The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to Marvin : A Novel

Marvin has just missed the last flight home from Cleveland, and wanders morosely into the airport bar. It is deserted except for one young man who engages Marvin in a whimsical, teasing and slightly outrageous conversation leaving Marvin befuddled. He says his name is Jerry, he's a sort-order-cook and he's God. Marvin, no surprise, is skeptical. To say the least. Marvin is also intrigued. He is less skeptical and more intrigued a week later after meeting with Jerry's cousin, Spencer-- a big, rough raw-boned man in both appearance and demeanor. Despite himself, Marvin is drawn into a circle of people much like himself, all drawn somehow to Jerry and not really sure what to believe about him. For not only does Jerry still claim to be God, he also says that he's going to die (perhaps fairly soon), that he will rise from his grave and that everybody will benefit from it. The reader of this fantasy/parable/gospel soon comes to recognize New Testament characters and events in distinctly modern dress. They are by turns, honest, wisecracking, endearing, raucous, flip, devoted followers, shocked observers, pious and cynical. The gospel events here take on a new air, a vivid new reality. Instead of loaves and fishes on a hillside, Jerry feeds the crowd in a downtown park on pizza with anchovies. Rather than Galilee, Jerry and his "witnesses" all retreat to Cincinnati for a few days off. Marvin, who has been appointed "chief witness" by Jerry, is the narrator of this tale and we hear his own unique voice. He is sometimes sarcastic, sometimes ironic, whimsical, teasing, incredulous, funny, decidedly regional ("you ain't gonna believe this,but...") and awestruck. Like most disciples, Marvin is himself a mixture of belief and unbelief. Yet in the end--through a death under cloudy circumstances, a resurrection, and a rather stunning display at the Cleveland airport-- Marvin writes it all down because his uncertainties matter less than his faith to Jerry.