The Parables of Peanuts
Maybe you thought Snoopy was a beagle. Turns out he's actually a Christ symbol, according to Robert L. Short's ingenious book,Parables of Peanuts. Cartoonist Charles Schulz, a devout Christian, once asked, "If we are all members of the priesthood, why cannot a cartoonist preach in the same manner as a minister, or anyone else?" This book explains that many of Schulz's cartoon strips, like Jesus' parables, combine "the proclamation of God's love for the world, and [depiction of] the world as it really is."Parablesreproduces many classic Peanuts strips, including some rare early Red Baron strips. The illustrations are accompanied by some fairly heavy interpretations, laying out the basics of a conservative Reformed Protestant view of the gospel, with extensive references to theologians such as Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Soren Kierkegaard. Although entertaining and engaging,Parables of Peanutsis not kids' stuff.--Michael Joseph Gross