Nazareth Quest
About this ebook
Book review of Nazareth Quest in Mensa Magazine:
Irish Mensan Bernard Mulholland is well known for his academic publications. An archaeologist and historian with a PhD from Queen’s University in Belfast, his thesis was published as The Early Byzantine Christian Church – and his other works include The Man from Mensa, a look at Mensa’s history and research projects.
Now, in a complete change of direction, Bernard has published his first novel. Nazareth Quest is a dramatic thriller set in the historic lands of Israel.
Invited to join a team of archaeologists in Nazareth, to survey the archaeology beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent, Brendan Mallon leaps at the opportunity.
Crusaders, both Templars and Hospitallers, have been intimately associated with the history of Christian churches in Nazareth for more than a millennia, and now these archaeologists find themselves tasked with uncovering secrets of these ancient orders. What first drew these Crusaders to Nazareth, and could the archaeologists reveal the hidden truth behind many of the mysteries that have transcended time?
Forced to battle, first with soldiers of Christ and then for their very existence against a demon overlord with ties to the British monarchy, the archaeologists each have to dig deep to discover the route to their own salvation.
And, more than that, to then decide whether to join a quest to recover holy relics associated with the Last Supper.
Editor (2022), ‘Bernard’s on a Nazareth Quest’, Books, Mensa Magazine, November, p. 12.
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Bernard Mulholland is an author from Northern Ireland. His latest novel is Nazareth Quest which is a tense thriller set in Israel. Nazareth Quest arguably combines the best of the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) franchise together with archaeology.
Dr. Bernard Mulholland is a historian, archaeologist and Byzantinist (Eastern Roman Empire) with a Doctorate in History and a Masters in Management from Queen’s University Belfast. Bernard wanted to take his research to a new audience, and the result is his novel Nazareth Quest, which is a tense thriller set in Israel. The November issue of Mensa Magazine has a really great review of the new novel.
Also authored by Dr. Mulholland is The Man From Mensa (two volumes) which is a history of the high-IQ society MENSA, which was founded in Oxford during 1946. During May 2023 Irish Mensa will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in Belfast.
Perhaps his most influential work, and one of his bestsellers for 2022, is Ratio Analysis of Financial KPI in the Higher Education Sector, which analyses financial data from nine leading Russell Group universities in the UK. Author's note: the data for much of this research came from 2006-2016 Annual Reports, and so, arguably, provides a pre-Brexit benchmark against which post-Brexit data can be measured.
Publications:
Bernard Mulholland, The man from MENSA - 1 of 600: Mensa research (Charleston, 2016).
--- , The man from MENSA - 1 of the 600: Politics 1990-1995 (Charleston, 2016).
--- , Ratio analysis of financial KPI in the Higher Education sector: a case study (Belfast, 2018).
---, Early Byzantine Ireland: a survey of the archaeological evidence (Belfast, 2021).
---, Navan Fort, Ireland: archaeological and palaeoecological analysis (Belfast, 2021).
Mulholland, B. (2021). 'Can archaeology inform the climate change debate?' Academia Letters, Article4385. https://doi.org/
Academic conference papers
- 'Identification of Early Byzantine Constantinopolitan, Syrian, and Roman church plans in the Levant and some possible consequences', Patristic Studies in the twenty-first century: proceedings of an international conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Association of Patristic Studies, ed. Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Theodore de Bruyn and Carol Harrison (Turnhout, 2015), 597-633.
- ‘Can the location of the baptismal font in relation to other nodes of power in Early Byzantine basilical churches help to reveal the underlying sacred topography?’ Landscapes of power, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XV International Graduate Conference 2013, 22-23 February 2013, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘Women in Early Byzantine churches’, Reality and illusion: seeing through the ‘Byzantine image’, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XIV International Graduate Conference 2012, 17-18 February 2012, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘The wreathed cross or stephanostaurion on sixth-century marble chancel screens in the Mediterranean region’, Between Constantines: representations and manifestations of an empire, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XIII International Graduate Conference 2011, 4-5 March 2011, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘Does archaeological evidence for the location of the diakonikon in the Early Byzantine Church affect our perception of clergy-laity relations?’ Being Byzantine: definitions, limits and realities, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XII International Graduate Conference 2010, 5-6 March 2010, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘The quest for C4’. Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium (16/5/2008), Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.
- ‘Is Schiffer’s Behavioural Archaeology a useful tool for Byzantine archaeologists?’ The archaeology of Byzantium, 41st Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies 4th–6th April 2008, School of history, classics and archaeology, University of Edinburgh.
- ‘The Macedonian Renaissance in the archaeological record at St. Polyeuktos, Saraçhane, Istanbul (Constantinople)’, Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium (18/4/2007), Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.
