Reviews for Messiah of Morris Avenue

The average rating for Messiah of Morris Avenue based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-02 00:00:00 J George This was SURPRISINGLY good - insightful, thoughtful, liberal, intuitive, subversive, and probably the first book I've ever read that made me think that someone REALLY has thought about life, the world, and Christianity and tried to figure out how they all fit together. Worth a read.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-01-17 00:00:00 Tanya Pizzicarola This was an intriguing book, one of the most thought-provoking novels I have read in a long time. I wish there was a way to give it at least 4.5 stars, for I thought it was that good. Rather than making comments on the plot or the contents, though, let me just share some of the noteworthy quotes: "There's one kind of person capable of certainty and another kind incapable of it. The second kind envies the first. The first doesn't envy the second; doesn't even know, in fact, by what right they're alive. In that arrogant ignorance lies most of human tragedy" (p. 31). (As you might easily guess, the book is a rebuke of fundamentalist thinking in general and fundamentalist Christians in particular.) In response to a statement by José, the Jesus figure, the narrator asks for clarification: "The worship of God is the beginning of evil?" José replies, "If it makes you have contempt for others: for an enemy, for the poor, for the rich, for the helpless, for the different. It's not God you're worshipping, it's your own pathetic projection of omnipotence. But God is: the enemy, the poor, the rich, the helpless, the different. God is the other. All evil begins with this belief: that another's existence is less precious than mine" (pp. 90-91). (That last statement is a highly significant one.) Toward the end, José says, "No human being alive is my enemy. My enemies are poverty, injustice, untreated disease, violence, and greed. Nothing justifies any of these crimes against humanity, especially not my words in the Bible. And none of these enemies of God can be defeated by war. The only war that must be won is the war on war" (p. 169). And then later he says, "Love is the only family value that matters" (p. 192). While there is some questionable theology in it, still, this novel is very much worth reading, and I recommend it highly.