Book Review

The Messiah of Morris Avenue: A Novel

Written by Tony Hendra

(Published by Henry Holt & Company, 2006, 245 pp., $24 list price).

Reviewed by Jason Locke

Tony Hendra has well refined his tongue-in-cheek style through years of performing with Monty Python members, playing a character in Spinal Tap, and editing Spy and National Lampoon.  His latest novel The Messiah of Morris Avenue is an irreverent look at the religio-political struggles of our day.  His story is both funny and serious, using satire to examine American values through the lens of religion.  Hendra utilizes the tension between public expressions of religion that often seem less than genuine and a more sympathetic understanding of Christianity as a grass-roots movement.  The poor and disenfranchised of our world are the clear “heroes” in this novel, while the wealthy leaders seem mostly interested in protecting their power and their own version of Christianity, regardless of what Jesus may have preached.

The setting for Hendra’s novel is the not-too-distant future when the USA is controlled by the religious right.  Hollywood has been co-opted and renamed “Holywood.”  Even the White House defers to the Reverend James Sabbath, America’s most prominent religious leader, on key policy decisions.  The airwaves broadcast messages about damnation and Armageddon, begging people to prepare for the rapture.  Even public policy seems to be working toward a global conflict that will usher in the reign of Christ.

The main character of the novel is a journalist named Johnny Greco who has bounced around between news organizations.  His endeavors focus on Jay (Jesus in Spanish), a kind, young Latino from the Bronx who works miracles among the sick and spreads messages of love and forgiveness.  Johnny finds himself drawn toward this humble miracle-worker while his journalistic skepticism holds him back.  He tries to propel Jay to fame in hopes that this will bring down religious magnates like James Sabbath.

As Johnny pushes Jay to become media-savvy and polish his image, Jay resists, “The way to refresh the message is to talk to real people, touch real people, the way we’re speaking now…  Flesh, blood—life is all that’s real, even if only one person witnesses it.  Sooner or later it will reach millions.”

Johnny’s published stories about the messianic Jay create both mass excitement and wild derision as people either hope for a new type of religious leader or assume that Jay must be a fraud.  The struggle eventually takes to the courts as Jay’s group of ragtag followers either go into hiding or are executed for treason.

The authorities arrest Jay and bring in the Rev. Sabbath to confront him.  Sabbath sets him straight with lines reminiscent of the Sanhedrin’s questioning of Jesus: “Look at you: dirty, penniless, raggedy-ass.  Tell you what.  If you were Christ and came back like this, I’d still hunt you down and kill you.  We corrected Christianity, Christ.  Worked out the kinks.  We don’t need you.  We got things running smoothly: right from wrong, good guys, bad guys, what the Bible says down pat.  People don’t want more than that.  The less they know, the more they understand…  God is man, Hay-soos.  He made the world in his image.  God doesn’t love his enemies.  He destroys them.  That’s why I destroyed you—because you’re my enemy and I love my God!”

Hendra’s caricatures can seem harsh, but satire relies on such oversimplification.  Fundamentalist, rapture-promoting Christians are likely be offended by this book.  But for those who are willing to see how the emerging world often views Christianity, this story can give a glimpse into the type of Jesus—a compelling image, no less—folks seem to wish for.