stonehenge Riverside Project and he runs the Eternal Idol site, reporting on and providing original information on Stonehenge - in turn, receiving regular write-ups in the international media.

So, I was determined to get hold of a copy of his book.

Dennis approaches his research in highly original way, treating this as a 2,000 year old `missing persons' case. His method and thinking are meticulous, and yet this book is not just totally readable but engrossing and manages to avoid being dry or technical.

Dennis tracks down fascinating clues in the new testament that make very compelling evidence once they're identified, pieced together and placed into context, so you will wonder at how you had never noticed them before. Next, he explores the landscape and features of the West of England, bringing into play many archaeological insights about the region in which the legends place Jesus.

Finally, he profiles the prominent individuals and groups who may hold value in this search for the truth. It all paints an intriguing and insightful picture of what Jesus might have been like during his formative years, but I'm left wondering why no archaeologist or churchman has properly investigated this subject before?

The book has an easy flow to the narrative, making it accessible to any reader. A clear differentiation is made between plain facts, archaeological conclusions, assumptions based on circumstantial evidence and personal opinions, and some of these opinions, I admit, made painful reading for me and some I would question.

However, no attempt is made to hide supposition within more solid points to justify a theory. He does not choose to use hidden or disputed sources and the integrity of this approach makes the conclusions of the book all the more convincing.

What do I think of it?

Quite simply, this is one of the most exciting books I have read in decades; rarely is a book published that has the potential to be world changing for many people, but I honestly believe that this is one such book.

As a Stonehenge Druid, I've always been interested in stories of ancient Britain and I had vaguely heard of the legends of Jesus visiting Britain `in ancient times', as described in William Blake's poem `Jerusalem.' I had never heard of any serious investigation into these legends, though, and I suppose I had dismissed them as unlikely.

However, this book is very well researched and the incredible case is presented so meticulously that the burden of proof has shifted dramatically - now those who would contest the idea that Jesus spent up to eighteen years in Britain must prove otherwise.

Even as a non Christian and a Druid, I acknowledge that Jesus was one of the greatest spiritual leaders ever to have lived - he's the central figure in Christianity and the second most revered prophet in Islam, the world's two major religions.

I feel enormously proud to think that this amazing man probably met with our direct ancestors when they were in their prime as a free and courageous people (who had twice defeated the legions of the hated Caesar), and that the young Jesus was readily given hospitality, friendship and sanctuary from the threat he faced from the Romans occupying his homeland when he was a stranger and a guest in our green and pleasant land.

Not being recorded in the Bible, the years of Jesus life from the age of 12 to the beginning of his ministry at 30, the so-called lost years, are the subject of much speculation and theories abound. There has been a tradition in existence for many years that he spent these years in India and Tibet, and even England. The later through Joseph Arimathea's links with the Cornish tin trade and Somerset and this is the area this book concentrates on.

Claimed to hold extraordinary evidence that Jesus visited the British Isles, but in fact there is no hard evidence here, and inevitably without something new being unearthed in the future, the missing years of Jesus' life cannot be historically proven and therefore will always be open to interpretation for individual author's musings.

The book closes how it starts with the quote from the late Carl Sagan "somewhere, something wonderful is waiting to be discovered". But it's not here; the book offers nothing new but yet more fable and legend.