I am most pleased to have in hand a copy of Jesus-Dynastin: Den dolda historien om Jesus, hans kungliga familj och kristendoms foedelse, namely The Jesus Dynasty in Swedish, published by Schibsted Foerlagan in Stockholm. It is a most handsome edition, hard cover, nicely printed, with the the illustrations and photos produced in high quality. I love the artistic design of the cover, which I reproduce here.

This particular translation brings me special pleasure because of the memory of my closest male friend of my life, Olof James Ribb. Olof died January 16, 2006 at a much too young age 59, of a very aggressive form of bone cancer, just as my book was being published. I mention Olof in my Acknowledgments, as some readers might recall. Olof was of Swedish background and heritage and as an adult taught himself Swedish quite fluently. He traveled to Sweden several times to locate and meet relatives of his immigrant family who had moved to the Dakotas in the 19th century. Olof was a high school teacher of German and Latin in Burlington, NC, much beloved of students, family, and friends. Olof was one of the truest people I have ever known, and one of the most brillant as well. I miss him immensely and think of him every day. There is a Web site, olofribb.com with photos and tributes. German was Olof’s main academic expertise, though he had learned Italian and Spanish quite well, and was a master of Latin. His great loves were history, philosophy,religion, and literature, though he maintained a curiosity about almost everything, including the latest in science.

Because of his “roots” he plunged into Swedish with a special passion. I remember asking him once, since I knew his Germany was so fluent, if his Swedish would compare, and he answered simply “Yes.”  He had become over 20 years as comfortable in Swedish as in English or German. I don’t know of anyone from outside my academic field who had followed my work and research on the historical Jesus more avidly than Olof. But he was much more a dialog partner and a critic than a fan. I benefited immensely from his input and he read every word of my manuscript along the way and gave me helpful feedback on nearly every page. He traveled with me to Germany when I was doing the Pantera research in October, 2005, just a few months before he died. I can’t begin to imagine the pleasure it would have given him to see, hold, and read The Jesus Dynasty in Swedish.

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