The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s

by Paul Elie

Named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times | Named an Essential Read by The New Yorker

This enthralling group portrait brings to life a moment when popular culture became the site of religious strife—strife that set the stage for some of the most salient political and cultural clashes of our day.

Circa 1980, tradition and authority are in the ascendant, both in Catholicism (via Pope John Paul II) and in American civic life (through the Moral Majority and the so-called televangelists). But the public is deeply divided on issues of body and soul, devotion and desire.

Enter the figures Paul Elie calls “crypto-religious.” Here is Leonard Cohen writing “Hallelujah” on his knees in a Times Square hotel room; Andy Warhol adapting Leonardo’s The Last Supper in response to the AIDS pandemic; Prince making the cross and altar into “signs o’ the times.” Through Toni Morrison, spirits speak from the grave; Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen deepen the tent-revival intensity of their work; Wim Wenders offers an angel’s-eye view of Berlin; U2, the Neville Brothers, and Sinéad O’Connor reckon with their Christian roots in music of mystic yearning. And Martin Scorsese overcomes fundamentalist ire to make The Last Temptation of Christ—a struggle that anticipates Salman Rushdie’s struggle with Islam in The Satanic Verses.

In Elie’s acclaimed first book, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, Catholic writers ventured out into the wilds of postwar America; in this book, creative figures who were raised religious go to the margins of conventional belief, calling forth controversy. Episodes such as the boycott sparked by Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video and the tearing-up of Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ in Congress are early skirmishes in the culture wars—but here the creators (not the politicians) are the protagonists, and the work they make speaks to conflicts that remain unsettled.

The Last Supper explores the bold and unexpected forms an encounter with belief can take. It traces the beginnings of our postsecular age, in which religion is at once surging and in decline. Through a propulsive narrative, it reveals the crypto-religious imagination as complex, credible, daring, and vividly recognizable.

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction, Religion, Audiobook, Catholic, Music

588 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 27, 2025

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's call this a strong 3.5 stars. It's a grim and complicated look at the 1980s from angles that tend to be sidelined in the mad rush to celebrate the decade's pop culture impact. But I'm not entirely sure it achieves all its objectives -- a bit more editing and conciseness would go a long way in trimming too much fatty tissue minutiae. It rambles in compelling fashion, but I wish it was more of a knife-slice.

[David Dayen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this partially but not solely for reasons of nostalgia. Sometimes the author takes flights of fancy fitting various artists into his "crypto-religious" narrative by cherry-picking a lyric or a stray line; he could have shaved 50 pages off this just by excising them. But there really was a lot of religious exploration, discussion, and protest in this period, from The Last Temptation of Christ to the Madonna Like a Prayer video to Andres Serrano and more. And this pinpoints the introduction of the culture wars from the perspective of the artists who pushed boundaries, rather than the self-described guardians of family values. All of this in the backdrop of the AIDS virus consuming whole populations without intercession from the government. Great cultural criticism here.

[Joanne Gass · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much I didn't know or remember about the 70s and 80s and the "crypto-religious" artists who dominated the culture.

[Untitled · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roughly 60 pages in and I'm giving the side eye to the author for using Lucy Sante's deadname. Twice. The first time I thought it was for clarity's sake, but then it happened a second time. She's also listed in the index under her deadname. Why not refer to her as "Lucy Sante (formerly known as [deadname])" if you feel it's that crucial? But really, I don't think the deadname is necessary and it's also disrespectful.

Edited to add that maybe this is the Chicago Manual of Style recommendation of how to handle the situation (I didn't check), but it still feels disrespectful.

[Mikey B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of the book is inspired by a series of paintings and sketches by Andy Warhol, made in the 1980s (obviously based on the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci).

The author discusses numerous artists, writers, and musicians who he feels were religiously motivated during the 1980s. They either “found” or “rediscovered religion”. Some questioned the values of religion. The author coins the term “crypto-religious”.

For the most part the religion under examination is Catholicism and the rigid line taken by the pope; who declared homosexuality a sin, forbade the use of condoms (as well as other forms of birth control), forbade pre-marital sex… in fact, any form of sexual pleasure that was not concerned with procreation).

A significant portion of the book is about musicians adapting their lyrics and music to religion – like Bob Dylan, Bono and U2, Leonard Cohen… There was too much emphasis on their performances and lyrics. The author was overly lavish in his praise and outright veneration of them.

Of more interest were the passages on artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, and the writer Salmon Rushdie. The author brought up Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” and the attempts by the religious right to prevent it from appearing in movie theaters. It goes without saying that many were offended by the depiction of Jesus having a sexual encounter.

Overall, this book was disappointing. It was much too long, with a lot of repetitiveness on musicians and their lyrics. There should have been more about the religious rights attempts to suppress art they found offensive. It strays off the theme of the subtitle of the book (art, faith and sex), which is religion versus art and culture.

The author does make a good point that it was during the 1980s that abuse of underage children by priests and others in the Catholic hierarchy, started to surface and rather than trying to solve this, they re-aimed instead at persecuting the gay community and attacking the art world for its portrayals of religion. The artists became the scapegoats and the church the victims.

Page 384

Scorsese, Madonna, Serrano and Mapplethorpe had made the unspeakable speakable.

The hate of the religious right was focused on the emerging gay communities across the United States and the spread of AIDS. While it is true that gay rights were a large part of the culture wars of the 1980s, the author barely mentions that a much larger part of the culture wars was the fight of the religious right to deny women the right to abortion.

Page 407

Religion is cryptic. Its cryptic quality is its animating spirit – its style, its power, its wisdom, its original sin.

Maybe, but religion is foremost about control – control of bodies, more so women’s bodies.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Last Supper by Paul Elie, this book is about those who used religion as a backdrop or theme in books movies art etc from David Bowie to Madonna and even Martin Scorsese or mentioned in the book but these are just a few of many well-known names that colored my life as I grew up. I found a lot of of this book very interesting especially the connection between Martin Scorsese the last temptation of Christ and Michael Jackson’s bad video it seems Mr. Eli left nothing out. He even talked about the Wall Street collapse in the 80s black Monday and so much more. there was a lot I thought he would mention that didn’t get talked about as it’s mainly the 80s he sticks to but if you were alive and conscious of the guys then you will definitely enjoy reading this book. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #PaulEli, #TheLastSupper, The Last Supper by Paul Eli, this book is about those who used religion as a backdrop or theme in books movies art etc from David Bowie to Madonna and even Martin Scorsese or mentioned in the book but these are just a few of many well-known names that colored my life as I grew up. I found a lot of of this book very interesting especially the connection between Martin Scorsese the last temptation of Christ and Michael Jackson’s bad video it seems Mr. Elie left nothing out. He even talked about the Wall Street collapse in the 80s black Monday and so much more. there was a lot I thought he would mention that didn’t get talked about as it’s mainly the 80s he sticks to but if you were alive and conscious of the era’s Zeitgeist then you will definitely enjoy reading this book. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #PaulElie, #TheLastSupper,

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The focus of this book is right up my alley, but I had two concerns.

The first is that while the author identifies plenty of "crypto-religious" work in the 1980s, I'm not sure he ever made it add up to much. Like, yes, Madonna's work is deeply informed by Catholicism. But what does that have to do with Leonard Cohen's Jewish inflected Buddhism (or Buddhist inflected Judaism)? Or Toni Morrison's haunted Beloved? Or Warhol's irony-drenched Last Supper? There are lots of anecdotes, but the book ends up feeling like less than the sum of its parts.

The second is that, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot bring myself to care about Bono or U2. Thanks, but no.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this tour of 1980s and the ‘controverts’ (mostly Catholic) whose art, music, and films shaped this tumultuous era (amid the devastating AIDS crises, the Catholic Church’s abismal response to it, and the beginnings of the culture war which continues to rage today). The book could have used some significant trimming, though, and while his analysis is good, I could have used more of it (case in point: during the epilogue, Ellie continues to introduce and summarize more books and artworks, rather than give us a good summary of the 400 pages of coverage that came before).

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a particular angle I've always wanted to see on popular and art history forthe 80s (specifically the growing rebellion against religion, especially Christianity, as the dominant force in peoples' lives, and various examples of major figures of the times own personal believes and some of the art that was made during this time. Hell of a read, in the best kind of way.

[Jorio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very cool. It's a cultural history of mid-to-late 20th century America that plays the hits( Warhol, Leonard Cohen, Madonna) but refracts this traditional folk tale through an examination of his character's "crypto"-Catholicism( a vibes based variant of Catholicism for the weakened dogma and church of the secular age.)

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating book explores crypto-religious elements in various mainstream works of art (Scorsese, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Leonard Cohen, to make a few) in the 1980s. My only complain is we need something like this for the ‘90s!!

[Ellie Rose Mattoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

me: thank you for changing my life

Paul Elie: i’m literally just a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and a regular contributor to the New Yorker

[Renée]

Read my review in America Magazine here: https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-...

[Jane Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Religious iconography and pop culture. Enough said. This was such an invigorating read for me. Reading slump gone.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid cultural history that tries, and often succeeds in pulling multiple threads together.

[Iza Cupial · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5

[Dana Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned some new things from this book and the crypto-religious artist of the 80s. What more can I ask from a book!

[JAMES · Rating 2 out of 5]

Religion is at once everywhere and nowhere in art. This book, similarly, is at once everywhere and nowhere.