WaPo Critic Hails Novel 'Re-Imagining' Jesus As Bisexual Free-love Advocate
Novelist and infamous liar James Frey has a new novel out, "The Final Testament of The Holy Bible," which he pompously holds forth as a "theoretical third volume of the Bible" that conceives of a second coming of the Christ in the person of "an alcoholic bisexual living in the Bronx who impregnates prostitutes, titillates priests and becomes the ultimate seducer himself," John Murray of the Irish newspaper the Independent noted in his review.
So why does writer and musician Michael Lindgren -- in his May 16 review for the Washington Post -- hail Frey's novel as "an honest attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus to their radical conclusions"? Indeed, Lindgren adds, "in doing so, [Frey] has created a chronicle that, despite its contradictions, moves to its own inner spirit."
But one suspects Frey's inner spirit is one filled with disdain for orthodox Christianity, particularly Catholicism. One vignette revealed by Murray but left out of Lindgren's review:
For this second coming, Christ's main quality appears to be his ability to sexually stimulate everyone, even the most devout -- sexual healing indeed.
"The words I spoke were empty, and I no longer viewed the blood and flesh of the Eucharist as anything other than what they were, and what they are, which is cheap wine and bad wafers." So admits Mark, a once pious priest who has become bewitched by Ben with a single kiss.
Although Ben appears to have been born as Christ, it is not until a potentially fatal accident that he really transforms into the Second Coming. And he subsequently connects directly with God through increasingly prolonged epileptic seizures.
Yes, a voraciously horny epileptic alcoholic is Frey's idea of "a vivid re-imagining of the life of Jesus Christ," at least according to Lindgren.
To be fair, Lindgren is taken aback by the radical free-love theology espoused by the novel's protagonist:
There’s a fish-in-a-barrel element to this, of course; the novel’s villain is Ben’s brother Jacob, who has become in the years of Ben’s wanderings the worst kind of narrow-minded, born-again preacher: bigoted, homophobic and inflexible.
In reaction, Ben emphasizes the holiness of love, which in his teaching turns out to mean limitless sexual partners of both genders, all the time. Few people would disagree with Ben’s rejection of the hatred and divisiveness that so often accompany religious dogma, but to counter that with an explicit mandate to start your engines for a rolling, never-ending orgy is its own kind of tyranny.
But while Lindgren insists that Frey's new novel is "[c]arefully designed and formatted to resemble a traditional Bible -- right down to the words of Jesus highlighted in red," he fails to protest that Frey's hero and his free-love theology and utter "refusal to acknowledge any civil authority" sound nothing like the celibate life and apolitical teaching of Christ.
What's more, whereas the Jesus of the Bible claims that the whole of Hebrew Scriptures pointed to Him in fulfillment of prophecy, Frey's false messiah rejects the Bible as authoritative.
Lindgren is pleased to hail Frey's $50 400-page tome as "a pricey quasi-objet d'art" and "a moving examination of the nature of spirituality," opinions he's certainly entitled to. But to suggest that "The Final Testament" was "an honest attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus to their radical conclusions" is preposterous, offensive to Christians, and insulting to the intelligence of readers everywhere.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
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Comments
now i wait
Submitted by ron on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 11:43am.
with baited breath for a "pricey quasi-d'art" and a "moving examination of the nature of spirituality" novel about muhammed
I'm working on it, ron...
Submitted by Ed Gregory on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 11:52am.
...the title is "Did that Camel Just Wink at Me?"
Or
Submitted by HockeyKid on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:11pm.
"The New Thousand Nights and a Night: Who Said the Virgins are Women?".
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
It's a moving testament to
Submitted by eaglewingz08 on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 11:56am.
It's a moving testament to Satan, not God. Christianity had similar heresies eighteen hundred years ago, but they were utterly refuted by the original sources and by people only once or twice removed from the original sources. There is nothing in Jesus' or the Bible's teachings advocating a sexual free for all, indeed that sort of lust is specifically prohibited numerous places in Scriptures because it leads to a deadening of the soul and spirit.
yes.
Submitted by HockeyKid on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:09pm.
It's pathetic, but understandable in a way. After all, if Jesus is just a degenerate like me, then I have no need for Him, and He can't judge me. This view is comfortable for many people, in spite of its spiritual lethality.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Yawn.
Submitted by HockeyKid on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:06pm.
James Frey once again applies puke to page and expects a fat payday out of it.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
This is "The Last Temptation of Christ" all over again
Submitted by Mary Louise Turner on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:11pm.
Mr. Frey's novel is simply "The Last Temptation of Christ" updated to modern times, and perhaps it's worse than the original. You know that he wouldn't dare attack Muhammad this way. But it's open season on Christians, especially Catholics.
Uh, the elite of proggresive
Submitted by ant on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:22pm.
Uh, the elite of proggresive dogma sure are infatuated with the simplistic impulse of sex and the boundaries of what can be incorporated into what every animal is able to do. Yep, I guess there is nothing more fulfilling, liberating, and mind-expanding than that infinite,world-changing,sobering experience known as the orgasm. What better way to improve the world and promote peace and love than the temporary release of endorphins during a bi-sexual orgy? Way to progress, the devil would be proud of progressives, if he didn't hate them as much as they hate themselves.
Like
Submitted by GW on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:57pm.
.
Hold on a minute...
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:14pm.
Isn't this article just a tad bit late? I would have expected something like this to hit the presses during holy week!
WaPo should be admonished for it's lackadaisical tardiness.
Get with the program, WaPo!
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
OT: Debt Ceiling, Republican Stance, What You Can Do
Submitted by jdhawk on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:50pm.
Here is what is at stake: Republican leaders are insisting that Congress cut spending by as much as the Obama administration wants to raise the debt limit, without any new taxes. Obama is proposing spending cuts and tax increases to rein in the debt.
What you can do: Go to you representatives web site and determine when your representative is holding Town Hall mettings or simliar events during this recess which runs from 16-23 May. Download the following file from the Heritage Foundation how to communicate with members of Congress. It is here: http://my.heritageaction.com/action/heritage-action-recess-briefing-for-...
Insist that your representative maintain the Republcian's stance on the debt limit/budget battle , per the above.
This is the least we can do until we can take back the senate and the presidency in 2012.
Hey, it's what Jesus would have wanted, just ask James Frey!
jdhawk
Submitted by Blonde on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 1:00pm.
I'm not too worried about my rep, Allen West.
His Town Hall is tomorrow, and we are going. So is MoveOn (it was in the mullet wrapper). I think I'll make an anti-Move0n sign, anyone have any good ideas, other than "sit down and shut up stupid liberals"?
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
MoveOn's record:
Submitted by GW on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 1:30pm.
Surge in Iraq: WRONG
Petreaus: WRONG
I'm sure you can fill in more
Or you could also call them mope-on and draw a picture of a whiny kid.
Anti-MoveOn sign
Submitted by Model850 on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 3:33pm.
Quick one off the top of my head:
MoveOver and let the adults run things.
A Word From The Author
Submitted by ItchyZ on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 1:10pm.
Job 38.2
Who is it that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? (Thy name is James Frey I think)
Psalms 2.4
He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision.
Jesus was an ascetic, like
Submitted by redfish on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 1:49pm.
Jesus was an ascetic, like buddhist monks. What's so hard to understand?
And like buddhists, he would have said that drinking and sexual promiscuity were a sign of selfishness and egocentricity. EVIL, HATEFUL, DIVISIVE, DOGMATIC BUDDHIST MONKS.
When are people going to stop confusing sex with love....
I don't think Jesus was
Submitted by Ken Shepherd on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 2:34pm.
I don't think Jesus was ascetic. He lived rather simply, but he did attend quite a few dinner parties in his day.And there's the whole turning water into wine thing.
Without sin, yes. Without a place to lay his head, yes. Ascetic? Not exactly.
And then there was LeperFest 0027
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 2:48pm.
Now that was a party.
;)
Jesus, ascetic? Not hardly.
Submitted by bassndude on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 2:49pm.
Jesus, ascetic? Not hardly. Jesus attended public weddings. He drank wine like most all people in that day and age. He even changed water to wine. He taught publicly in the temples, raised a commotion with the money changers. Jesus preformed miracles in public, preached from hill tops and the country sides and from boats. You call that an ascetic life?
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Asceticism doesn't
Submitted by redfish on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 3:05pm.
Asceticism doesn't necessarily imply complete social withdrawal or complete denial of pleasure. Many Christian monks drank wine and taught publicly, not all monastic orders had strict rules about drinking, poverty, silence, etc. They were less extreme in that regard than Buddhist monks.
But the monastic life is still an ascetic style of living, and was practiced in imitation of Jesus.
Jesus did not live life like
Submitted by bassndude on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 3:44pm.
Jesus did not live life like a Buddhist monk. Far from it. I don't see where you come up with the comparison. Obviously, you have never witnessed first hand how the Buddhist monks live.
The garments that Jesus wore were some of the finest available for the day. He frequented sinners and there surroundings in order to convey His message.
Jesus and his disciples had money. Enough so that they utilized Judas as treasurer.
Jesus did not live as a monk in a monastery. The very idea is absurd.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
I didn't mean to imply he
Submitted by redfish on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 4:09pm.
I didn't mean to imply he did.
The closer comparison is Christian monks, like I just mentioned above. Many Christian monks carried money, traveled abroad, drank wine, dressed finely. Many were involved in government still, published books, etc.
Christian monastic orders were directly formed so believers could imitate Jesus' lifestyle.
Asceticism does not need to be followed to an extreme, its simply a world view about value; that spiritual good is more important than material good. It doesn't imply that you have to abandon all material things, but where there is spiritual good from abandoning them , its preferable. That's why Jesus chose to live his life travelling and teaching rather than settling down in a house and working. That's why he advised the rich man who wanted to follow him to abandon his wealth.
Buddhist monks have practiced asceticism to an extreme and treat abstinence as a goal in itself, as did a few Christian monastic orders, but that doesn't rule out less extreme ways to live your life with the same value system.
I'm using the term asceticism because the word is the clearest way to contrast to the conception many people have that Jesus was a hippie.
Well, I can almost agree with
Submitted by bassndude on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 5:39pm.
Well, I can almost agree with that.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Man, every time this guy Frey
Submitted by bassndude on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 2:53pm.
Man, every time this guy Frey opens his mouth, that "special place in hell" has to be remodeled. How hot can that special place get anyway? Frey phobic about cool spots?
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Why no novels about mohammed
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 3:45pm.
Why no novels about mohammed and his 28 pre-teen boys?
Because life without a head just plain sucks?
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 3:48pm.
.
Another example of the
Submitted by stratman on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 4:48pm.
Another example of the intersection of hubris and perversion so common with so-called "Progressives".
The Left is obsessed with destroying religion. The obvious choice in the Western world is to attack Christianity. Devaluing, demoralizing, and deconstructing Christianity to the Left's lowest common denominator by the Media and Hollywood will eventually lead to a socio-legal push for gay marriage by churches, including Catholic churches, in order to destroy, via totalitarian bullying tactics, tax exempt status and further marginalize the message of love, family, respect, fidelity, and strength. That God is the wellspring of all, including the resistance to autocracies, makes Him the zenith of the attack by the Left, oftentimes through the aforementioned message elements.
Totalitarianism demands fealty to the State. One of the first things autocrats do is destroy or co-op religion in order to pervert social order. Communists destroyed religion and replaced it with the State. The Nazis combined destruction of traditional religions with creation of a mythological Aryan religious history. To the Left, there can only be one supreme - Government - all others subservient to the State or extinguished.
We live in a precarious time where the previously fringe Left has been mainstreamed through Media, Hollywood and academics to currently have so many levers of power in their grasp (while indemnifying itself through a "fellow traveler" Media).
The 2012 elections can not come soon enough.
FREAKS!
Submitted by jessieH on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 10:48pm.
FREAKS!
Hey, I have an idea!
Submitted by panzerakc on Tue, 05/17/2011 - 12:02am.
Why doesn't someone write a book about Jesus coming back as . . . a hobbit!
Or, for a completely different mindset, how about a Klingon?
To really trendy and current, a vampire?
A dolphin? A sea slug? A ticked-off Rottweiler?
Is it possible to sue these people for causing terminal eyestrain caused by the constant rolling of my eyes as I read this stuff?
Sheesh.