Erin Maglaque in NYRB: ‘They were debating the nature of original sin in an apotheca in Naples. “We discussed a lot of things,” Giovanni Casaburo told the inquisitors in 1598 when they asked him what exactly was said in the apothecary’s shop. (…) But then the apothecary Marcello Impicciato joined in. “What apple?” he asked. “Adam and Eve fucked in the ass, and that’s why they were rejected from Paradise.”’

And: ‘God was a fraudster. He had wanted to keep sodomy for himself.’

Also: ‘We forget that for centuries, theological writing was our most sophisticated literature on sexuality—on desire, shame, pleasure, on why we want what we want and what all that wanting can mean.’

As well: ‘Oh my God: it’s a prayer without an addressee, without a request.’

What does the wanting signify? An escape? Pleasure, shame, and meaning. With or without God, that’s a minor detail.

(a sf 2148)