When graduate students outside of Religious Studies asked me to read their thesis projects on religious topics I always made a request to read chapters as they are completed, rather than waiting until the very end. This is because students who skip the formal study of religion rarely get it right. That is why it was enjoyable to read Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel The Fishermen, because the Nigerian author does get it right.
The Fishermen is not a novel about religion, nor is it a religious book, although the book jacket and a number of reviews compare it to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Fratricide occurs, and murderous revenge as well, but any similarity with Genesis ends there. Nevertheless, religious sensibilities and sensitivities imbue the lives of the characters. . . In the immortal words of Lazlo Toth, “You send out letters, you get back letters, that’s for sure!” I invited you to send recommendations and you did! Thank you for your comments, which I’d like to pass on to all readers.
I was also asked what books were my night stand, but have to admit that they are insufficiently highbrow to report. I will say that I just finished Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto. Though not a book about religion, it is about redemption through music: I didn’t want it to end. I’m currently reading The Investigation, by J. M. Lee, also about redemption, but through poetry. And now for your recommendations. (I have eliminated last names because we’re no longer on Facebook.) . . . I love to read.
Given a choice between taking a trip down the Amazon River or reading about such a trip, I would undoubtedly choose the latter. I have the personality tests to prove it. Reading is a pleasure for me. Of course, it can be work when it is slogging through a dense academic monograph, but it remains enjoyable work. I always believed that being a university professor—which I was for twenty-five years—was one of the biggest scams around because I got paid to read! . . . |
Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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