Customer Reviews

The Mantra of Jabez: A Christian Parody

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I believe the best thing about Doug Jones' work here is not the hilarity of his parody, but the soundness of his critique. Having read Prayer of Jabez a while back, a lot of the more pointed jabs elicited guffaws from me. The satire really is good. But what I really liked about this book - particularly in contrast with Nathan Wilson's parody, Right Behind - is that Mr. Jones really showed quite powerfully exactly what was wrong with Wilkinson's position, and I thought he offered a brief but substantial explanation throughout of better ways to view things. He wasn't just making fun of the book; he was also offering a replacement.

So in short: good parody, but the critique of modern evangelicalism was the real gem. Gives a short, concise summary of some of the problems in the church today, and offers a glimpse of some of the solutions. Swell book.

I bought this book on Friday (it's Monday) and received it today. I read it in about 20 minutes, and my neck hurt because I was laughing so hard. The author is RIGHT ON about the Prayer of Jabez and all its reprocussions. I especially loved the bit about gnosticism.

If you're evangelical and want all the problems with Jabez pointed out to you (e.g. you want to know the truth), purcahse this book.

This was refreshing. I thought the original book assumed a lot that isn't necessarily true, even abusing some people's desire for earnest faith, and this book underscored that. The author boils it down to "immaturity", which is both funny and true.

Not to be taken too seriously, of course - they do warn the reader of this on the back cover: "This is a parody, for Pete's sake!" - and I enjoyed it. They refer too much to "Right Behind" (the sister parody book), so it's kind of over the top. And they don't nail every obvious theological aspect that I had thought important. But the section lampooning the "airplane" personal example had some very pointed thoughts about how we view life and other people, which I found unexpectedly worth the whole book. Worth your three bucks!

The mantra takes a good and needed poke at the "prayer". There will be so many who don't understand satire. The book addresses problems with the "prayer". I kept waiting for the mantra to explain how it all works in the framework of vain and repetitious prayers. Too bad many Christians don't have a sense of humor.

I can't stop reading this book and laughing. Anytime I am disappointed by the shallow faith of self-centered Christians, I pick up this little book of truth and wit.

This book is hillarious. It sheds truth upon what the Prayer of Jabez is, a selfish prayer. Highly recomended, and for those who believe the prayer of Jabez as good, go pray the LORD'S PRAYER. How then we are to pray? selfless.

It's it's like Harry Potter for Evangelicals!!!!!!

Unlike "Left Behind", which was brilliantly satirized by the parody "Right Behind", I did read "The Prayer of Jabez", of which this book is the parody. In my opinion, "The Mantra of Jabez" is not quite as successful as "Right Behind", which is not to say it's bad. For one thing, it's probably easier to parody a work of fiction than it is to parody what basically is a sermon in book form. This book does make some good points, in a satirical fashion, of course. While the original seems to indicate that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers because of his prayer, this book makes the point that his prayer was answered because he was more honorable, a big difference. But the author seems to be intent upon imparting a certain strand of Reformed theology and ridicules everything that falls outside of its scope. Nevertheless, there are some weaknesses in the way "The Prayer of Jabez" is utilized, and this book is very faithful in pointing those out in a humorous fashion.

The title rings of the jubilation my brother had after reading the book. Yes, both he and I are convinced beyond a doubt that it's time to quit our jobs and wait for the second coming while teaching others sentences. All because of this wonderful little book.

Part of our problem was that we weren't blessed with the shallow arminian upbringing that inspires fit bodies and flabby minds. Instead, we grew up orthodox, then as teens found ourselves attracted to reformed thinking. Fortunately, this book has turned the table on God, giving us the formula to compel Him to give us the gifts He wanted us to have in the first place.

The only thing that could have made this parody even funnier was to incorporate some infomercial-type-techniques. Oh well, you can't have everything. Oh wait, what am I saying, I suppose I could if I could just remember how that mantra goes.

Now the only thing left to do is to convince our Lord to let my brother and I to sit at the right and left hand when we get to His Kingdom.

The good folks at Credenda/Agenda, a journal of Reformed theology and opinion, have issued a line of parodies skewering various forms of silliness that have overtaken the Evangelical Protestant landscape. Any who have read Credenda/Agenda know it is sometimes caustic, usually challenging, and always Calvinist. This series shows they can also be extremely funny - shattering the common image of Reformed folk as people whom God has predestined to be humorless.

Douglas M. Jones' The Mantra of Jabez is a biting and at times almost cruel parody of the "name-it-and-claim-it" theology plaguing much of Evangelicalism and especially prevalent in the hoopla surrounding Bruce Wilkinson's The Prayer of Jabez. The concern for earthly comforts, the disdain for the spiritual value of suffering, and the reliance on "quick fixes" that seem to range fromt the formulaic to the superstitious all are skewered as Jones aims at the pinnacle of pop Evangelical "devotions".

The fact that a relatively obscure Scriptural passage concerning a relatively obsure individuak could be taken completely out of context and transformed into a "sure fire" prayer to turn one's life around demonstrates the increasing banality of the Evangelical landscape. The difficulty in sustaining a parody is that the original is so bland as to make satire difficult. Great parody requires either distinguishable characteristics or an "over the top" execution to highlight and lampoon. The Prayer of Jabez is so horribly bland that it is little more than a Christianized infomercial. Jones does the best he can do given such bland material and to his credit manages more than a few laughs.

Although not as knockdown funny as one might hope, The Mantra of Jabez is still a worthwhile read. If nothing else, it manages to point out the increasing triviality rampant in American Evangelicalism. The problem is will those who follow Wilkinson's book realize this one is a parody?

Reading this parody is a way for me to keep sane, by laughing at the insanity of the other book. I really enjoyed reading this. I know of many folks who have read the Prayer of Jabez, this parody makes you sit up and take notice of what is really going on.