American Savior: A Novel of Divine Politics

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Product Description
What if Jesus suddenly appeared and announced that he planned to run for President of the United States? Yes, that Jesus. And what if a well-meaning but utterly inexperienced band of disciples not only helped him mount a seat-of-the-pants campaign but also ran it well, getting millions of people to support him and in the process throwing the other two major party candidates—as well as the world's news media—into a frenzy as they scramble to discredit him?

Roland Merullo's bitingly clever satirical novel about the state of American politics follows one man's campaign to bring back goodness and kindness (real goodness and kindness this time) in a country that has fallen into a divisive state of fear and hatred. Merullo takes us into the heart of "a nation in grave spiritual danger" as the Son of man sets out to make everyone realize that "politics as usual" is no longer an acceptable alternative.

American Savior is a remarkably innovative novel that challenges our perceptions and beliefs while it wags a finger at the folly of our self-righteousness. It is sure to cause controversy among those for whom politics itself has become a kind of religion.

Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

amusing, but too many cop-outs August 25, 2008
9 out of 14 found this review helpful

Having Jesus run for president of the US is certainly an interesting idea. This story is at heart a comedy, but with some serious elements. The delightful movie Oh, God! had George Burns as God seeking to deliver a message: the story was lighthearted and worked well. But here we have Jesus seeking political power as president, a job in which there are serious issues--war, terrorism,abortion, foreign policy, poverty, etc, that must be dealt with. So things like the 9/11 attacks cannot be treated as comedy here, and indeed they are not. Jesus the candidate must address serious issues, and this is one of the places that the novel has problems.

Jesus appears in West Zenith, Massachusetts, and recruits Russ Thomas, a not very successful TV reporter, his boss at the TV station, his girlfriend Zelda, his brother and parents, and a few others, to be His disciples, so to speak, in His run for president. This raises questions that are never answered. Are these people special? Are they somehow preordained? Would any bunch of people picked at random do as well? Certainly to my recollection the original Disciples were a disparate group: they were not, say, Mark, Mark's girlfriend, brother, parents and a couple of others. So why this group? Think of John Denver asking George Burns "Why me?". On the campaign trail Jesus is asked, of course, about abortion. He says that as president, He would convene a conference to discuss the issue so that all sides could come to an agreement. I don't recall the Bible saying that Jesus was calling for conferences to decide some weighty issues. So this felt like a cop-out. Jesus gets asked how He would deal with terrorism, war, illegal immigration, etc, and the novel has Him respond with serious answers. The problem with having Jesus run for president (which wasn't a problem in Oh, God!) is that He would have political power and governmental power in His hands, not just spiritual and moral power. Jesus was a teacher in the Bible--He wasn't running for office.

The novel has a lot of fun with thinly-veiled renamed Limbaughs, Blitzers, O'Reillys, etc--the political pundits. It's amusing at first, but eventually it wears a bit thin. There's a major cop-out in terms of Jesus' past. You have to be a native-born American citizen, so Jesus produces a mother (a Native American). Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way that the media and the Democratic and Republican Parties would not be digging deeply into Jesus' history. Birth certificates, school records, Social Security numbers, registering for the Selective Service System, passport records (Jesus says He travelled abroad), tax records, friends from school, credit ratings, etc. But they don't do this. Then we have the problem that Jesus says He will appoint His disciples to various cabinet positions. Things don't work this way: presidents nominate people for positions. Would the Senate graciously approve these unknowns for vital cabinet posts? Would Jesus as president be able to get legislation passed? To be sure, you may say, this is a comedy, and we won't worry about these matters. George Burns had a message in Oh, God! There are lots of comedies about totally inept US presidents. But here we would have Jesus as president, with political, governmental, spiritual, and moral power to wield, and in the book Jesus has some very serious messages that don't mix well with comedy. The ending is an unsatisfactory cop-out. So all in all, what you get is a mixed bag--some very amusing parts, but also some parts that just do not feel right.

4 out of 5 stars

Inspiration, political satire and entertainment, all in one short read. August 10, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Jesus Christ for President of the United States. I expected this book to be entertaining, somewhat amusing, maybe Pratchett like. I was right. I was also wrong. This was a fascinating political satire that challenges our political system, the media and indeed our very culture.

It does this in a way that is certainly entertaining. At times it is amusing. But essentially, it is so much more. This book forces us to look more deeply into our beliefs, and the way we live and believe. It forces the reader to see that there are options and that perhaps more than options, possibilities.

What would the country be like if we chose kindness over cruelty. Generosity over greed. Truth over lies.
Compelling stuff. It had the effect of making me more dissatisfied than ever with the status quo. I miss more than ever, something that we never really had.

Read this book. It doesn't preach to you. It is a quick read, it won't strain your brain, it will make you smile. It is certainly an easy read. But when you close the cover after you have read the last word. You will feel better about yourself. You will know just a little bit more about love.

4 out of 5 stars

The Gnostic Christ runs for President September 9, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Before I started actually reading Roland Merullo's "American Savior" I was expecting something along the lines of the hilarious "Lamb" by Christopher Moore. I was kind of hoping for it to be honest as "Lamb" is one of my favorite books. Within a few chapters I knew that's not what Merullo had in mind.

Merullo has a point he wants to make and he mostly succeeds here. I'm not so sure the "converted" will get it, understand it or tolerate it, but others perhaps might. I'm going to save "the point" until the end as it will include some minor spoilers.

"American Savior" is a surprisingly light read considering the topic. But it doesn't go for the funny bone that often. When it does, unfortunately, it tends to fail. Thankfully, it doesn't tend towards the excessively sappy, although there are characters within it who are a bit silly with their earnestness. At one point I was fearing the author was trying to copy Catherine Ryan Hyde ("Pay It Forward" among many others) who is sometimes great, sometimes piles on the sentiment like a million boxes of tissues. But Merullo stepped away from that precipice.

Merullo's point was a bit spoiled for me because at times he just doesn't understand the specific nit-picky things.

In one scene he refers to "flashbulbs popping, tape recorders whirring." Flashbulbs haven't "popped" since about the 80s and reporters use digital recorders now almost exclusively. There is no "whirring."

In another scene it's explained how the Secret Service just then, after the campaign had long established itself in the polls, had decided that Jesus could have protection. If you're taking in a third of the vote in the current polls in a three way race the Secret Service will want to be involved. They're not going to wait weeks or a month later like they do in the book.

These kinds of minor mistakes pulled me out of the book. I just wished Merullo had done more research.

Now, to the point . . . (possible spoilers)

This is no New Age Christ. Merullo has done his homework here.

The Jesus Christ depicted here is the Christ that some second century Christians worshiped. They were called Gnostics and they were attacked in force by the more dominant segment of the Christian faith. The Gnostics had varied beliefs and practices. Some were anti-sex for example, others were not. Some scholars (Elaine Pagels "The Gnostic Gospels") believe that they did have some common core beliefs that challenged the very foundation of the early church.

In "Savior Nation" Christ says: "I never came to be worshiped, not the first time and not this time. I came to be emulated. That's what people didn't get. Followed, as in being an example, as in making your interior world resemble mine."

Now that's both shocking and refreshing. It's about getting your own internal house in order. The Golden Rule is in there somewhere as well. Love it.

In one early Gnostic passage Christ is asked how one finds the divine and he tells the questioner to find it in himself. Merullo has no doubt read the same Gnostic scripture.

This argument destroys the need for a Pope or any religious leader to "help" you find the path or act as a communicator with God. It also destroys the demand that one believe in the Trinity or that Christ "died for your sins" before you can be saved. It empowers the individual. It's obvious why the dominant "Christian" leaders wanted the Gnostics gone. They literally attempted to make them disappear by destroying Gnostic scriptures.

Fundamentalists or anyone who believes that the only way to God is through accepting Christ as savior will despise this book. As a survivor of Christianity, I can only say that the Christ depicted here makes me want to stand up and cheer.

"Savior Nation's" Christ says to group of alleged Christians: "I was sent by him who has the right to send, and him you do not know."

Take that Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson and Sarah Palin, Christ in this book doesn't support people who condemn gays or fail to believe in God a certain way. This Christ wants you to get your own head together and treat others will love and kindness. Period, nothing else matters.

You'll notice that Merullo didn't capitalize "him" when referring to God. To some that's disrespectful. Merullo was just being consistent here. Christ here points out several times that he is not vain. He not only doesn't need you to worship him, at times he finds it annoying. Think about it - can a deity be both the most moral entity AND be vain? No, it cannot. This has always enraged me about so-called Christians who depict God as this petulant teenager who resembles Anakin Skywalker. Just as Merullo implies in the book, Christians have utterly warped morality in their depiction of Christ.

"Savior Nation" does end as it should. It's not a stupendous ending. No thunder claps or lightening. Just the mournful longing of one of the characters. Perhaps that's the only way it could end. Merullo had already made his point several times earlier in the book and there was no sense hammering it again in the last pages.

I give the book four stars for its message. It's not great literature, however. It's a little trite in spots. I kind of wish a more literary author had tried this. The "Gnostic Christ" in modern fiction. That I love. Just wish it had been a bit better presented.

5 out of 5 stars

You'll love it August 10, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book is uproariously funny at times and always easy to read. Merullo's prose is as mellifluous as always. This is a great book which will take you right into an election similar in many ways to the one we are suffering through now; not that the candidates are the same but the shallowness of the process is. Couched in this seeming romp is a plethora of serious ideas which should be foremost in our everyday lives. You'll know them when you see them: not didactic, simply there and shining through the surrounding gloom as beacons for us to see and hopefully to do something about. You'll get a kick and a real lift out of this very fine work.

4 out of 5 stars

Politics of the Golden Alpine Field September 10, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Jesus has returned in Roland Merullo's latest novel, and he's running for president against a bible-thumping rightwinger and a rather thick-witted liberal. His political platform? Public policy, both domestic and foreign, should be grounded in the kind of kindness and compassion summarized in the Beatitudes. As Jesus says at one of his political rallies, "There is a golden alpine field within each of you, a place where you are bathed in approval, not because of anything particular you have done, but simply because of your own sacred nature. If you had a president who could show you the route to that place, what a different it would make in your lives and in the culture of the world!" (p. 199)

Merullo handles the surreal nature of Jesus running for political office deftly. There are some genuinely hilarious moments in the novel, especially when Merullo is lampooning real life liberal and conservative pundits, all of whom are given wickedly funny fictional names, and some genuinely tender and teary ones. One of the characters in particular, Stab, is guaranteed to win the hearts of readers (and for me, Stab's dad comes in at a close second). And although the way the novel ends is predictable (and, indeed, inevitable), Merullo handles it with such grace that it nonetheless leaves the reader both melancholy and hopeful.

The novel isn't without its misfirings. The romance between two main characters, the narrator-journalist and his girlfriend Zelda, which opens the narrative too suddenly gets dropped, and Zelda fades into the background. Other characters, such as Wales and his wife Ezzie, never quite get developed, and come across rather as props to Jesus' character. Jesus himself at times comes off as a talking head, all voice and no body, if you get my meaning.

But Merullo's diagnosis of the sorry state of American politics, his sometimes barely concealed rage at current trends such as the political influence of rightwing evangelicals or the senselessness of what he calls the "Endless War," and his vision of a better "golden alpine field" way of doing politics, are refreshing. "My purpose," says Jesus in an interview, "is to demonstrate to human men and women that you do not have to settle for what you have settled for to this point in your spiritual and political history. Wars, greed, corruption, nastiness of all kinds--America does nothave to settle for this, and each of you, as individuals, does not have to settle for this. We can aim our sights higher" (p. 249).

Wow. That kind of a message is enough to make you want to say "maranatha!"

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