Turning Inward New stories from River Why author David James Duncan BY MOLLY TEMPLETON GOD LAUGHS AND PLAYS: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right by David James Duncan. Triad Books, 2006. Hardcover, $22.95. On the surface, David James Duncan's new collection of essays, thoughts, fragments, lectures and miscellany may not look particularly attractive. The cover is less than lovely, the subtitle full of loaded words. "Sermon" could be enough to turn off some book browsers, and "preachments" might raise the eyebrows of others. But this is a lesson in not judging a book by its cover. From the title of the author's preface — "Bush Administration Sacks Narnia" — Duncan dives into his topics with relish, offering a thoughful, impassioned and open-minded view on the state of spirituality in the world today. Duncan was born into a family of Seventh Day Adventist matriarchs; he grew up in a fundamentalist household but left the church when he was young. As a result, he has a particular (and unusual) patience for fundamentalists, but little tolerance for what he sees as their deeply flawed take on religion. In his preface, Duncan outlines his theme, which is familiar: the idea that the people most likely to wear "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets are often those living least like the spiritual leader they claim to follow. Instead of offering only criticism of the opposing view, Duncan looks inward, turning to his varied, lively spiritual experiences for examples that back up his ideas about how to live, how to love, and how to have hope and faith in a God more interested in joy than damnation. Earlier this week, on Jefferson Public Radio's "The Jefferson Exchange," Duncan noted, "What I've seen move people in my own life is a well-told, heartfelt story or a well-told, heartfelt relating of personal experience." While his musings on theology and religious history are informative and interesting, Duncan is, unsurprisingly, most effective when he tells personal tales. In "Romeo Shows Jamey the Door" he writes movingly and honestly of the door opened by the death of a beloved dog, and he turns a clear eye on the horrors taking place in the Middle East in "When Compassion Becomes Dissent." Though he sometimes delves dangerously into the sort of personal mystical moments that might cause eye-rolling in more pragmatic readers, Duncan carefully defuses ire by admitting that he, like the rest of us, is apt to believe in his own spiritual experiences and distrust the other guy's. It takes a remarkable book to make a relatively cynical, sharp-eyed reader turn the last page, still thinking about a paragraph that made her want to be a nicer, better, more open person. One thing that makes Duncan's writing so compelling is the same thing that makes it hard to summarize: God Laughs & Plays covers a huge amount of ground, devoting pages to nature conservation, many religions, science, history, politics, personal anecdotes and, thankfully, a good deal of humor. By touching on so many topics and issues, Duncan offers new ways to look at many parts of the world — but he's only offering, not telling us what to do. The power of suggestion, in the hands of such a talented writer, is a potent thing indeed. David James Duncan reads and speaks at 7 pm Wednesday, April 26 at the First Christian Church in Eugene, and appears at 7:30 pm Thursday, April 27 at the Unitarian Fellowship in Corvallis.     BOOK NOTES: Weekend screenwriting workshop with Cynthia Whitcomb, April 21-23, Medford. Call Lori, 955-9365, for info … Tim Tingle, Choctaw storyteller, 2 pm 4/22, Downtown Library … 16th Annual Multi-Cultural Storytelling Festival & Concert featuring Latin/Cuban-American tales from Leeny Del Seamonds, Choctaw tales from Tim Tingle and African-American tales from Madafo, 7:30 pm 4/22, Very Little Theatre. $10, $25 per family … Eugene Poetry Slam Play-Offs, 7:30 pm 4/22, Territorial Winery. $5, $3 18 & under … 8th Annual Poetry of Survival, 4 pm 4/23, Tsunami Books … David Barsamian speaks on "Another World is Possible: People Power in the Age of Empire," 7:30 pm 4/24, Harris Hall, UO … National Poetry Month celebration with Tom Crawford reading from Wu Wei: Poems and David Romtvedt reading from Some Church, 7 pm 4/25, Knight Library, UO … David Barsamian speaks on "Another World is Possible: People Power in the Age of Empire," noon 4/25, Fir Room, EMU, UO, and 7 pm 4/25 at the Siuslaw Public Library, Florence … David James Duncan reads from God Laughs & Plays, 7 pm 4/26, First Christian Church … Sandra Morgen gives a talk based on her book Taxes Are a Women's Issue: Reframing Public Discourse and Research Agenda, noon 4/26, 330 Hendricks, UO … William L. Sullivan gives a slide show on New Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades, 7 pm 4/26, Corvallis Public Library … Peter Matthiessen speaks, 7:30 pm 4/26, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland. $25, college/seniors $18, high school $5 … Tobias Wolff gives a master class with creative writing graduate students, 1:30 pm 4/27, Fir Room, EMU, UO. Interested observers are invited to attend. Contact Colleen Morgan, 346-0549 or colleen@uoregon.edu … Tobias Wolff reads from Old School and This Boy's Life, 8 pm 4/27, Knight Library, UO … "The Call of the Sandhill Crane: A Concert of Music and Ideas" with writers David James Duncan and Kathleen Dean Moore, singer-songwriter Libby Roderick and essayist and subsistence poet Hank Lentfer, 7 pm 4/27, Unitarian Fellowship, Corvallis. 737-6198.
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