Book one of
The Godhead Trilogy, by
James Morrow. Morrow is a self-described "liberal
secular humanist", which is probably a good perspective from which to launch a
novel about a
supertanker captain who receives a divine
commission to tow the 2-mile-long
Corpus Dei to the
Arctic Ocean for
burial at sea.
One of the "
unexpected inevitabilities" of the novel, according to Morrow, is the sailors' loss of a "
moral compass" - if
God is dead - I mean, really, most sincerely dead - what reason is there to behave morally? In the novel, the sailors regain their morality through the magic of the
Kantian
categorical imperative. There's lots more to this novel, of course; think
communion.
Dieu Bourguignon, anyone?
(Book two would be Blameless in Abaddon.)