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Bacon Sandwiches & Salvation by Adrian Plass



With the comfortable knowledge of a church insider and the leery insight of a seeker, Plass shines a sometimes sarcastic, often times profound, and all the time witty light on the Christian experience. With thoughts on everything from the afterlife (“a place where God will chew a straw and fill us in on how things really are.”) to Zacchaeus (“… [he] looked like Danny DeVito in a dish towel”), Bacon Sandwiches & Salvation is a raucous glossary of biblical characters, church catch phrases and pop-Christian personalities. The inspiration for Bacon Sandwiches & Salvation came from a situation Plass shared with a dear friend in church one day. When asked what the most important thing in the world was, both Plass and his friend responded very differently. “Salvation!” cried Plass. “Bacon sandwiches!” suggested his friend. Writes Plass, “That just about sums it up. A God who can create the indescribable tastiness of a bacon sandwich must be planning something pretty incredible in the salvation line.” Somewhere within the pages of this quirky little guide one begins to find just such a God.

Here is my review of this humorous look at Christianity:

First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to Adrian Plass and his publisher for sending me a copy of "Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation" to review for them. I have always been grateful for this generosity, and I am trying to improve at being consistent in taking the time to thank these wonderfully giving individuals in a public forum. I really appreciate your time, effort and expense in making a reviewer copy available to me.

Adrian Plass’ “Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation” is a humorous look at Christianity. The reader’s attention will be drawn to the witty title at first, then completely captured by the cover – this sandwich looks delicious. I think I’ll make BLTs for dinner, tonight… Anyway, this hysterical volume is assembled in the format of a dictionary, and defines various “Christian-ese” terms. It also identifies Biblical characters and historical and modern heroes of the faith. Plass uses humor to shed light on traditions for those already grounded in the church and those who aren’t a member of any denomination.

I do have one concern. I think this book is absolutely written for a Christian audience. I would have to do a lot of research to verify the accuracy of many of the definitions provided, and I am a bit concerned that those without a solid foundation in Christ would see Christians with jaded vision if their only source of information about Christians were this book and our behavior.

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