Reverend Lovejoy

His sermons vary between dreary recitations of more opaque parts of the Old Testament,^[6] to the occasional "fire and brimstone" about Hell.^[7]

Acceptance for other religions

Lovejoy demonstrates his acceptance for Hinduism when he performs a

Lovejoy is not always enthusiastic about the Bible, calling it a "2000-page sleeping pill".^[10] It is unsure if he even owns a Bible, as it was once said he borrows one from the library every week. Sometimes he holds strange positions on the Bible and makes theological errors. In "Secrets of a Successful Marriage," an episode that dealt with marriage counseling, Lovejoy and his gossipy wife, Helen, both recommend that Marge should divorce Homer. Marge objects to this, pointing out how the Bible has strict guidelines against things like divorce, but Lovejoy claims, "Marge, everything is a sin. (holds up the Bible) Have you ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not allowed to go to the bathroom."

Family

Lovejoy's wife Helen was originally portrayed as a moralistic, judgmental gossip, but in voice actress Maggie Roswell's long absence, her character was seen but not heard. The Lovejoys' manipulative daughter Jessica was the focus of the episode "Bart's Girlfriend" where she was voiced by guest star Meryl Streep, but is otherwise rarely seen.^[19] Lovejoy's father is briefly shown in the episode "Bart After Dark" as an older version of Lovejoy (including clerical collar) who visits the Maison Derrière.

Creation and reception

Matt Groening has indicated that Lovejoy is named after Lovejoy Street (which in turn is named for Portland co-founder Asa Lovejoy)^[20] in Portland, Oregon, the city where Groening grew up.^[21][22][23] When the character was created, producer Sam Simon did not want Lovejoy to be a "cartoony hypocritical preacher" but rather "a realistic person who just happened to work as a minister," as recalled by writer Al Jean.^[24] By season eight, the show had begun to explore secondary characters with Lovejoy being the central character in the episode "In Marge We Trust" because, aside from being noted as "the pastor who didn't care", he had not had much character development.^[25] Author Mark I. Pinsky writes of Lovejoy as "a foil in the series, personifying many of the failings of organized religion and Christian conservatism," and yet still a real human with faults and not simply evil.^[24] Harry Shearer has stated that his voice for the character is based on Ernest Angley.

References

Bibliography

• ISBN 9780061711282
  .

• Reverend Lovejoy on IMDb