Jesus Was Tall and Well Spoken: A Different Account of Christ and his Catholic Church

In the tradition of Aristophanes and the great Greek comic writers author Barry Leonardini has, in this novel, turned a withering and satirical eye on the perennially explicated subject of Jesus Christ?s ministry on earth. So much is written and spoken yet so little is actually known about the human side of Christs?s meteoric career, which lasted barely three years but overturned the Pagan world and created the modern one, that it demands novelistic treatment. It is a risky business to reinterpret a great historical moment, especially one so important to so many people, but Leonardini succeeds and brings a fresh insight to the personalities of the the early Christian disciples, their Roman overlords, the early Italian mafia, and to Jesus himself. He examines their motivations and desires, illusions and schemes, and develops his thesis, brilliantly delineated in the introduction and charmingly and humorously illustrated in the narrative, as to why the ?church [today] resembles more a modern day multinational business than a humble saver of souls.? Leonardini portrays the early church as a hippie-like feel good cult offering its adherents something for nothing, manipulating the rich into paying for everything by exploiting the basic human drives of guilt and forgiveness. In much the same way, it might be argued, the modern welfare state guilt-trips over achievers into paying for the under achievers, subverting the real intent of the republic in the process. Although Jesus himself is portrayed as well meaning if naive, he does, in this version, make a fateful compromise with his promotors, John and Peter, to help spread his teachings. All too soon he puts forces in motion, with disastrous though predictable results. This is actually a very funny book. It may well offend some. The Truth sometimes does. — Mark Weiman, Regent Press