Twenty-three-year-old Penuell Zambwe has published his second book titled, ‘How Little Is Your Jesus?’. Zambwe recently completed his BSc in Environmental Health at the University of Botswana. This author, who hails from Parakarungu village in the Chobe District, is also a co-author of a book titled, ‘Blockers of Destiny.’ In an interview with Arts & Culture, he explained that his latest book was published on May 8, 2023 in Gaborone. The book has 110 pages and six chapters.

“The title is one of the controversial notations. ‘How Little Is Your Jesus?” is basically a jab at the Christian faith. I grew up loving science, I believe in evidence and I am not much of a fairy tale kind of person. So when I heard about God, I naturally had a lot of questions. In the Bible, we are told to believe in the things we don’t see, things we can’t test, basically trusting blindly. In science, we have dinosaur fossils and mathematical calculations which can be proved. So after much deliberation, I came to an epiphany which then led me to write this book. I took the task of putting Christianity in a test tube and critiquing it to see if it will survive,” he said.

Zambwe encouraged everyone who needs answers to read his book. He also said in many instances, a lot of people always ask themselves questions such as, “Why did your loved one die from the very illness your neighbour r e covered from?” He further said people should not hide behind “it’s God’s will” as they do not understand it. He added that sometimes people question if it was God’s will for them to cry and for their neighbour to laugh.

He also points out that in most instances people tend to question God looking at their situations and comparing themselves to nonbelievers whose lives seem to be going well. He emphasised that in order to get answers to most of these questions, both young and old must read his book.

“In the world we live in now, we have a lot of people suffering from depression, people struggling with battles they cannot voice out. They smile and pretend to be okay but they are not. They are looking for even the slightest glimmer of hope and I have been told that Jesus is the way. But they come with a lot of questions to this Jesus. If these questions are not answered, that hope is shattered,” Zambwe pointed out. Moreover, he explained that he got his motivation from the very thought that Christians always question God when going through a lot. He said his intention was letting to foolproof a concept and present it with both flaws and virtues and let the reader decide after seeing everything, and having their questions answered. He said by then maybe, they could now have something/someone to hold onto who they could run to when they were weak because they were convinced beyond reasonable doubt that, they could trust that being, not blindly, but with evidence. He added that writing such a masterpiece did not come with no curve balls. He added that he had a lot of financial constraints and also had to juggle between his final year research paper and writing the book.

“‘How Little Is Your Jesus’ is not a Christian book. It is a single-point activation, excitation of thoughts and a few remarks I got about the book from some of its readers are as follows: “The most amazing and challenging book. It made me think; I was astounded at how you answered those questions using both science and scripture. This book was an eye-opener,” he said.

He further explained that the book was not written like normal Christian books saying it was very unique, relatable, and makes one really think.

However, he pointed out that being an author was honestly very intriguing. He added that he saw that a lot of individuals had talents for writing but they bury their manuscripts at home or if they print copies only family members buy the books and they don’t really benefit financially from that. He added that in four years he wanted to have created a platform where writers could be seen and sell their books and also buy books. He added that he wanted to help their arts reach other countries like China and Australia.