Mormons in Africa
From James Fenton's review of the Broadway musical by the creators of "South Park," "The Book of Mormon," at The New York Review of Books: From the point of view of the Mormon missionaries, the attitude of the natives toward Almighty God is crudely dismissive, and expressed in language that causes gasps of tickled outrage from the audience. But it is impossible to reconcile this happy-go-lucky indifference to the Supreme Being with what we have encountered in recent history when the African churches have had their say on the future of, for instance, the Anglican Church. What often comes back at us out of Africa, by way of Christian culture, is a sharp Victorian rebuke for our backsliding. It has nothing happy-go-lucky about it.
This post is archived, some links or media may be broken. Please report any issues to info.crmnyu@gmail.com.
From James Fenton’s review of the Broadway musical by the creators of “South Park,” “The Book of Mormon,” at The New York Review of Books:
From the point of view of the Mormon missionaries, the attitude of the natives toward Almighty God is crudely dismissive, and expressed in language that causes gasps of tickled outrage from the audience. But it is impossible to reconcile this happy-go-lucky indifference to the Supreme Being with what we have encountered in recent history when the African churches have had their say on the future of, for instance, the Anglican Church. What often comes back at us out of Africa, by way of Christian culture, is a sharp Victorian rebuke for our backsliding. It has nothing happy-go-lucky about it.