"[Shanley's] intense engagement with questions of religion and ethics...remains distinctive and invigorating."-"The New York Times"

"There's a deeper philosophical vein that the author mines, allowing his language to acquire the heft and timbre of a serious moral debate. . . . We taste bitterness, but also much that is sweet."-"Time Out New York"

The final installment of John Patrick Shanley's "Church and State" trilogy--beginning with the award-winning "Doubt "and "Defiance"--concerns a Bronx Borough President who is forced, by the mortgage crisis, into a confrontation with a local minister. Blending earthy humor and philosophical reflection, this morality tale explores the relationship between spiritual experience and social action.

John Patrick Shanley is the author of numerous plays, including "Outside Mullingar," "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," "Dirty Story," "Four Dogs and a Bone," "Psychopathia Sexualis," "Sailor's Song," "Savage in Limbo," and "Where's My Money?" He has written extensively for television and film, and his credits include the teleplay for "Live from Baghdad "and screenplays for "Congo"; "Alive"; "Five Corners"; "Joe Vs. the Volcano," which he also directed; and "Moonstruck," for which he won an Academy Award for best original screenplay. He adapted his Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Doubt "into an Academy Award-winning film, which he also directed, starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.