The Rev. Evan Drake Howard, pastor of Community Church of Providence, fills in the story of Dismas, the “good thief” who was crucified next to Jesus, and explores the concept of being born again in a fictional letter from Christ to Nicodemus in the novel The Lost Epistle of Jesus.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE Ever since he was a little boy sitting in church, the Rev. Evan Drake Howard says he’s been fascinated by the story of Dismas, the so-called good thief who dies alongside Jesus on the cross.

Not very much is known about Dismas, says the minister, who is both the pastor of the Community Church of Providence and a novelist, but he still chokes up when he rereads the Gospel account where the thief asks Jesus to remember him when “you come into your kingdom” and hears Jesus reply, “I assure you this day you will be with me in Paradise.”

Mr. Howard says he always wondered what it was that brought Dismas to that point. Had he just been a petty thief who may have stolen a thing or two from the market? Was he part of a band trying to overthrow Roman rule? Or was there something else?

Letting his imagination fly, Mr. Howard wondered what Dismas’ life was like before his arrest and what terrible thing he could have done. It was then, he says, the thought came that nothing could be worse than running away with your brother’s bride on the day of the wedding.

And it is with that heart-pounding elopement, with Dismas galloping into the desert with his brother’s betrothed, that Mr. Howard begins his gripping novel, the The Lost Epistle of Jesus.

The book, which became a finalist in USAbooknews.com’s award for best religious fiction in 2007, sets out to tell the Gospel story in a fresh way — through the eyes of a cast of characters that include Mary Magdalene, Judas Iscariot and Nicodemus and some fictional characters.

Mr. Howard, who grew up in a Navy family that lived in such places as Bellingham, Wash., and Guam, had always loved English and history and went to the University of Washington in Seattle with plans to become a writer. But after an incident in 1975 — when a boy drowned in a lake while he as working as a lifeguard — his life took a new direction, leading him to enroll at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.

Seven months after graduation, he landed in 1981 his first job as a pastor of the First Baptist Church in Cambridge, Mass. Seven years later, after receiving his doctorate in theology from Boston University, he arrived in Rhode Island to become pastor of Community Church of Providence, then known as Central Baptist.

People tend to think of clergy as perfect people, but even a minister, says Mr. Howard, can have crises of faith, and he had his share. Along the way, he began to wonder about the emphasis that evangelicals place on Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in which he tells his friend that one must be “born again” of the spirit to have eternal life. If being born-again is so decisive, he wondered, why is it that the Bible Belt, the area of the country that boasts the biggest percentage of born-again Christians, also has the highest rate of divorce?

“I think the problem is that for too many people the born-again experience is an end in itself instead of a beginning.”

To correct that, Mr. Howard began to imagine what might have happened if, after his talk with Nicodemus, Jesus had decided to follow up with a letter that would expand that thought in a holistic way — in a way that would resonate with people of today. Drawing on his own experiences, the pastor believes that if Jesus were to write such a letter he would speak about the need not only for a spiritual transformation but also for an emotional and psychological one. In this letter, Jesus would speak about how human beings have a masculine and feminine side, as does God, and that a key to inner and outward healing is to integrate both.

Some may think that all this sounds too much like pop psychology, but Mr. Howard insists it is exactly the kind of message that will help to take people to a “new place.” He also insists that it is biblically sound and points to a verse in the Book of Genesis for support: “God created man in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”

Rest assured that Jesus’ epistle, or letter, plays a key role in the minister’s novel. But there are other unusual aspects, too. The book suggests that Judas Iscariot’s real reason for betraying Jesus was his lust for Mary Magdalene, and his wanting to get Jesus out of the picture because he saw Jesus as a possible love rival.

As for Magdalene’s relationship with Jesus, Mr. Howard stands clear of author Dan Brown’s assertion in The Da Vinci Code that she and Jesus were married. He acknowledges that there was a passionate tenderness between the two, but his novel has Jesus showing her that he’s been called to a higher mission and they can’t become involved.

There is another aspect to Mr. Howard’s story that his church’s Jewish neighbors may appreciate. In this novel, Judas betrays Jesus by going to the Roman governor Pilate rather than Jewish leaders, knowing that Pilate had his own reasons for wanting to see Jesus eliminated.

Howard’s novel, which comes after three non-fiction books, has been selected by the Alban Institute, an educational resource center in Washington, D.C., as a resource for pastors and congregations throughout the United States to help them with their ministries.

The pastor says that’s completely fine with him, given that it was one of his purposes in writing the book. “I really had two goals in writing the book. One was to help people in my congregation to grow in their faith, and my second reason was to extend my ministry beyond the walls of this church.”

“We all know that people today are leaving the churches in droves, while they flock to movies and entertainment. The question is how to tap into the interest we know is out there for film but give it a spiritual or Christian emphasis to engage that whole audience because that audience is not here or in most of our churches on Sunday mornings. I think a book like this can be an answer.”

The pastor also says he’d be ecstatic if his book were turned into a movie. He’s also working on a sequel.

rdujardi@projo.com