Saturday, September 01, 2012

book review: Hometown Prophet

title: Hometown Prophet 
author: Jeff Fulmer
date: 2010
publisher: independently published by the author. 


"Hometown Prophet" is the fictional story of Peter Quill, a 31 year old college grad who never made it. He's a recovering Christian fundamentalist, who who moves back home - without a job, living with his divorced mother. 

Peter has given up on church. But after being awakened by a vivid, clear dream about his childhood pastor, he decides to go to church. Peter's dream and the pastor's sermon he hears, leads to Peter going forward to tell his pastor that he should get his heart checked out. It turns out he does have a life-threatening blockage. This is the first of a series of dreams that foretell the future. This first part of the book is rather predictable, as Peter’s dreams get wider, affecting more people in and around Nashville. At times this slows the pace of the book. But then, Fulmer, broadens the story. Peter’s dreams go from simply predicting the future to challenging people’s attitudes and actions.

The later part of the novel moves beyond traditional fundamentalism and speaks social issues like: care for the poor, care for the environment, and respect for others, even those of other religions. Fulmer, also highlights the hypocrisy of some forms of Christianity to pick and choose the “sins” they want to highlight while overlooking others. As a novel, Fulmer includes theology in his book, but not in a way that is full of long speeches or theological statements. 

"Hometown Prophet" is a pretty good read. There are some places where it could be sharpened, but in general, not too bad. Some may find some of the evangelical jargon and references a little lame (my word) but I think that is part of Fulmer's perspective on a former fundamentalist’s view about the failings of the evangelical subculture.


DISCLAIMER: This book was given to me as a volunteer reader/reviewer for SpeakEasy. While I am not paid for this review, I also did not pay for the book. The reviews and thoughts are my own.

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