Joseph of Arimathea

About the Book

Joseph of Arimathea brings together modern research, ancient legends, and unique storytelling to trace the journey of Joseph of Arimathea from England to Palestine as he performs an annual pilgrimage there. During this particular trip to Palestine, Joseph’s world is turned upside down by the political crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of his enemies. Joseph, with his friend Nicodemus, buries Jesus’s body according to Jewish ritual. For this, Joseph is himself arrested, but he is delivered from imprisonment by the risen Jesus.

As an ardent believer in and follower of God’s chosen one, Joseph plays a vital role in establishing the early church and its subsequent missionary movement. After fourteen years in Palestine, Joseph returns to England as a missionary. He is sent there as the first bishop to England and Wales, where he later builds a church at Glastonbury. Joseph carries to England the silver chalice and silver plate used during the Last Supper, along with a staff fashioned from the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’s head.

Including a detailed appendix includes some of the surviving descendant lines of the two children of Joseph of Arimathea and his wife, Anna, Joseph’s story provides a fascinating account of some of the most precious historic Christian artifacts.

About the Author

Robert Cruikshank was born at Newton, West Virginia, and spent fourteen years in the US Air Force prior to becoming an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He has served churches in the Alabama–West Florida conference and the West Virginia Annual Conferences. He earned degrees from Troy and Emory Universities and currently lives in Alabama.

In 1989, he briefly served as an exchange pastor at Central Church, in Torquay, Devonshire, England. It was during a tour arranged by that church’s parishioners to Glastonbury Abbey that he encountered the story of Joseph of Arimathea, Saint Mary’s Chapel, and The Holy Thorn.