And the Beagles and the Bunnies Shall Li

This book is subtitled "The Theology in Peanuts," and is made up of cartoons taken from "Peanuts" strips spanning the twenty-five years from 1958 to 1983. Philosophically and theologically, they give the reader a lot to think about, albeit thoughts flavored with Schultz's brand of humor.Schultz gives us an example of unshakeable faith in Linus and his belief that "The Great Pumpkin" will rise up from the most sincere pumpkin patch on Halloween Eve, bearing presents for all the good boys and girls. Linus always rationalizes away "The Great Pumpkin's" non appearances, and the next Halloween finds him back in his pumplin patch, ready and waiting, one more time.Sally Brown represents the commercial aspect of Christmas in a strip where, after Linus expounds on the true meaning of Christmas, she responds with, "If I don't get everything I want for Christmas this year, I'm gonna gross out."Then there's Snoopy, the canine philosopher. When asked by Linus if he (Snoopy) is bothered by the fact that the Bible doesn't speak very well of dogs, Snoopy replies, in a thought balloon, that, yes, it bothers him but "I just turn the other muzzle."And, of course, there's always Good Old Trusting Charlie Brown. In another strip where Lucy tricks Charlie Brown into attempting to kick the football one more time, she lures him by reciting the entire "To everything there is a season." Just as she pulls the ball away, and, as usual, Charlie Brown ends up flat on his back, she adds a new ending, "And a time to pull away the football."These are but a few examples of Schultz's gentle humor turned toward philosophy and theology and how they affect the "Peanuts" gang.

In the time since the printing of "Beagles and Bunnies" I have had two copies and I loved the book. However, I wanted to be able to share the experience and so I gave them away. The first went to a preacher in Yosemite who often quoted the strip and the second went a pastor here who also often quoted it. I don't regret giving them away... I just wish I had a copy now that Sparky is gone...

There have been a number of books discussing how Peanuts comic strips deal with biblical, moral, and theological topics, but this book gets down to the nitty gritty: it lets the strips speak for themselves. It has 125 strips from different periods of the run of Peanuts, and there's good stuff throughout.

Peanuts was one of the first strips to bring religion into the comics mainstream and this is a collection of the more successful strips. The usual Peanuts style of bittersweet humor. Highly recommended.