Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited [Paperback]

Rick Moody (Editor), Darcey Steinke (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

In this landmark collection of original essays, a group of 22 prominent young writers explores what Christianity means for them--and for us--in today's world. Contributors include Barry Hannah, Madison Smartt Bell, Benjamin Cheever, bell hooks, Ann Padgett, and Kim Wozencraft. Excerpt in Esquire Magazine. NPR feature.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Novelists Moody (Purple America, LJ 2/15/97) and Steinke (Suicide Blonde, Atlantic, 1992) have brought together 21 essays by 21 different contributors including themselves, none of whom are biblical or New Testament scholars. They are all writers, however?novelists, poets, playwrights?which makes this book about faith a most interesting read. With a deep interest in religion, the contributors have selected New Testament passages or themes on which to provide very different kinds of commentaries or as launching points for personal reflections on religion. One chapter, for example, is a poetical reflection on Jesus' feet, another on the teenage Jesus with a consideration of the adolescent spirit vis-a-vis religion. Recommended especially for collections including inspirational reading.?John Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A bid to shed fresh light on the New Testament, weighed down by a disappointingly predictable party line: Jesus-as-radical-moral-teacher. These baby boomer writers have mostly ``revisited'' only a fraction of the New Testament, the Gospels, which novelist Moody (Purple America, p. 164, etc.) sees as ``great liberal documents in strong support of ethical universals.'' In rescuing the New Testament from the Christian Right, though, these writers don't realize that by almost exclusively using the Gospels, they've ceded some of the richest territory to the fundamentalists. That's why Joanna Scott's marvelous essay on Revelation is nothing short of a revelation (her discussion of symbols as ``masks'' in the text is truly stunning), and why Ann Powers's contribution, ``Teenage Jesus,'' falls flat. In her zeal to make Jesus culturally relevant to bohemian boomers, Powers utterly trivializes his message and mission. Portrayals of Jesus as a rebel with a good cause, or a misunderstood ethical teacher, are beyond prosaic. Several of the writers mention that their views of Jesus were heavily influenced by the rock-opera movie Jesus Christ Superstar, which helps explain this book's unidimensionality. Why not try new turf and explore the irascible Paul? Aside from one obligatory essay on 1 Corinthians 13 (de rigueur at American weddings), Paul is completely ignored. Standout essays include bell hooks's creative offering on the transformative power of love; Benjamin Cheever's offhanded appeal to ``judge not,'' and Jeffrey Eugenides's witty portrayal of the Holy Ghost in Acts: ``Jesus gets all the attention, all the reviews,'' Eugenides wryly observes. The editors of this anthology should have heeded his remark. In its narrow purview, this New Testament revisited is considerably less juicy than the original. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co.; 1st edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316579289
• ISBN-13: 978-0316579285
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,162,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual thinking taken to dramatic heights, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited (Paperback)

Being acquainted with the editors, I chose to read the introduction and afterword as book-ends. The effect was electrifying, since these writers clearly are wrestling with their personal beliefs, and struggling to communicate how important this quest can be. Any tolerant and thoughtfull religious thinker will find his/her accepted theology stretched and challenged, though many of the views seem "heretical" to mainstream conventional approaches. Take a chance and see if some of your long-held tenets don't take on a different resonance.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh and wildly spirited collection of essays., April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited (Paperback)

Edited by one of the literary giants of the 20th century, Rick Moody, Joyful Noise is the most profound treatment of the N.T. I have ever come across. Not since Chesterton's Orthodoxy has my system of beliefs been so tested. This book will appeal to, and the shake the ground of agnostics and believers alike.