Wilbur Cartwright

The Bible Rebukes Catholo-Orthodox Necromancy Wilbur Cartwright

This humorous book responds to the classical Protestant objections to the doctrine of the intercession of the saints through irony, hyperbole, parody, and outright lunacy. A cursory look at the book will bias the unwitting reader to conclude that it's a sincere, Protestant apology against the ancient Orthodox Christian practice of requesting the intercession of the 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 requesting the intercession of the saints. If the devout Protestant can endure the satire and finish this acerbic read, she will find herself, at the very least, befuddled, and, at the very most, convinced of the Biblical underpinnings of the Orthodox Catholic doctrine of the intercession of the saints. The author hopes the most perceptive 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 underpinnings of the Orthodox Catholic understanding of the Communion of Saints, a network of interpersonal connections transcending death itself. The close-minded Protestant reader may feel very much "at home" in the anti-Catholic verbiage of this book, but the content will affect her mind on a subconscious level to challenge her own assumptions of anti-Catholic bias. 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 doctrine of the intercession of the saints as if it were a corrupt practice of necromancy 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.