April (Web-only) 2006

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If I were ten years younger, I'd have half a mind to sell everything, buy a digital video camera, and start making a film version of Post-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution. Russell Rathbun's novel about an "unknown-crazy-preacher" and his half-started revolution to upend evangelical Christianity has everything required to inspire such ambition: incisive social critique, a beautiful revelation of the good news, humor to spare, and, best of all, an enigmatic hero who is both pathetic enough to be plausible and insane enough to be right.

The book's conceit is that Rathbun has discovered an anthology of writings by one Reverend Richard Lamblove—or, more precisely, that Lamblove's writings were discovered by a character named "Russell Rathbun," who may not be the same Russell Rathbun whose name appears on the cover. Sounds confusing, yes? But as postmodern stylistics go, Post-Rapture Radio is fairly tame. And the conceit works, not least because Author Rathbun wisely keeps Character Rathbun mainly in the margins. Save for sparse editorial comments and several hints that Lamblove is Rathbun, the "collection" of writings moves forward at its own pace.

And oh! what remarkable writings they are. Reusing without bothering to recycle, Lamblove records a series of "sermons, random notes, and other writings" on the detritus of consumer goods—backs of cereal boxes and pages ripped from best-selling books such as Left Behind and How to Win Friends and Influence People. In this way, he speaks truth directly (on)to power—he inscribes prophetic truths directly onto the valued materials of the powers that be.

In mini-essays on theology and culture, sermons that are really short stories, and revelatory diary ...