One evening Father Alazon Lustlieb appears on a popular evening talk show to announce that he has received a series of revelations. Several God-sent angels, he reports, instructed him to find and translate a set of twelve scrolls, then choose four disciples to help him interpret these scriptures--the Bear Lake Scrolls--and establish the Church of the Comic Spirit.
The Scrolls, the original versions of some of the more famous Biblical stories, form the centerpiece of this novel. Each of the twelve tales has its own distinct plot, style, genre (short story, film script, newspaper coverage of a congressional investigation, diary, series of letters to the editor) brand of comedy (wit, satire, parody, sex farce), and characters (Eve and Adam, Methuselah, Noah's wife Elsie, Abraham and Sarah, Lot's wife Jane, Moses, Job, David and Bathsheba, Goliath), all of whom are cast in the roles of schemers, rogues, buffoons, fools, and schlemiels. God is often the central character, the comic hero, though his rôle and character change from story to story, much as in the standard Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
The teachings of the Church of the Comic Spirit are set forth in a short catechism consisting of answers to FAQs. Whether God really exists or whether somebody has just been posing as God? Whether women are smarter than men? Whether the profits generated by the theme park Bear Lake World, Inc., should be tax-free? Whether irreverence is the highest virtue? Whether laughter is the way to salvation? How many angels can dance on the edge of a hot tub?
