God Laughs & Plays; Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right
by David James Duncan
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Book Summary Information
Author: David James DuncanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-02-01
ISBN: 0977717011
Number of pages: 264
Publisher: Triad Books
Book Reviews of God Laughs & Plays; Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right
Book Review: A David Duncan Appetizer Sampler
Summary: 4 Stars
God Laughs and Plays is a collection of essays, interviews, rants and musings by David James Duncan. They are scattered over a time span between October 2002 and the present.
I'm not sure I like the subtitle, because Duncan has issues with lots of different parts of Christendom; the Seventh-Day Adventists in his family for their unwillingness to believe anyone is going to heaven but them, the Catholics for excommunicating Origen and not canonizing Duncan's hero Meister Eckhart, the Protestants for dividing the body of Christ into a large number of small denominations, the evangelicals for enlisting God as a foot soldier in their political battles, the charismatics for using God as a way to get rich, and any Christian not already mentioned for not fully appreciating the other religions of the world.
What rocks about God Laughs & Plays? Duncan has a great wonder at nature, which he expresses unabashedly, unashamedly and beautifully. He slips in unexpected words at unexpected moments, as when he referred to a mystical experience as a detonation. He overlooks the censoring of one of his books. He helps angry environmentalists get over themselves. He seeks to love people with whom he's passionately angry. He admits that he has had environmental complaints with other administrations besides the G. W. Bush administration.
What stinks about God Laughs & Plays? Species self-loathing issues. He is fully persuaded that man is a plague, a cancer on the planet. Everywhere man has entered wilderness he has wrecked it. As I read this book, I remembered the Robert Heinlein quote...
There are hidden contradictions in the minds of people who "love Nature" while deploring the "artificialities" with which "Man has spoiled 'Nature.'" The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of "Nature" -- but beavers and their dams are. But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beavers' purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purposes of men) the Naturist reveals his hatred for his own race -- i.e., his own self-hatred.
What else stinks about God Laughs & Plays? Not giving his targets a chance to defend themselves. He seems to be clearly on the pacifist side of the pacifist/just war fence, but he doesn't address the possibility of either Operation Desert Storm or Operation Iraqi Freedom being just wars. He doesn't mention how Saddam Hussein gamed the Oil-for-Food program, or the corruption of the United Nations. So you should take the rants against U. S. military involvement with a grain of salt.
You may not like everything in God Laughs and Plays, but on the other hand, you may find some things you really like. I did, hence the four stars even with the negative comments
More God Laughs & Plays; Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right reviews:
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