Found this unusual book the other day. I love books and records from the sixties like this, ones that use psychedelic iconography and McLuhan-speak to try to make the church sound cool for young people. And this one comes with two flexi-discs including a bizarre harpsichord/spoken word sound collage and a robot from the future named 'Ralph.'
Dennis Benson is a plugged-in, turned-on churchgoer who wants to take religious education out of the scrolls and into the electric age. The book offers role-playing games for youth groups and church meetings. There are games called 'Acid' and 'Magic Pill,' and a lot of them grapple with cultural difference in an age of television, drugs, and long hair. Some of them actually sound fun. One asks players to imagine a post-apocalyptic world splintered into groups of embattled survivors. Into each group enter two mute, possibly dangerous interlopers (i.e., hippies) seeking shelter. Do the groups decide to let them in or send them packing? What's the xian way?
This is probably the peak of xian psychedelic game literature with flexi discs. Ace!
ReplyDeleteBtw I saw a "Future-History Simulation Game" about America after the nuclear devastation this week (saw it at the Swiss science fiction library/museum, Maison d'Ailleurs).
Cool, what was the Future-History game like? Sounds interesting...
ReplyDeleteDennis Benson has lots of books and they all seem to have flexis. They all have the word 'electric' inthem... Electric Liturgy, Electric Congregation, etc.
Ben, I made a post about that Future-History Simulation game. Trying to find out more about it brought me to strange and interesting places. http://dispokino.blogspot.ch/2014/01/simulations-publications-inc.html
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd love to see/hear more of that electric Rev. Benson.
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