Brilliant, hilarious, terrifying
"Just what were the personality and the teachings of Jesus? I'll admit it's the heart of the controversy over the Christian religion:---aside from the fact that, of course, most people believe in a church because they were born to it. But the essential query is: Did Jesus---if the Biblical accounts of him are even half accurate---have a particularly noble personality, and were his teachings particularly original and profound? You know it's almost impossible to get people to read the Bible honestly. They've been so brought up to take the church interpretation of every word that they read into it whatever they've been taught to find there. ... Just what are the teachings of Christ? Did he come to bring peace or more war? He says both. Did he approve earthly monarchies or rebel against them? He says both. ... One place in the Sermon on the Mount he advises...: 'Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven,' and then five minutes later he's saying, 'Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.' That's an absolute contradiction, in the one document which is the charter of the whole Christian Church. Oh, I know you can reconcile them...That's the whole aim of the ministerial training: to teach us to reconcile contradictions by saying that one of them doesn't mean what it means. ... My objection to the church isn't that the preachers are cruel, hypocritical, actually wicked, though some of them are that too.... My chief objection is that ninety-nine per cent. of sermons and Sunday School teachings are so agonizingly dull!" -- Frank Shallard "O Lord, thou hast stooped from thy mighty throne and rescued thy servant from the assault of the mercenaries of Satan! Mostly we thank thee because thus we can go on doing thy work, and thine alone! Not less but more zealously shall we seek utter purity and the prayer-life, and rejoice in freedom from all temptations! ... Let me count this day, Lord, as the beginning of a new and more vigorous life, as the beginning of a crusade for complete morality and the domination of the Christian church through all the land. Dear Lord, the work is but begun! We shall yet make these United States a moral nation!" -- Elmer Gantry Here, Sinclair Lewis tells the story of American religion in the early 20th century, through the characters of Elmer Gantry---a self-righteous, hypocritical evangelical preacher---and his foil, Frank Shallard---his honest, reflective, and therefore doubtful colleague. The story progresses from ridiculous, to surreal, to nightmarish. Unfortunately, it is all too relevant still today. Anthony Heald's reading of this audio edition is inspired, very deserving of the Audie Award it won. He brings Lewis's dialogue to life, making it accessible to the contemporary listener---no mean feat! Highly recommended.