"Napa Valley" Brocken InaGlory. Licensed. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
"Napa Valley" Brocken InaGlory. Licensed. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
Welcome to LAST SUPPER RED!!
What if laughter and hilarity are sacred? Might prayer be less about words and more about how we position ourselves before Mystery? What if God is less like Santa Claus and more like air? What if we are defined more by "Original Blessing" than "Original Sin?" Would Christianity flourish if we followed Jesus instead of worshipping him? What if "the Kingdom of God" has much less to do with the hereafter and is instead a here-and-now countercultural idea and reality with political and economic consequences?
Q likens the depression Advocatus and Snark were in to "hell." What do you make of Q's definition of "hell": physically close but spiritually distant? Been there? Does some other definition have greater appeal?
What is it that softens Snark's initial resistance to Advocatus' attempt at reconciliation? For that matter, does Snark's resistance ring true to you in your experience?
Snark's humor eventually returns from the "far country that had for so long demanded its allegience . . . ." Those words harken back to Jesus' language as he told his famous parable (cf. Luke 15:11-32) about a father who had two sons and how the younger one took his share of the inheritance and went off to "a far country" where he wasted his inheritance and his life. Eventually, like Snark's humor, he returned to his father. What do you make of Q referring to Snark's humor in this way? Why is humor's return so important?
What if the Bible is better read not as a "constitution" to be taken legalistically and for the purpose of winning doctrinal arguments, but rather as a "community library" to be read intelligently, reflectively, and in pursuit of wisdom for living? What if Jesus' execution was a consequence of his life and ideas being a threat to the Roman authorities, and not an "all-in-the-family" violent sacrifice required by God so that humankind could be redeemed?
Ideas matter, whether they are expressed in questions such as these or in the responses to them. Ideas matter because they help to form who we say we are, and they inspire and guide us to do what we do.
Last Supper Red - The Synaptic Edition is a satirical, comedic novel about some of the church's ideas, and how the church often holds onto them long past the time when their ability to communicate ceases.This practice has produced unintended consequences similar to the one we experience when we eat that once-tempting treat in the fridge whose pull date was well over a month ago.
If it is true that every 500 years or so, Christianity holds "a rummage sale" of some of its ideas, then consider Last Supper Red - The Synaptic Edition as a sort of sign tacked up on a post in your neighborhood pointing the way to the sale's location.
The purpose of this website is to facilitate your engaging the ideas presented in Last Supper Red - The Synaptic Edition, whether on your own or in a discussion with others. The half-dozen links in the green block to the left of each page will take you to material which will help you explore the underlying ideas of the book. These ideas come principally from two related movements: "Emergent" and "Progressive" forms of Christianity.
To get started, you will need your own copy of this free e-book. To obtain your copy of Last Supper Red - The Synaptic Edition, just click on the link in the green block of links above that says Download.
It has been my pleasure bringing the book and this website to you. Enjoy your read!
NOTE: The text below the photo of the vineyard, as well as the text on the tabs along the left side of each page are rendered in Chelsea Studio font. The title for each Dialogue Discussion page is rendered in a font called Tolkien. If you don't have these fonts on your computer, it's likely that the text will be rendered in the usual Arial font. Should you want to see each page in all its (alleged?) glory, you can download Chelsea Studio font for free by clicking here. To download the Tolkien font for free, click here.