Publisher's Synopsis
This satirical book, written from the perspective of Protestant fundamentalism, exhibits the kind of hate-filled rhetoric characteristic of Protestant fundamentalist radicals, presented through irony, hyperbole, and parody. A cursory look at the book will bias the unwitting reader to conclude that it's a caustic Protestant apology against the ancient Orthodox Christian practice of showing honor to images of Christ and His saints. But as one delves further into the text, the reader begins to realize the Bible-based expositions cited against Orthodox Christian teaching are paradoxically serving to undermine the classical Protestant arguments against the veneration of Holy Icons. If the devout Protestant can endure the satire and finish this acerbic read, he will find himself, at the very least, befuddled, and, at the very most, convinced of the legitimacy of the Orthodox Christian practice of venerating Holy Icons. The author, writing under the various pseudonyms mentioned in the book, hopes the most perceptive and sophisticated readers will at least get a few chuckles out of the book.Despite being a parody, the book presents between its outrageous lines the basic theological and biblical apologetics for the Orthodox Christian veneration of Holy Images. The close-minded Protestant-fundamentalist reader may feel very much "at home" in the anti-Catholic verbiage and hate-filled, homophobic rhetoric of this book, but the content will challenge his own bias against the use of Holy Icons in worship.The book is recommended not only for people targeted by Bible-quoting, Protestant proselytizers and needing a good laugh, but also as a gift to be placed in the hands of any Protestant or "non-denominationalist" who loves to rail against the ancient Christian practice of Icon-veneration as if it were a corrupt practice of idolatry condemned by the Bible. One might call the book a religious gag gift, however, its tone is largely serious, though satirical. The sardonic, convoluted logic portrayed does not end in cynicism, however, since the scheme of the book is to level crumbling edifices of faulty biblical interpretation and fundamentalist self-imprisonment so as to clear a space for the growth of something more organic, less formulaic, and, above all, more fully human.Satirical Description: "Cartwright and McNutt have done it again with this fourth book in their noteworthy 'The Bible Rebukes Series.' The Scriptures are made clear in such a way so as to expose the idolatrous and unbiblical practices of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in their use of religious imagery. Cartwright and McNutt reveal the gaping chasm which lies between Catholicism and Orthodoxy on the one hand and Bible-based Christianities on the other."
