Jesus Died for This?

A Religious Satirist's Search for the Risen Christ

By: Becky Garrison

Narrated by: Becky Garrison

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

"When I arrived at Yale Divinity School back in 1988, I expected to engage in an intense period of discussion and self-reflection around issues like eschatology, evangelism, and ecclesiology with fellow Protestants of all stripes (with a few Catholics thrown in as sort of a guilty pleasure). After all, despite our theological differences, surely we all at least bought into this Nicene Creed biz, where it clearly states that Jesus was born, died, and then rose again from the dead?

"Silly me. Instead, way, way, way too much time was spent navel gazing over trivial topics like 'Why can't priests be promiscuous?' 'What priestly perks come with this parish?' 'Is YDS a Christian' divinity school?' (This Q comes courtesy of the fundy faithful). And my favorite: 'Why don't you use ^%$#@ inclusive language in worship?' (Uh, Jesus was a 'dude.' Hello.) I just don't see why the creator of all, who loves all of her creation unconditionally, would bring his son into the world to suffer, die, and then rise from the dead unless he knew such an act was needed to transform the world. There's no way God would have given us the gift of eternal life just so we could stage Christian catfights that make us all look like biblical buffoons.

"Yes, we can point the finger at silver tongued televangelists and politicians behaving unbiblically. But the more I cover Christian carnage, I realize that this foolish quest to conform Christ's teachings to the whims of one's own socio-political agenda has started to stink up the local churches big time. I know Jesus was born in a barn, but do churches have to smell like one as well? In I Died for This? I will pick up my pitchfork and muck out the spiritual stables for signs of the living Christ hidden under the mounds of Jesus junk and faith fertilizer."

©2010 Becky Garrison (P)2010 Zondervan

Critic reviews

"Never missing an opportunity to get a laugh, the author's stories are peppered with jokes and tongue-in-cheek commentary about how Christians have 'lost' Jesus. As with any comic, some of the humor misses the mark, but the gist is clear: Christians must examine the core of their faith, understand that religion is not 'all about me,' and, most important, share a good laugh." ( Publishers Weekly)

Love her as a writer, as a narrator not so much...

I really enjoy Ms. Garrison's blog. She has a great sense of the absurd and writes it very well. This audio version is too strident for my taste in its presentation. I suppose that I must put it in my category of "Authors who should not narrate their own material."
Do listen for the content after sampling -- as long as you are not put off by the sound and cadence of the narrator, you may really enjoy this title.