Moore's Messenger - Summer 2004

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Pastor’s Pick Book Review
by Rev. Jack D. Cohen

The Gospel According to the Simpsons
by Mark I. Pinsky

“DOH!” “Don’t Have a Cow, Man!” These are some of the popular sayings of one of the longest running shows in television history: The Simpsons. In addition to the numerous websites, clothes, toys, books, and novelty items, author Mark I. Pinsky focuses on “The Spiritual Life of the World’s Most Animated Family” in his book, The Gospel According to the Simpsons.

I personally have enjoyed the sarcastic and spoofing humor of The Simpsons for years; yet, even for those who do not appreciate the humor of The Simpsons, this book really makes a great point that this show really portrays religion in the United States better than any other show on television. Throughout this enlightening and at times humorous look at reality through the eyes of the Simpson family and friends, Pinsky looks at such topics as personal prayer; evangelical Christians; the preacher; heaven, hell and the devil; moral dilemmas; the Bible; Catholicism; Protestantism; Judaism; etc. In reading this, I was reminded that much of the teaching of Jesus dealt with the parables ( Jesus taking things from the world and revealing the things of God to others) which is one of the reasons I truly love this book. As Christian humorist, speaker and professor Tony Campolo writes in the foreword of this book, “ his (Pinsky’s) book does provide a pretty good picture of our religious thinking and behavior with out the sometimes heavy jargon of social scientists. And beyond that, this book is just fun to read!”

As a supplement to this book there is a study group for The Gospel According to the Simpsons if this is something you may be interested in participating in, please call the church. For more information on Mark Pinsky and this book visit http://www.markpinsky.com on the web.