The Black Flame of Paradise is the first novel by American artist Zachary Cahill. The book is a proposition to create a model for a new church and examines the significance of religious architecture and its ability to cultivate new subjects through the re-purposing of architecture and ritual. An experimental novel, it comprises biography, theory of art and architecture, political manifesto, and religious thesis. The novel features 20 color plates of recent works and exhibitions as well as a foreword by philosopher Catherine Malabou.

Zachary Cahill is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist. Since 2010 he has been working on his long term project the USSA, a series of exhibitions, writings, and performances. He has had solo shows at Anastasia Tinari Projects, Chicago; Regina Rex, New York, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Threewalls, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. His work has been included in group exhibitions including: the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2014); The Works, Contemporary Art Brussels (2015); and Broken Flag, Iceberg Projects, Chicago (2016), among others. A widely published author, Cahill's writing has appeared in Afterall, ArtForum, Critical Inquiry (Summer 2018), The Exhibitionist, Frieze, and Mousse. In 2017 ArtReview profiled Cahill for its special issue “The Future Greats,” a selection of 12 artists from around the world that take on the complexity of the contemporary moment. He is curator at the University of Chicago's Gray Center.