Religion is a topic that can bring about confusion and controversy. Many authors have written books encompassing this topic, both fiction and nonfiction. Professor of philosophy Dr. Jeffrey Tiel has now also fallen into this group, releasing his first book that he calls a supernatural religious thriller.

Tiel’s book is titled “The Search for Melchizedek,” and discusses the fictional life of the Christian New Testament character Melchizedek. Tiel said the starting point for his book came about due to what the Bible says about the character. According to the Hebrews text, Tiel said, Melchizedek’s origin brings many questions to mind as to where he is, and what he does with his life.

“So that becomes the starting point for my book,” he said. “To say, ‘okay where is he?’ Let’s imagine that he’s somewhere and then, how does he live so long? What is he up to? Why is here? And if people found out about this, what would they do about it? So it leads into any number of possible avenues of really intriguing fiction.”

Tiel said his main inspiration for the book came from “The Da Vinci Code.” He said he was intrigued by the effective use of fictional ideas to create a successful novel. Because of the unique idea, Tiel said that is why he decided to write his own book.

“If you write a great fictional account, you can get ideas out to a much more popular audience that are nevertheless really intriguing.,” he said. “I used the Melchizedek character to talk about a lot of very interesting themes that are very traditional in religion. And, ultimately, what the book does is it kind of goes against The Da Vinci Code’s main point, which is that religion is secret knowledge that the church or someone else has always been hiding. I use the quest for secret, which is called esoteric knowledge, as the primary driving force throughout the book.”

The new author has been at Ashland University for about 14 years, and said his main focus of his teachings is Plato. Tiel said he desired for others to know about the concepts he teaches about, and therefore wrote his book.

“I wanted to find a vehicle to enable ordinary folks, not professional philosophers, to get access to those ideas,” he said.

Because Tiel’s book is fictional, he said it gives him an opportunity to put a modern spin on ancient traditions. He said he liked being able to breathe life into a biblical character while still incorporating earlier concepts.

“It lets me put flesh and blood on an ‘Old Sal character,’ but at the same time bring some of the old ways of thinking and living – old philosophical ides and old religious ideas – into the present context, and watch them interact with contemporary characters,” he said.

Although this is his first book, Tiel said he is already working on the sequel, which will be titled “O’Sirus Rising.” He said this first book is one of three, and plans to have the sequel out sooner rather than later.

Tiel said he encourages everyone to read his book, not just those associated with philosophy or theology. He said his intention was for everyone to be able to understand and the enjoy the book, while also reaping benefits.

“It’s a completely normal book,” he said. “If you have no real background of philosophy at all, you’ll end up learning a lot of philosophical and theological ideas. But in a way that it just naturally falls out of the book.”

“The Search for Melchizedek” is available at amazon.com or as an ebook for Kindles.