<DIV><p>"[Shanley's] intense engagement with questions of religion and ethics?remains distinctive and invigorating."?<I>The New York Times</I></p><p>"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."?<I>Time Out New York</I></p><p>The final installment of John Patrick Shanley's "Church and State" trilogy?beginning with the award-winning <I>Doubt </I>and <I>Defiance</I>?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.</p><p><B>John Patrick Shanley</B> is the author of numerous plays, including <I>Danny and the Deep Blue Sea</I>, <I>Dirty Story</I>, <I>Four Dogs and a Bone</I>, <I>Psychopathia Sexualis</I>, <I>Sailor's Song</I>, <I>Savage in Limbo</I>, and <I>Where's My Money?</I> He has written extensively for television and film, and his credits include the teleplay for <I>Live from Baghdad </I>and screenplays for <I>Congo</I>; <I>Alive</I>; <I>Five Corners</I>; <I>Joe Vs. the Volcano</I>, which he also directed; and <I>Moonstruck</I>, for which he won an Academy Award for best original screenplay. He adapted his Tony Award-winning play <I>Doubt </I>into an Academy Award–winning film, which he also directed, starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.</p><BR></DIV>