Oxford, MD -- Who among us hasn't stopped and wondered what it would look like if a cynical, narcissistic, self-serving real estate developer in the Holy Land, circa 30 AD, came face to face with Jesus Christ? OK, almost nobody has wondered that, so Dr. Preston Coleman went ahead and took care of the job for us.
"Intelligent, irreverent, and laugh-out-loud funny. A raucous romp of parody and satire. Trumpisms of biblical proportions!" - John J. Kelly, Detroit Free Press
In The Lost Gospel of Donald, Dr. Coleman imagines a newly discovered Gospel, telling the story of Christ from the point of view of a rascal named Donald of Gaul. From the first line of the book, the author captures the verbal nuance of what has become one of the most recognizable voices of the twenty-first century:
1 In the beginning was the Word. I have the best words, my words are the best. No one has better words than me, they're fantastic.
2 Now a lot of people have told the story of this guy, Jesus. I've heard these stories, they're okay, some of them are okay, some of them, frankly, aren't so great.
3 And don't believe what the fake scribes say, not about Jesus, and not about me. These fake scribes, they're totally fake, phony, the enemies of the people. Very dishonest, these scribes, totally dishonest.
When Donald of Gaul meets Jesus, he assumes that he is the greatest magician in the world and spends the rest of Christ's ministry trying to recruit him to perform as a headliner at his properties. He is totally baffled that Jesus seems to have no interest in big-money contracts and "fringe benefits."
Dr. Coleman says, "I wrote The Lost Gospel of Donald to closely parallel the original four gospels. It tells the story of the ministry of Christ in a straightforward way, only in this case Jesus shows up as a sort of foil to Trump's moral shortcomings. As the self-described "richest man in the Roman Empire," Donald of Gaul has access to the powers that be, and in true Trumpian fashion, he uses everything at his disposal to further his own self-interest."
"The Lost Gospel of Donald is an ingenious, irreverent, entertaining, clever and witty book. It's just what we need! I think it will become a classic." - Susan Keefe, Midwest Book Review
In the pages of his Gospel, Donald reveals that he doesn't think much of John the Baptist, but he admires the idea of baptism as a "wet tunic contest":…come on, dunking pretty girls in a river. Who wouldn't want to see that? What a gimmick!
He witnesses the resurrection of Lazarus: There it was, the eternal life scam. So I was right, that's what they were selling.
He offers to cater the Last Supper: …the best food, the best wine, the prettiest serving girls, the whole nine yards.
He even comments on the betrayal of Christ by Judas: Thirty pieces of silver! What a fool, the Romans were offering fifty talents of gold – that's what I hear, I didn't have anything to do with it – and Judas did it for thirty pieces of silver. Someone made a nice profit, believe me.
"I'm very strongly opposed to Trump, and I don't pull any punches in my satires," says Coleman, a political moderate. "I think he's a seriously flawed human being. But I understand his appeal, and I sympathize with most of his supporters. And I'm fascinated by what he forces us to confront as a society--our divisions, our media, our institutions, and ultimately, our morality."
The Lost Gospel of Donald, ISBN 9781098306007, 2020, Satirica Press, 148 pages, $9.99 paperback and $4.99 on Kindle. Learn more about the author at: https://www.prestoncoleman.com.
About Preston Coleman:
Dr. Preston Coleman is a Professor of Communication at Chesapeake College in Maryland. An expert on how charisma can be "manufactured," he has a well-documented theory on why someone like Donald Trump can be virtually worshipped by some and reviled by others. He's also a veteran satirist whose work had been making people laugh for nearly three decades. Given the present political climate, let's just say that Dr. Coleman, his wife Suzanne, and their two dogs live somewhere in the Eastern half of the United States.
Media Contact: For a review copy of The Lost Gospel of Donald or to arrange an interview with Dr. Preston Coleman, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on twitter @abookpublicist