Bible Stories for Adults (Paperback)

~ (Author) "TAKE YOUR CUP down to the Caspian, dip, and drink..." (more)
Key Phrases: wrong blocks, dung heap, Miss Blandina, Blue Nile, Christmas Imperative (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Morrow's Towing Jehovah (1994), which has just won the 1995 World Fantasy Award for best novel, wickedly satirizes orthodox religion by recounting the journey of an oil tanker towing God's immense, decaying corpse to its final resting place at the North Pole. The stories in Morrow's new collection run in a similar vein, deliciously skewering not only Judeo-Christian mythology but other sacred cows of modern society, from capitalism to New Age spiritualism. In the Nebula-winning "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge," Morrow presents a prostitute who is rescued by the ark's crew from a flood but who shouldn't have survived, for she inevitably helps revive the evils God meant to destroy. "The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge" delightfully exposes the flaws of corporate charity when Marley's ghost returns with another round of rebukes for a disconcerted Scrooge. In Bible stories numbers 20 ("The Tower" ) and 31 ("The Covenant" ), respectively, Morrow gives us God's own amendment, in His own words, to the Tower of Babel story and describes a computer's reconstruction of Moses' tablets. Morrow's brand of mordant wit invites comparison with such master satirists as Vonnegut and even Swift, and he deserves to share an audience with them that sprawls beyond the bounds of genre fandom. Not to be missed. Carl Hays --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Twelve tales, 198494, drawn from various publications, by the author of Towing Jehovah (1994), etc. The main thrust here isn't always biblical, though satire looms large--along with dollops of ironic, iconoclastic, or subversive wit. The dazzlingly effective best of a decidedly superior bunch: A murderously mutinous WW I American infantry private ends up in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a permanent honor guard; reversing his Babel decision, God gives everyone the power of perfect comprehension--with equally devastating results; a robot civilization adheres to the Darwinian principle of natural selection, despite the manifest impossibility of its applying to them; and the sad story of Gunther Black, a man with multiple personalities so numerous that they form nations--and conduct war! In other notable what-ifs, Moses never receives a replacement set of law tablets; Lincoln considers signing an armistice; Helen decides to put an end to the Trojan War; Ebenezer Scrooge lives out his days as an unregenerate capitalist rascal; and Job realizes he's been duped and demands a rematch. Elsewhere, a dead woman's donated organs yearn to reunite; Noah ponders the possibility of other survivors; and, finally, in a rather silly fable, a farmer's wife gives birth to planet Earth. A splendidly provocative series of engagements for supple and enquiring minds; mandatory for fanatics of any stripe. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books; Softcover Ed edition (February 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156002442
• ISBN-13: 978-0156002448
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #442,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A contentious book is the best reading, April 25, 1997

By A Customer

I must say first that the delicious jibes at all things judeo-christian were more enjoyable knowing that the hometown Christian Women's Collective was probably frothing over perceived insults. For the more open-minded types, Morrow could very well serve as a call to rally against blind acceptance and inexplicable faith. But that would be inconsistent with the spirit of the short stories contained in "Bible Stories for Adults". An entirely honest title: bump the PG up to PG-13 for adult themes. The nature of consciousness, of environmental balances, of individuality and humanity. There's nothing petty, pointless or too detail-oriented about the institution of slavery in American society. Realize that it is behind us now, but in historical terms, not by too damn long a time. Morrow guts Western culture and preconceptions with gusto. But the real genius lies in the way he tempers his writing with humor, a great deal of it. The stories are nothing if not funny: the androids who are waiting for the Great Genital Coming, in which they will finally be differentiated into sexes; the other side of the Troy legend as related by a clever and aging Helen; Job's dung-heap, complete with a Zenith TV to pass the time. I enjoyed all the stories, some more than others. There was a slight degree of inaccessibility to some of the stories which relied heavily on Biblical scriptures. If you do not know your Bible stories well, you may not get all the jokes. On the other hand, if you know the scriptures well enough to get all the jokes, you probably won't find them funny. Well worth a few bucks, especially since I believe that Morrow will be unable to resist satirizing money in his next collection.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great collection of short stories, June 20, 2001

By	D. Swensen "No one in particular" (Manifesto, MT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

James Morrow's ideas are sometimes preposterous, sometimes pretentious, but always wildly inventive, and Bible Stories for Adults is no exception. While a couple of the included stories might cause the reader to roll his or her eyes in the presumptuousness of the author, or the wild implausibility of the ideas involved, it's a good bet the story will still get read -- if only because it's wonderfully entertaining.

My personal favorite from this collection was "The Tower," in which God, fed up with human vanity, makes a personal appearance on Earth and creates a tower of Babel in reverse -- a world in which every human being understands one another implicitly, and no secret is left unrevealed. The impact to humanity is cataclysmic, and the resulting story is both humorous and unsettling.

Bible Stories for Adults also makes a great introduction to the reader starting out with James Morrow, as it is lighter in tone and easier to digest than his (equally excellent) novel-length works.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Science fiction satire by one of the best modern proponents, February 22, 2003

By	Glen Engel Cox "www.engel-cox.org" (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge"--Not for the squeamish, this retelling of the Flood touches on some of Morrow's recurring themes. Why is it murder when humans kill, but not when God kills? What is the value of life? How should we live our lives? I did not find this as disgusting as when I first read it, but I'm also 10 years older.

"Daughter Earth"--I've written about this story before, and it was a pleasure to reread it. It is one of my favorites--a strange metaphorical tale that has character, humor, and a biosphere. This is the kind of story I want to write when I grow up.

"Known But to God and Wilbur Hines"--Well researched tale of World War I and how war is hell. It is okay, but we have seen the sentiment elsewhere, and, while the details are sharp and fresh, the actual plot and manner are a tad warmed over.

"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 20: The Tower"--I like this one a lot better than "The Deluge," possibly because of the great humor inherent in a story narrated by God himself. Morrow has a real gift for merging humor into his satire, and this is a prime example. The story itself, with its criticism of Donald Trump and the hubris of the well-off, and its method of turning the tables on the idea of Babel, is just marvelous.

"Spelling God with the Wrong Blocks"--This is a fabulous story. I finished this and, as with "Daughter Earth," thought, "This is the kind of thing that I try to write. A story that transposes one set of beliefs into the reference frame of another set of beliefs to put serious question marks into both absolutes." In this one, natural selection is seen as the "correct" and holy interpretation of evolution, and when the science missionaries try to convince the planet of androids that instead they were actually the result of special creation, things don't turn out so well. God, what a funny, but not so funny, story. Check double plus, highly recommended, in my top 20.

"The Assemblage of Kristin"--Another great story, about an organ donor whose parts don't seem to want to give up life. Wonderful details, interesting characters, and a marvelous story structure. You know, if this book continues with stories like this, Morrow is going to move into real favorite status with me. Is this his only story collection (well, no, there was the Pulphouse Author's Choice one, but this is the only major publisher collection, I think)?

"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant"--Like "Spelling God..." this drops us into a apotheosis wherein what we find normal is switched. Instead of having Moses' law for over 2,000 years, this world has had to go without it, instead preserving the shattered bits of clay from Mt. Sinai. The purpose of the computer they build is to put the tablets together again, to reveal the holy word. But is it worth it? Great social commentary. Question: What is the purpose of the numbers to these bible stores for adults? In this collection, there are only four, but the last is numbered 46. Are there 42 more that Morrow has not published?

"Abe Lincoln in McDonald's"--A little like the last story except the strange twist of having a very real Abe Lincoln in the future is almost too bizarre for words. The concept of slavery and society is always good for another story.

"The Confessions of Ebeneezer Scrooge"--Similar in style and substance to the Bible Stories, at least in that it picks grits with a story that ostensibly provides for modern morals. Morrow feels that greed shouldn't get off with just providing a turkey at Christmastime.

"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 46: The Soap Opera"--An examination of God's role in the life of Job. I'm reminded of XTC's "Dear God," and the line about how God has a lot of questions to answer about suffering. That's a great thing about the Bible Stories--the God of the Old Testament was so capricious that moving his actions into modern times make him look truly ridiculous. I was thinking that Morrow needs to tackle a New Testament story, but I guess that is what Only Begotten Daughter was about.

"Diary of a Mad Diety"--Great concept for a story--a man with the most extreme multiple personality disorder. And I liked several parts it this, but the latter third just did not seem. to match the inventiveness of the earlier parts.

"Arms and the Woman"--This is an example of the Iliad for Adults. What happens when Helen decides that she is not worth a war, a la Shaw. Nice idea, and the best part is the heroes over the truce table talking about how this is the war to make all war seem rational.