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| The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas M. Disch
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.81
You Save: $6.14 (41%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 412892
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 1892391775
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781892391773
ASIN: 1892391775
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
Revealing the intimate details of his sudden elevation to Godhood, this shockingly mischievous satire follows one of America’s most intellectually-radical science fiction authors as he takes on the most coveted and misunderstood position in the universe. Wearying of the world’s religious schisms, doctrinal heresies, and manifold sins, Thomas M. Disch has taken it upon himself to embrace divine authority, unless his outlandish enemies emerging from the depths of a dissatisfying hell manage to prevent him. Revealing the hidden conspiracies that link the author with Philip K. Dick, Mel Gibson, Santa, L. Ron Hubbard, and eternity itself, this darkly comedic polemic holds nothing sacred and is as controversial as it is incontrovertible.
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| Customer Reviews:
 There's Only One Thing To Say July 7, 2008
9 out of 17 found this review helpful
Thomas M. Disch (February 2, 1940 - July 4, 2008)
Rest In Peace
 Ambitious idea; wandering execution June 25, 2008
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
"What I propose to write about in these sacred pages," Disch advises the reader, "is what the whole God-business looks like to someone who not only doesn't believe in God but who, moreover, doesn't believe in the belief of those most aggressively pious, most loudly devout."
What the author does in this short book is something a bit different. Disch begins promisingly with a visit by Jesus and St. Peter to the modern world where they decide to take in Mel Gibson's version of The Passion. After that, Disch meanders from literary discussion to philosophical musing, becoming fixated on deceased science-fiction author Philip Dick's attempt to travel to back in time to prevent Disch from being born. During brief interludes, we meet Alger Hiss, Ethel Rosenberg, and Thomas Mann while being treated to Disch's many and various poems about death.
Aside from the arbritrary nature of the narrative, I was struck by how mild is the author's approach to the "aggressively pious". In a world in which Christopher Hitchens defends the atheist and Sam Harris talks of the destructive nature of faith, Disch's approach seems curiously benign and outdated. I found more incisive satire of monotheism in Eddie Izzard's current concert monologue.
This book may work for hard core Disch fans but I found it a bit tired and self-indulgent.
 meandering with interesting bits July 10, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I pre-ordered this book based on the description. Thomas Disch nominating himself to be God sounds like fun. But the book itself was rather disappointing. it is Disch rambling on about religion and belief structures, which has its own merits, but it isn't really about how Disch would handle the job of Deity. If you like Disch's essays and more philosophical elements, this is worth reading, but it's not really what it's being described and sold as.
 Finally, God Takes on God! July 28, 2008
It's strangely edifying, being lectured about the idiocies of religion by God himself, but that's pretty much what happens in Tom Disch's last (sadly, really last) book. It meanders, it dispenses with plot per se, but it bristles with perverse little pockets of delight. When I was packed off to Vacation Bible School as a kid, I might have kept going longer (instead of walking away with a taste of vomit in my mouth) if I had heard from a God who would tell you (e.g.) to go get laid. At least I might have stayed around till I discovered independent thought. This is a fun read, well worth the price of admission. And (hallelujah) probably nobody will ever get beheaded or stoned to death over THIS particular Holy Writ!
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