American Savior

A Novel of Divine Politics

By: Roland Merullo

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Into a country divided by partisan politics, into a world plagued by hatred and war, at a time when it seems that everyone and no one has a solution to the problems that consume humankind, there suddenly appears someone who can rise above the madness, someone with knowledge and power, someone with a finely tuned sense of the ridiculous - someone, in short, who can make it right.

And thus we finally have an answer to the long-simmering question, "What would Jesus do?" Roland Merullo's novel American Savior posits an inspired "what if" scenario: What if Jesus, alarmed at how the earth's most powerful nation has lost its spiritual footing and dismayed at how his own teachings have been distorted - used by politicians and religious zealots to turn love into hatred and faith into a call to arms - returns and announces that he is running for president of the United States? What if he becomes a third-party candidate, is heralded as the Son of God, and not only threatens to disrupt the status quo but poses a serious threat to the already established Democratic and Republican candidates? What would happen? How would the media react? And, more important, how would we react?

Narrated by a cynical TV reporter, American Savior puts the listener inside the campaign waged by what is quickly dubbed the Divinity Party and follows Jesus and his modern-day disciples as they travel across the nation making speeches, reaching out to the people, and in the process arousing the ire of those who believe they know God, and who know, most assuredly, that this is not he.

By turns amusing and heartbreaking, affirming and disturbing, American Savior is a novel sure to create controversy among those for whom self-righteousness is its own religion. Holding up a mirror to our society and the world in which we live, it is a passionate and penetrating look at the America that is and the America that could be.

©2008 Roland Merullo (P)2020 Post Hypnotic Press Inc.

Snarky. Humorous. Thought provoking.

Snarky. Humorous. Thought provoking story…Presidential Election with Jesus as a candidate.

Superbly delivered interweaving Religious tenants (Native, Judea-Christian) with current political nuances and divisions.

Roland Merullo does it again.

He has a way of making the spiritual real and brings it to life in our world today in a way that is believable and enlightening at the same time. Well worth the listen.

Excellent Reading

What a wonderful new book by Mr. Merullo. He has such a knack for telling a fun story and teaching you all kinds of things along the way. I love all of his books and listen to them again and again. I love the lessons and I love the humor , and even enjoy the voice of the readers.This book made me laugh and made me cry.This book like the Buddha books, inspired and encouraged me to be my best self, my most loving kind self. These are just the greatest books. Thank you so much for writing them Roland.

Touching and inspiring

So far, I've loved every Merullo audio book I've heard! His blend of spirituality and storytelling is perfect for me.

Great book for today's politics.

I loved this book, it so wisely and powerfully expresses the struggles of real faith and made it seem so real to hear the story through Russ's jaded and cynical voice. I was deeply moved by the characters, especially Jesus. I loved that there was a Jew, a Catholic, and all kinds of people on the socio-economic spectrum on Jesus'"team." This book deepened my own faith. It depicts a world very much like our country is now, so divided and so hateful. Even though it was sad, it gave me great hope. The reader was truly phenomenal in bringing the characters to life. A deep and special book.

American Savior, I Loved It!

Like most of what is written about Jesus, this too is technically fiction. It is a fictional story packed with vibrant insight.

This is my first book written by Roland Merullo. I approached it with suspicion, just as I approach everything written about Jesus. As a 70 year old Christian who has spent much time in study, I am very aware that almost everything we know about the person who I call Lord was written decades after his death. Many of the words and deeds attributed to him are sayings and stories written by his followers years after the deaths of any one who experienced him physically and yet, I believe, they contain the essence of his truth. Much of what is written about about Jesus is simply not historically accurate, certainly there are no first hand accounts, but even so, the stories reveal his loving, revolutionary spiritual essence. In my opinion, Roland Merullo has similarly captured an essence of the truth of Jesus. Unlike the historical Jesus who was a product of his first century, Jewish environment, Merullo’s Jesus is more like the unfettered Universal Christ of Christian mysticism. The Jesus of American Savior is much more like the Jesus of my personal, American, mystic experience. That smiling, inclusive Jesus has become known to me through stories, historically inaccurate stories but stories that reveal that same spiritual vitality and truth. I think that readers who are spiritually open, unfettered from the chains of theology, will similarly find insight and encouragement in the pages of American Savior.

Jesus for President!

I enjoyed Mr. Merullo's Buddha books very much. This one is written to the same formula - an ordinary, flawed man meets a holy man and gradually comes around to a degree of acceptance. The thing is, this formula works really well. The holy man has lessons for the sceptic (and us) to chew on. Set this on a contemporary American political/religious stage with a dose of wicked humor, bible parallels, shrewd observations, a top notch narrator, and it's a fascinating book.