International Gay & Lesbian Review

Gospel: A Novel

• Fiction
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication Date: 1993

While not a specifically a “gay novel,” Gospel discusses issues of homosexuality throughout Western culture, always coming down on the correct side of the issue, from the questionable and ambiguous sexuality of Jesus and the disciples to the real life tragedy of that of the main character's own son. A veritable treasure trove of facts and stories about the history of Christianity and the real meaning of Christ's teachings, this book is a wonderful read. “Gospel” is a delightfully engaging and thoroughly interesting fact-filled tale of an eccentric, hard-living old Chicago-Irish, ex-Jesuit Religion professor and neer-do-well Biblical scholar (who never managed to write a book), Patrick O'Hanrahan, and a self-deprecating but intelligent, bright and eager young grad student, Lucy Dantan, who is sent by the Department to bring O'Hanrahan back from Europe where he has been spending the department's budget on what the academics think is a crank search for a lost Gospel of Jesus written by one of the actual Apostles. Unsuccessful in getting the old professor to recant and come home to Chicago, Lucy gets caught up in O'Hanrahan's excitement and drive for adventure and joins in the quest. They travel through England, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Israel, and Africa; always with O'Hanrahan discoursing on the history and evolution of Christianity, telling insightful and sometimes hilarious stories (like that St. Catherine of Sienna was given a mystical wedding ring by an apparition of Jesus which was formed of his circumsized foreskin and which over the saint's life time gradually grew encrusted with rubies and precious stones.) One of the most appealing aspects of the storytelling is the occasional parenthetical aside by God, the ultimately omniscient narrator, who presents a truly wise and lovable face. While not a specifically a “gay novel,” Gospel discusses issues of homosexuality throughout Western culture, always coming down on the correct side of the issue, from the questionable and ambiguous sexuality of Jesus and the disciples to the real life tragedy of that of Professor O'Hanrahan's own son. A veritable treasure trove of facts and stories about the history of Christianity and the real meaning of Christ's teachings, “Gospel” is a wonderful read.

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