Tina Pippin ( eds ) . Violence , Utopia , and the Kingdom of God : Fantasy and Ideology in the Bible

[1] The title of the collection of essays edited by George Aichele and Tina Pippin Violence, Utopia, and the Kingdom of God alerts the reader to one theme common to most of them, while its subtitle Fantasy and Ideology in the Bible tells its theoretical foundations. In a delightfully postmodern way, the essays themselves are playful forays into the realm of fantasy, making my reading experience, like fantasy itself, a "retreat from the alienating experiences in our lives" (xi). Let the reader beware, however. These romps will appeal most to those with imaginations limber enough to stretch into different positions of mental fantasy, those neither sci-finor popular culture-challenged, and/or those like this reviewer whose desire for mental masturbation compensates for shortcomings in the first two categories. Although I was unable to appreciate fully the analogies drawn by several of the contributors among and between rock groups, science fiction, and religion, I was challenged especially in the wake of the Littleton, Colorado shootings to reflect on the relationship between violence and the Kingdom of God.