The following snippet comes from Exit 36: A Fictional Chronicle, by Robert Farrar Capon. Detailing a tumultuous month in the life of a parish priest, this mystical novel disentangles the most crucial of themes: death, romance, mystery, and redemption. Here, our narrator Father William Jansson reflects on ‘faith’, following the passing of his dear friend, […]
Preface by Chad Bird to Exit 36: A Fictional Chronicle
A huge thank you to Chad Bird for this eloquent preface to our recent republication of Robert Farrar Capon’s Exit 36. Order your copy today! In the early days of December, I crawl up into my attic, step over a couple of rafters, and take a deep breath to blow a year’s worth of dust off a […]
The First Chapter of Bed and Board by Robert Farrar Capon – New Edition Available Now!
And now we present an excerpt from the most recent addition to our Robert Farrar Capon series, his greatly esteemed work Bed and Board: Plain Talk About Marriage. An essential book for any Capon-lover, this was Robert’s first bestseller, and you’ll see why in this introductory chapter, reproduced below. “Bed and Board is necessary and offensive […]
Announcing Bed & Board: Plain Talk About Marriage by Robert Farrar Capon!
It is a privilege to announce the latest installment in our Robert Farrar Capon series… Bed & Board: Plain Talk About Marriage.
This little book was Robert’s first best-seller, originally published in 1965. Now re-released for the first time, Bed & Board is Father Capon’s enduring, rambunctious counsel on marriage and family life—woven through with the message of grace that never changes, no matter the decade.
From inside:
“This book is not about those giants who tower over you: Psychology, Education, Maturity, Sexual Adjustment—not even Religion. They can take care of themselves. This is about you—that is, about me (for we are all unique, and practically identical). This is, to be honest, not a book at all. It is only a monologue, and not an entirely sober one at that. It is one peasant swapping stories with another in the cold backyard of the House of Important Subjects, while the grand seigneurs hold their solemn consultations within. The author’s qualifications therefore almost cease to matter. Indeed, he has arranged things so that only one is really necessary: He must be an expert in absurdity. And that is the only qualification that will be offered. An absurd Baedeker for an absurd journey; no apologies, no explanations…”
You can order Bed and Board: Plain Talk About Marriage, by Robert Farrar Capon here!
You can also find Mockingbird editions of Robert’s other books here: The Man Who Met God in a Bar, and More Theology & Less Heavy Cream.
Pizza for Five Thousand
The following excerpt comes from our latest publication, The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to Marvin, by Robert Farrar Capon. As you’ll see, Father Capon has a knack for stirring up fresh ways to think about old, familiar stories. Below, our narrator Marvin chronicles the spiritual revival led by Jerry, a short-order cook in 1990s Cleveland…who also claims to […]
The Man Who Met God in a Bar, by Robert Farrar Capon – Preface to the Mockingbird Edition
If you haven’t yet gotten your hands on Mockingbird’s latest publication, a completely outrageous novel by the late Robert Farrar Capon, you can now find it on Amazon and in our online store! The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to Marvin reimagines the gospel story as though it had happened in 1990s […]
Now Available! The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to Marvin
Mercury may be in retrograde, but that hasn’t stopped us yet! We are pleased to announce the publication of The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to Marvin, by Robert Farrar Capon.
As many of you may already know, we have been given the distinct privilege of resurrecting a handful of out-of-print books by the acclaimed chef-theologian, Robert Farrar Capon. First up was the never-before-published More Theology and Less Heavy Cream (available here), a collection of musings on food, God, and everything in between, featuring Robert and his wife’s fictional alter-egos; and now, just in time for the big NYC Conference, we are pleased to present to you The Man Who Met God in a Bar, a completely outrageous novel that imaginatively retells the life of Jesus as though it had happened in 1990s Cleveland. Here’s the summary:
It’s time for a drink, Marvin Goodman decides after missing his red-eye out of Cleveland. Moseying into the airport bar, he encounters a charismatic young chef named Jerry—who also claims to be God. Before long, Marvin finds himself in the middle of a spiritual revival—witnessing miracles, healings and one everlasting anchovy pizza—in this weird and wonderfully inspired account of the Gospel story.
Click here to order your copy of The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to Marvin! And look for it on Amazon soon.
More Robert Farrar Capon & Less Thanksgiving Turkey
Like many people who are fans of Robert Farrar Capon, my introduction to him and his work was through The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection. I first read the book over ten years ago when it was being passed around a small group of women in my (at the time) small church who […]
Deconstructing the Christian Music Industry, or, “What’s in a Name?” by Robert Farrar Capon
The following is excerpted from the recently released collection of shorts, More Theology and Less Heavy Cream: The Domestic Life of Pietro & Madeleine, by the inimitable Robert Farrar Capon. Below, the protagonists (Robert and his wife’s alter-egos) go toe-to-toe about, among other things, the nature of “Christian” anything. Madeleine zapped off the TV set with the remote control switch. […]
“Invasion of the Cream Snatchers” by Robert Farrar Capon
Here is an excerpt from the second essay in Mockingbird’s latest publication, More Theology & Less Heavy Cream, by Robert Farrar Capon–available now in our online store and on Amazon! More Theology & Less Heavy Cream is a never-before-published collection of Robert’s essays featuring his and his wife’s alter-egos, Pietro and Madeleine. Join them in this charming […]
Announcing More Theology & Less Heavy Cream by Robert Farrar Capon!
This is such an honor. A dream come true even — if we’d been bold enough to dream this big. Today we can finally announce the release of More Theology & Less Heavy Cream: The Domestic Life of Pietro and Madeleine, a brand new title from the late Robert Farrar Capon. Father Capon has been one of Mockingbird’s guiding lights since our founding in 2007, and we had the distinct privilege of conducting his final interview before he passed away in 2013. Suffice it to say, More Theology and Less Heavy Cream is an indispensable look into Capon’s own kitchen (and soul).
The blurb reads as follows:
“A dash of theology. A pinch of satire. The unmistakable smell of roasted lamb. Father Capon is back. More Theology & Less Heavy Cream collects 27 essays from the much-missed theologian, writer, and chef, featuring him and his wife’s lovable alter-egos, Pietro and Madeleine. Armed only with oven mitts and a razor-sharp wit, this unforgettable couple spars over God, food, grace, and everything in between.”
Pre-order your copy today! Available at other outlets this coming Monday, December 5.
P.S. This is the first of five out-of-circulation Capon books that we’ll be publishing over the next 18 months!
P.P.S. Order both of our new publications together and save some cash. We call it the “Capon Condon Combo”.
To Tide You Over: Capon Closes Down the Religion Shop
Hopefully you’ve all heard the big news by now: Mockingbird has been given the wonderful privilege of bringing back to life 5 out-of-print books by our favorite salty lamb, Robert Farrar Capon, beginning with a previously unpublished manuscript to be released around Christmastime! To support this endeavor click here. Meanwhile, our greasy fingers are flipping through the texts as we speak.
To help tide you over, here’s an excerpt from Capon’s chef-d’œu·vre Kingdom, Grace, Judgment (still in print), a study on the parables of Jesus. The excerpt below responds to hypothetical objections to Capon’s emphasis on death and free grace: “Grace works only in those who accept their lostness,” he writes on page 204. “Jesus came to call sinners, not the pseudo-righteous; he came to raise the dead, not to buy drinks for the marginally alive.” In an interlude on pages 252-253, he continues:
“What ever happened,” you want to object, “to the positive idea of Christian living? If all we have to do to be saved is drop dead, why bother even trying to live–especially, why bother to be good, loving, or moral? Why not just go out and sin all we like? What role have you left for religion in the world, if everybody is going to get home free for nothing?” …
What role have I left for religion? None. And I have left none because the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ leaves none. Christianity is not a religion; it is the announcement of the end of religion. Religion consists of all the things (believing, behaving, worshiping, sacrificing) the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God. About those things, Christianity has only two comments to make. The first is that none of them ever had the least chance of doing the trick: the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (see the Epistle to the Hebrews) and no effort of ours to keep the law of God can ever succeed (see the Epistle to the Romans). The second is that everything religion tried (and failed) to do has been perfectly done, once and for all, by Jesus in his death and resurrection. For Christians, therefore, the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up, and forgotten. The church is not in the religion business. It never has been and it never will be, in spite of all the ecclesiastical turkeys through two thousand years who have acted as if religion was their stock in trade. The church, instead, is in the Gospel-proclaiming business. It is not here to bring the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical and ethical wickets; it is here to bring the world the Good News that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” It is here, in short, for no religious purpose at all, only to announce the Gospel of free grace.
The reason for not going out and sinning all you like is the same as the reason for not going out and putting your nose in a slicing machine: it’s dumb, stupid and no fun. Some individual sins may have pleasure still attached to them because of the residual goodness of the realities they are abusing: adultery can indeed be pleasant, and tying one on can amuse. But betrayal, jealously, love grown cold, and the gray dawn of the morning after are nobody’s idea of a good time.
On the other hand, there’s no use belaboring that point, because it never stopped anybody. And neither did religion. The notion that people won’t sin as long as you keep them well supplied with guilt and holy terror is a bit overblown. Giving the human race religious reasons for not sinning is about as useful as reading lectures to an elephant in rut. We have always, in the pinches, done what we damn pleased, and God has let us do it. His answer to sin is not to scream “Stop that!” but to shut up once and for all on the subject in Jesus’ death.
