This book, I mean, it really has taken off.

And I'm curious--

I have so many questions about this.

But any time you say "cloning Jesus,"

I think that get people's attention.

Tell me a little bit about, for those that don't know,

the 30-second, if you will, synopsis of this book

and how this all came to you

Sure.

You know, the most controversial religious relic

in the history of mankind is the Shroud

of Turin, the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

And on that cloth is the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Half of the world, today, believes it's a fake.

It's, you know, a piece of cloth from the Middle Ages

that an artist dreamt up.

Another half of the world believes it's true, and real,

and it is the burial cloth of Christ.

I always thought that that controversy

would make a terrific backdrop for a fiction

novel, a story about an atheist who comes to a faith.

He may be an incredible skeptic.

His whole life, he's fought against the idea of faith.

But when he goes out to prove that the shroud is

a fake, as the anthropologist he is,

he finds something quite different than he expected.

And so the book becomes a journey

not only of chasing the shroud, but also chasing faith

within himself.

And it's the first book of a two-part series, a sequel.

And it's selling really well.

I'm happy to see that.

So you have science in here.

You have faith in here.

Boy, put the two together, that's

an interesting combination.

And then, of course, politics, to a degree, with the Vatican--

and of course, you have a political background as well.

Talk to me about some of the confluence of those three.

Because that makes for an interesting appetite

and recipe for a real great fictional thriller.

Yeah, I think it does.

I always felt that if I was successful in really adequately

driving an equal collision of science and faith,

I'd be able to juxtapose the two so that you could

see each side of the argument.

You know, on the scientific side,

there's always this yearning to make sure there's

absolute proof of everything.

And so on the science front, this particular atheist

scientist, you know, he's out to prove it has to be a fake.

Because he just can't make the facts

add up that it's really real.

And on the faith side, you know, those

that express their belief that the shroud is real,

you know, they're there to essentially show him--

and to the world-- that not everything in life

can be adequately explained.

Science can't explain everything.

And sometimes faith is just plenty

enough to go on, thank you, for life to be as full as it is.

And so you can imagine those two opposite forces

fighting one another.

It creates a real tension in this story,

both in the people that have these opposing points of view

and in science versus faith.

So it's become a page-turner.

I'm happy to see that.

Not to give the book away obviously,

but for folks that haven't picked up the book that

are thinking about doing so, when

I say the words "blood," and "Jesus," and "cloning," could

you give people a sneak peek as to what I mean

when I give those words out?

Yeah, you know, I always have to remind myself,

and the reader, certainly, it's fiction for sure.

But what I also tried to do was, 95%

of the science and the facts that you read about

in this book are really real.

I did a tremendous amount of research.

5% of it is--

and I point out where--

it's stretching the scientific truth

in order to make an outlandish story, the cloning of Christ

himself from DNA, from blood, become real in the book.

And it's-- in the book, without, as you say,

giving away the ending, it's--

science essentially puts itself in a position

of not even mistakenly, almost purposely trying

to determine if they can transfer divinity through DNA.

So if you imagine, in the cloning process,

if you're just replicating a cell,

well, their interest is, can we replicate a cell from Christ

himself.

And what would you produce from that?

Would you produce a being that had any divinity whatsoever?

Or you know, is it outlandish to consider

that that could happen?

The Church, of course, feels it would be outlandish,

and it would be.

But again, it's a story.

And so that story, it's shaken up a lot of people

to think, well, my gosh, could this ever really

happen in the real world, in the scientific world.

And today it couldn't.

It's not possible.

But in the future, it might be.