I was a tiny bit disappointed at the end…real Jesus didn’t quite work for me. But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and its reminder that we’re not always following the real Jesus, even (or especially) when we think we are.

My husband managed to snatch this book and read it before I did, and he posted his review a long time ago. He also included Todd Agnew’s song “My Jesus,” which totally fits with this book.

Finally, I’m proud to say that Matt Mikalatos is from our own Portland, Oregon. I look forward to reading more of his work.

If you thought Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” episode was funny then you will enjoy Matt’s irreverent sense of humor. I smiled out loud a couple times! This guy is someone you would want to watch old episodes of “Highway to Heaven” with. In fact, that’s not a bad idea Matt, “Mystery Science Theater 4000 with Matt Mikalatos”

The book follows Matt’s journey from religion to relationship. Along the way Matt pokes fun at all the ugly religious idols in his life and maybe in the life of his reader as well.

In the book, Matt struggles with a painful experience and countless interactions with religion. He finds that he has settled for an imaginary Jesus instead of the intimate indwelling presence of Jesus. Matt’s biggest struggle however, is the age old struggle wrapped up in “that” question, the one that snags unbelievers (both saved and unsaved), the one that screams at us after we have experienced hurt, disappointment or heartache. The question? “How can a good God allow bad things to happen.”

In the end Matt experiences Gods one of a kind love for him and his family – A love that is always good, that redeems and restores even if it doesn’t answer every question, even if it doesn’t answer “that” question.

Matt doesn’t really answer “that” question either. Instead he learns to live in the wonder and pain and risk and mystery. He begins to live loved and finds, that even in the hard seasons, God is good and his love is enough.

Funny and insightful, I enjoyed the read.

Thanks Matt!

Imaginary Jesus: A not-quite true story… does a masterful job of knocking down straw Jesus’ to show the world today what it means to hear the call to discipleship and answer amid a sea of uncertainty.

As a builder of labyrinth’s (with prayer stations), I was both intrigued with his idea’s of building my own stations about the false Jesus’ we deal with in our every day lives, finding the Lord who washes feet and allows his body and blood to be broken for us, and then preparing to be back in the world without the support of the false Jesus’ we have created in our image.

I read the first half of this book in a coffee shop and laughed quite loudly at the idea of a donkey making jokes about people who assume.

Wonderful novel. I whole heartedly recommend it for a good enjoyable afternoon.

It was a lighthearted and pleasant read.

…however, I can’t help but wonder to what degree of seriousness is truly intended.
I think, quite a bit. (Spoiler alert) As much fun as it to laugh at the numerous imaginary Jesus’ in mockery of various forms of ridiculous Christian beliefs there are out there, we inevitably come across our imaginary Jesus and our brand of belief… and somehow it just isn’t quite so funny.

I can’t help but wonder if this piece of fiction is meant to be something a lot more serious than it would appear on the surface. I wonder what deeper theological thoughts swim just beneath the calm and comical surface.

It made me ask a question; Exactly how do we know – or know of – Jesus?
After a bit of thought, I’ve come to believe there are only 4 ways to ‘know Jesus’. (And I am not speaking of the Born-Again-Evangelical kind of knowing-Jesus).

1) There is the Jesus we know through historical texts (which is precious little).
2) There is the Jesus we read of in the gospel accounts, each flavoured to a certain degree by its author. (which – interestingly – leaves the ‘real Jesus’ veiled or hidden ‘beneath’ or ‘between’ the gospel accounts. Inaccessible; having become isolated and hidden between the pages of history and gospel).
3) There’s the Jesus that we meet through good Christians – truly embodying the Body of Christ concept,
4) and finally, there is the Jesus of our imaginations. (And it really should be noted that something that is make-believe and something that is imaginary are not necessarily synonymous).

Ultimately how we ‘know’ Jesus is shaped to some degree by all four ‘ways’. I cannot help but believe it is our imaginary Jesus that plays the largest and strongest part.

After all, I doubt many professing Christians really want to ‘meet’ and ‘know’ the real Jesus.

I like when Matt Mikalatos’ protagonist (…or is it really himself?…) voices a concern about the real Jesus:

”…he can do whatever he pleases. Who knows what he might ask of me? I can’t control him. I can’t box him in with my own beliefs and philosophies…”

If we’re honest enough with ourselves, we would have to admit that the Jesus we want will – at least to some degree – bow to our beliefs, and bend towards our philosophies. I honestly believe it is possible to do anything else.
It is when we use and abuse our imaginary Jesus – bending it to our agendas – that the real crime and harm occurs. That is where the danger lies.

~

I’d love to do Matt Mikalatos’ Imaginary Jesus in a group study. I’d love to see if and how biblical literalists struggle with the truths that are present within a piece of pure fiction.

Disclosure: This book was provided to me free of charge by The Ooze Viral Bloggers.

Imaginary Jesus is a hilarious, slightly irreverent, wholly challenging work from the pen of Matt Mikalatos. I’ll be the first to admit I’m usually not a big fan of “Christian fiction”, but Mikalatos pretty much had me engrossed by the end of the first chapter. His thesis? All too often, we settle for the constructions of Jesus bequeathed us through culture, religious tradition, or our own selfish projections of him, rather than searching to understand Jesus on his own terms. Before we can come to know the real Jesus, we must deal with our imaginary “Jesuses” and their grip on our lives.

What does Mikalatos mean by “Imaginary Jesuses”? A few examples:

* Televangelist Jesus – Jesus as faith healer / showman (“All you need is greater faith!”)
* Peacenik Jesus – Jesus as “give peace a chance” flower guy, who is always locked in opposition to…
* Political Jesus – Jesus as imperialist, advocating the coming of His Kingdom through the power of the empire, specifically the United States of America.
* Testosterone Jesus – the Jesus we usually encounter at Men’s Retreats who implores us to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and be better husbands and fathers.

Some of these projections of Jesus are pretty comical; others are more nuanced and require greater reflection and self-honesty. But in the end, Mikalatos is willing to take his readers on a journey of serious contemplation about what it means to follow Jesus in today’s world.

I appreciated Mikalatos’ deft use of scripture throughout his writing. While he rarely cites book, chapter, and verse, his narrative is brimming with Christ’s teachings from the Gospels, particularly the Gospel of John. These references help ground this wild and unpredictable tale.

I would recommend Imaginary Jesus to anyone who is serious about being a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is a great read.

(To learn more about Matt, follow him at imaginaryjesus.com)

I’ve heard great things about it, seen the wonderful reviews, and was anticipating the wild ride I’d heard so much about.

It is definitely a wild ride–for some more than others. Conservatives will most likely despise this book. More liberal people might like the book but think, “uh. duh.”

As I read it, I was entertained. Being presented with the many stereotypical Jesus’ at one time was fascinating. Since I have, in my own personal life, also walked with these Jesus’, I resonated with them and their idiosyncrasies. I enjoyed the way Matt created the story(ies). His perspectives were well thought out and fun to read. I did notice at one point that even though Testosterone Jesus had walked out of the room on one page, he sprang from a couch (in the room he had supposedly left) on the next page.

It wasn’t compelling enough to keep me reading consecutively. I had no problem with the content or the supposed blasphemy, but at times I felt tired, and wanted to set it down for awhile. After awhile I felt tired every time I read it, even though I was chuckling along with some of the characters.

I won’t ruin the ending, but I will say that the “answer” is yet another imaginary Jesus… don’t we all, no matter how much we try not to, still make Jesus in our own image? It’s not just the churches problem. As we change, our Jesus changes. As we struggle, it’s about us and the lack of justice or fairness. When we are blessed, our Jesus is a benevolent creation. If we’re especially patriotic (and happen to live in America), this is God’s country. When we work with the homeless, addicted, abused and hurting, Jesus becomes a glorified Mother Teresa.

This book did lead me into some deep thought regarding Jesus. I’ve believed in many “Imaginary Jesus’” — both stereotypical and unusual. The ones presented in the book will likely ruffle some feathers, and that is always a good thing, in my opinion. But the ultimate resolution in this book was too easy.

While I appreciated Matt’s humor, and his pointing out of many stereotypical Jesus’, the book ended too happily and predictably christian-y to me. What was lost was rediscovered and compensated for, and then it’s happily ever after. Life rarely works out that way. What about lifelong victims of abuse or torture or hunger or disaster? While pretending to deal with deeper issues throughout the book, the last few pages cancel it all out and fix everything. “Gold Ticket Jesus” comes through.

The book begins with Matt hanging out with his Jesus in a vegan place in Portland when the Apostle Peter walks in and gets into a fight with Jesus, and Jesus runs away. Peter informs Matt that he’s been hanging out with an imaginary Jesus and not the real one. This begins Matt’s wild journey through modern day Portland and first century Palestine for find the real Jesus. In the course of hunting down the real Jesus, Matt finds out there is a whole slew of Imaginary Jesuses including Testosterone Jesus, King James Jesus, Portland Jesus, Magic 8 Ball Jesus and Political Power Jesus. They are all members of The Secret Society of Imaginary Jesuses. From the SSIJ to an atheist Bible study at Portland State to Powells, the largest bookstore in the world, Matt searches for the real Jesus but keeps finding more and more Imaginary Jesuses. Along the way Matt finds the strangest friends: Daisy the talking donkey, Sandy–a reformed prostitute, two Mormon elders: Elder Laurel and Elder Hardy, and Shane the leader of the atheist Bible study. Matt also has to face his own grief and personal issues that he keeps inventing the Imaginary Jesuses to fill, only to find out they can’t take the place of the real thing. It is only in hunting down the Imaginary Jesuses and seeing through their lies can he finally find the real Jesus.

Mikalatos does a great job of making readers take a look at the Jesuses they believe in and how those imaginary Jesuses stack up to the real Jesus. This is a book that could have been campy or just schlock, but Mikalatos’ storytelling ability along with his wit and sarcasm keep this lively “not-quite true story” moving along. To be honest, I never thought I’d live to see a good, well written, Christian urban fantasy published. I agree with Aldenswan, my fellow reviewer’s assessment of Mikalatos: “what Terry Pratchett would be like if Pratchett were a Christian.” (I did have a few flashes of Good Omens* while reading this book.) I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be honest about how most American Christians make Jesus in their own image, but don’t want to be preached at. Mikalatos uses the story and characters to make his points, but this book is not a thinly veiled sermon. He leaves us to examine our own lives and see how our imaginary Jesuses match up to the real thing. I wouldn’t recommend this book to readers who are easily offended. Mikalatos has a healthy dose of irreverent sarcasm running through the book that some more conservative readers might consider over the line.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from The Ooze Viral Bloggers agreeing to post a review on my site.

As a matter of fact, if I had to come up with a complaint against this book it would be that I wish it had been more edgy. However, I also didn’t thing “The Shack” was that edgy either, but we saw the ruckus that that stirred up.

Either way, this is simply a good tale. Matt has a good sense of humor and tales a tale of a tale! He catches the reader off-guard from the first scene. Yes I knew that Jesus was going to be punched in the face, but you’ll never guess by whom the punch was thrown. I won’t spoil it here, but for that alone one should pick up the book!

However, amidst Matt’s fun road-trip through the variety of Jesus’ we make up, we find something deep yet so simple: WE ALL MAKE UP OUR OWN JESUS(ES)! we find the Jesus that fits our beliefs and our own experiences, knowledge and circumstances.

What I love about this is that for Matt there is no “sacred cows”. He has his own particular imaginary Jesus, but also throws in every thinkable stereotype one can imagine. Yes he presents the typical (and that is the key word in appreciating this book) conservative/evangelical Jesus, along with the political Jesus. But before you can get upset with him for picking on YOUR Jesus, he will throw in the liberal hippie Jesus and the emergent Jesus. (and these may be your Jesus, if so put that sentence in reverse).

And that is the point of the book. It doesn’t matter where you are on the spectrum, what denomination you lean towards, what your political agendas are… we ALL have an imaginary Jesus. Thus the point of the book: when we stop seeking the REAL Jesus, then we automatically SETTLE for an imaginary one. And that’s not because Christ is changing, it’s simply because we always are.

A very simple, yet beautiful and challenging point. And what a fun way Matt has of making his point. Using humor and outlandish situations, he disarms his reader into considering what imaginary construct she or he is settling for.

This book gets a MUST READ from me. I love what Matt has done here, and I hope that people will take the meaning of this book seriously while not taking the story or themselves too seriously at the same time!

The book is actually not sacrilegious or irreverent. It is, however, a great deal of fun, making a point while poking fun at Marxists, Portland, Mormons, vegans, and a whole lot more (the author lives in Vancouver, WA, just across the river from Portland). As I live in the Salem area, I enjoyed the local humor immensely.

The point of the book is that we tend to remake Jesus in any number of ways, depending upon our own tastes and culture, resulting in the creation of imaginary Jesuses. In fact, you’ll never dream of how many there are until you read the scene that takes place in Powells Books, the largest bookstore on the planet. As Matt travels around Portland (and 1st century Israel) with the Apostle Peter and a talking donkey named Daisy, he meets many imaginary Jesuses, an ex-prostitute, an atheist Bible Study at Portland State, and 2 Mormon missionaries named Elders Laurel and Hardy. Along the way, he deals with some personal issues and finds that no imaginary Jesus is quite good enough.

A few reviews compared Mikalatos to C.S. Lewis; I’m assuming only because they both use fiction to make a point. However, I wouldn’t go that far; he’s got a ways to go before he’s in Lewis’ league. Mikalatos is, perhaps, what Terry Pratchett would be like if Pratchett were a Christian.

The only negative comment I have is that the book suddenly becomes serious, and it’s a bit difficult to make that shift. For a few pages I wondered if Mikalatos would just create a new, improved imaginary Jesus for us to believe in, but I think he stops short of that. The last chapter picks the pace back up again, so it ends on a good note.

As I was reading through the more serious chapter, it occurred to me that no matter what we try to do in representing who Jesus “really is,” we always end up creating somewhat of an imaginary Jesus. We simply can’t recreate the same emotions that Peter or Mary had about him, as we’ve never known the flesh-and-blood Jesus. It’s not a fault of ours, it’s just the truth. To try to manufacture or replicate the emotions of others is simply to create imaginary feelings.

But, I think it’s good to be self-aware of our own tendencies to create false Jesuses for our own purposes, and in this regard, I think Matt Mikalatos has succeeded. I can’t wait for his next book, Night of the Living Dead Christians.

In Imaginary Jesus, Mikalatos contends that in order to see the real Jesus, you must first get rid of your imaginary Jesus. This not-quite-true-probably-spiritual-memoir gives us laugh out loud story-telling and a frolicking journey around Portland, Oregon and first century Judea as Matt himself chases after his imaginary Jesus in order to let him go. In the process, Matt encounters many other Jesuses that are in the world, conjured up by all kinds of different people. We meet Testosterone Jesus, Magic 8 Ball Jesus (my personal fave), King James Jesus (always quoting scripture), Bargain Jesus, Liberal Social Services Jesus (who has no mouth, constantly doing kingdom work but never talking about God), Conservative Truth Telling Jesus (who thinks the only way to tell people about God is through hard truth and never raises a hand to help with physical needs–so he has no arms), and many others. As Matt encounters these other Jesuses, the reader is bound to see Jesuses he or she recognizes–either because they’ve met people who imagine Jesus these ways or because they are meeting their own imaginary Jesus.

With the help of the Apostle Peter, a reformed prostitute and a talking donkey, Matt works to get rid of his imaginary Jesus in order to start over with the real Jesus. What he finds is better than what he expected.

I appreciated Mikalatos’ way of describing his experiences with Jesus–imagined and real–and his fantastic sense of humor along the way. Even in the midst of personal grief, Matt maintains his sense of humor–and renews his search for who Jesus really is.

Perhaps it’s because I can relate to Matt’s story in many ways personally. Perhaps it’s because I, too, have been searching for the real Jesus. Whatever it was, this book was a fantastic read that prompted me to consider my own imaginations and thinking about who Jesus is and what Jesus does–and what it means to be a follower–and I’m starting to really like the conclusions to which I’m coming. Even if “the real Jesus is inconvenient” (p. 79).

Mikalatos should have another book coming out next year–and I look forward to reading that one, too.

The author –Matt Mikalatos– he’s created something almost new. Inside this novel that the cover describes as a “not-quite-true story” there is this fascinating alternation of surreal wackiness and profound spiritual insight. There are times I laugh out loud. And I’m not just saying that, the way, when you chat online with somebody you might type “lol”. I actually did laugh out loud. It’s hard to imagine somebody not laughing as three imaginary Jesuses decide they will settle the question of “Where is God when we are in pain” by having a sled race. The original plan is whoever makes it down the mountain first will represent the winning answer to the question. However, on the way down, one Jesus’ inner tube runs off the side of a mountain and another Jesus’ inner tube runs right into a bear which apparently is going to eat the imaginary Jesus.

And perhaps then, when I least expect it “Thwack!” I’m hit with something real, and deep. Mikalatos’ Monty Pythonesque humor is almost the exact oppposite of spiritual insight. And so when they come, it’s like the heart’s equivalent to staring at one color on a color wheel for a long time and then being confronted with the opposite color… by contrast, the newer experience seems more striking, richer.

On the level of plot, the story is the tale of the author discovering that the figure in his mind that he always took to be the real Jesus is in fact an imaginary Jesus. On his journey to find the real Jesus, he discovers a series of other imaginary Jesuses, many of which were quite convicting in that I’m sure I’ve spent some quality time with these imaginary Jesuses myself.

I think that a certain… sensibility is required to appreciate this book. If you have an instant negative reaction to chapters with titles like, “Jesus Will Never Leave You (If You tie the Knots Tight Enough” and “Craft Time with The Apostle John” then this is probably a book to steer clear of. As for myself, I found it pretty amazing.