Just finished a book I've been working on for a couple weeks, Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. It's about a man who rises from less than stellar beginnings to become a well-respected minister and morality leader. Except it's not as feel good as perhaps that brief description makes it sound. I really enjoyed the book - it had some brilliant commentary on hypocrisy in the church as well as some great laugh-out-loud moments.
Particular favorite quote: “Because the Baptists and the Methodists have all the numbskulls—except those that belong to the Catholic Church and the henhouse sects—and so even you can get away with being a prophet. There are some intelligent people in the Episcopal and Congregational Churches… Of course all Presbyterians are half-wits, too, but they have a standard doctrine and they can trap you into a heresy trial.”
That’s us, half-wits with a keen eye for heresy!
If you’re interested on reading a classic piece of American lit that was quite controversial in its days and is still rather dead-on in this day, I recommend it!
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