An Honest Review of For the Temple {Heirloom Audio Productions}
Inside: An honest review of Heirloom Audio Productions For the Temple audio drama.
Once again Heirloom Audio does a splendid job at making history come alive in their newest audio drama For the Temple.
Heirloom Audio Productions has produced some of our favorite audio adventures, so we jumped at the chance to review their latest adventure, For the Temple.
Time Period of For the Temple
Prepare to be transported back into the Roman Empire in For the Temple by Heirloom Audio. Taking place under Vespasian’s rule, listeners experience the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, specifically, the fall of Herod’s Temple.
The adventure follows teenager John of Gamala. Following John’s journey you meet his girlfriend, Mary; Josephus, Titus; and Nicodemus, to name a few.
Listeners will experience the thrill of adventure, hear the sounds of battle, and feel the suspense of trying to escape enemies due to a top notch audio background and talented voice actors.
All About For the Temple by Heirloom Audio
The audio begins with John visiting Mary, to whom he will eventually be betrothed, and her family.
Mary desperately wants John to take her out on the Sea of Galilee in his boat. However, he refuses because there are signs of a storm coming.
Showing her youth, and desiring to prolong their time together, Mary makes the impetuous decision to start taking the boat out on her own.
Concerned for Mary’s safety, John joins her.
The listener soon hears the crashing of waves rocking the boat and the perilous wind from the storm.
Relief comes from a larger ship being spotted and coming to their rescue. It is here that our young protagonist first meets Josephus.
Character Qualities to Admire
When Josephus begins chastising John for the foolish behavior that put his and Mary’s lives at risk, John chooses to apologize and thank Josephus for saving them instead of pointing out it was Mary’s doing. John’s humility is the first glimpse we see of his character.
Impressed by John’s nature, Josephus invites him to join him in fighting against Vespasian.
After counseling with his parents, and explaining it to Mary, John heads off with Josephus for a life-changing adventure.
For the Temple Teaches Important Life Lessons
John is successful in his military endeavors and shows natural leader characteristics. He even impresses Titus through defeating him in one-on-one combat. A battle that will prove important to his future later.
Listeners get to feel a part of his battles as they hear the clang of metal swords clashing against one another.
Despite John’s success, he repeatedly states how all he ever wanted was to marry and take over his family’s farm. This is a wonderful example of how our lives sometimes take detours from what we envisioned for ourselves.
Sometimes God has another plan for us.
Even though John wanted to be running his family farm and moving toward a betrothal with Mary, he was willing to go and do what was necessary. And do his best while at it.
John’s ability to gain Titus’s respect proved beneficial after the temple had fallen. Finding himself enslaved, he was able to seek help from Titus.
Titus frees John and sends him back home with some money. He even names him as a procurator of a small strip of land.
John makes it back to the farm, marries Mary, and starts a family.
For the Temple Study Guide
My children were more excited about this audio drama from Heirloom Audio than previous ones. In part, because they recognized the time period it was referring to from our history studies. Having recently studied Herod’s temple they were more invested in what was going on.
This was also the first time we had a study guide to go along with our listening.
The study guide was very comprehensive.
Each chapter had its own section.
Sections included:
- definitions
- comprehension questions
- discussion questions
Included are also sections that give information about the people in the story or traditions that would help further understanding.
The study guide also includes suggested books for those who may be interested in learning more about the time period presented.
It was well done and helped my children to better follow along.
Our Overall Thoughts on Heirloom Audio’s For the Temple
Heirloom Audio has succeeded in providing educational entertainment for our whole family. My husband and I enjoy these as much (perhaps more so) than my children. For the Temple is a great audio adventure to introduce to your family.
But you don’t have to take my word for it, head on over to read more reviews by other Crew members.
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