They Call Me Carpenter

By Upton Sinclair

They Call Me Carpenter - Upton Sinclair
  • Release Date: 1968-11-25
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 11 Ratings

Description

The story takes place in the fictional locale Western City. It begins with a man named Billy who is attacked by a mob outside a theater after watching a German film. Billy then stumbles into a church and is visited by Carpenter, that is Jesus, who walks out of a stained glass window. Carpenter is shocked and appalled by upper-class culture. The story then roughly follows the biblical account of the Ministry of Jesus. In the end, Carpenter decides to escape the corroded culture by jumping back into the stained glass window whence he came.

Reviews

  • They call Me Carpenter

    5
    By Mike the Monk
    I started reading Upton Sinclair's "Jungle", and found it so disturbing that I could not finish it. This present book is a parable espousing the same ideals of social justice, and openly connecting it to Christian teaching. The message was equally disturbing, but made more palatable by the the Christian context. Many early Christians were indeed unabashed communists ( with a small "c", motivated by Christian love, and voluntary, not imposed by a totalitarian, atheistic government). This way of life continues in monastic communities to this day. Our present capitalistic system of unbridled consumerism contains the seeds of its own destruction, and we plainly see this in the economic recession of the past few years. This book invites us to reassess our fundamental values and curb our greed.