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Many
non-Christians who study the Bible—people who don't believe
in the divinity of Jesus—will often pen him as a "great
teacher" or even a "revolutionary." In an era where there
was massive inequality of all types, he would dine with women
and criminals and foreigners in the spirit of equality—a
radical idea for the year 0 AD. His message, ignoring all
notions of religion, was one of acceptance, love, and kindness
for all people. Unfortunately in the last two millennia, Jesus's
message—the words he actually says in the Bible—have
been lost in the tumult of those who've used Christianity
to further their own agenda. In American Savior, Roland
Merullo embarks on a fairly interesting thought exercise about
what would happen if Jesus Christ and his biblical teachings
ran up against the likes of the religious right and today's
political climate.
While
its title sounds like it could have been a Barack Obama biography,
American Savior is a work of fiction about Jesus returning
to earth and campaigning for president. Starting a month before
the actual election, Jesus' campaign is a quick, snide look
at America's current jaded political atmosphere, with liberal
(no pun intended) caricatures of the current cast of the punditocracy.
Merullo's work poses and answers several questions including
"How would the prevailing Democratic and Republican candidates
handle a campaign against Jesus?" and "What would his stand
be on current events like the war and abortion?"
While
this isn't Seventh Heaven or Touched by an Angel,
the novel is obviously pro-Christ. But readers will be left
wondering exactly for whom this book is written. While it's
centered on Jesus, the book has at least one curse word, as
well as a couple allusions to sex and its associated "role
playing" (which generally don't go over well as topics in
grandma's quilting club). If that wasn't enough to put off
the Fundamentalist set, the book's not-too-kind depiction
of them won't help matters. And while Savior generally espouses
left-wing virtues, it is probable that the atheists, agnostics,
and not-terribly-religious opponents of the Religious Right
don't want to read a book that is so vehemently pro-Jesus
and for "real" Christian values. This leaves the core audience
of the book being "Christians who listen to NPR," which isn't
a huge group.
Even
if the book's stance isn't off-putting, the reader is still
left with a book that's average at best. Savior is
light-hearted, positive, and uplifting, but its writing is
nothing out of the ordinary. The narrative plods along over
300 pages, keeping the reader's interest, occasionally spurring
him or her into thought, but it doesn't leave any sort of
lasting mark. However, the feeling of light-hearted optimism,
the way Jesus handles his campaign and those around him, and
the ideas presented in this book that we're all equal and
capable of loving and being loved do give the reader
a bit of a lift.
While
it may be incredibly ballsy (or perhaps self-important)
to deign to put words in Christ's mouth (giving him a stance
on abortion obviously can't be 100% Bible-based), Merullo
doesn't make his Jesus say anything too outlandish.
And while one could complain Merullo dodged a lot of tough
issues in the book, tackling all of them would have come across
as proselytizing. Instead, he gets in and out with a quick,
light (and possibly fluffy) read, and he leaves the interested
reader with, at the very least, something to think about and
perhaps a renewed sense of hope in our ability to enact change
through positive means.
Or maybe
it will just depress the reader with the knowledge that no
candidate will ever speak as truthfully and non-politically
as a fictionalized Jesus.
(September,
2008)
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