Neglected as a toddler, Lila was rescued by a canny young drifter and together they crafted a life on the run. Despite some petty violence and moments of desperation, their life was laced with moments of joy and love. When Lila arrives in Gilead, she struggles to reconcile the life of her makeshift family and their days of hardship with the gentle Christian worldview of her husband which paradoxically judges those she loves.

Combining thematic analysis and stimulating close readings, The Collar is a wide-ranging study of the many ways--heroic or comic, shrewd or dastardly--Christian ministers have been represented in literature and film. Since all Christians are expected to be involved in ministry of some type, the assumptions of secular culture about ministers affect more than just clergy. Ranging across several nations (particularly the U. S., Britain, and Canada),...

The confessions of a clergyman.

"In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War," then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend...

"A sublime haunting, a ripping yarn, and a killer debut."-J. Robert Lennon In Sawgamet, a north woods boomtown gone bust, the cold of winter breaks the glass of the schoolhouse thermometer, and the dangers of working in the cuts are overshadowed by the mysteries and magic lurking in the woods. Stephen, a pastor, is at home on the eve of his mother's funeral, thirty years after the mythic summer his grandfather returned to the town in search of his...

Gregory Barrett, a classmate of Father Dowling's, left the priesthood twenty-five years ago. Now, after all these years, a woman threatens to bring a multimillion-dollar suit against him, alleging he sexually exploited her when he was still a priest and she was sixteen. Barrett has no memory of her, but is devastated at what these claims will do to his career as a radio host and to his new family. So he comes to Father Dowling for advice. Father Dowling,...

Cedar Cove is shocked after Pastor Dave Flemming is accused of stealing jewelry. His wife, Emily, doesn't know what to believe, especially since Dave is being so evasive. Then she finds an earring in his pocket. Could he have stolen it--or is he having an affair?

Elmer Gantry, a golden-tongued evangelist, who rises to power within his church- a saver of souls who lives a life of duplicity, sensuality and ruthless self-indulgence. This work has been called the most penetrating study of hypocrisy that has been written since the works of Voltaire.

Upon his arrival, Butternut Creek Christian Church's newly-minted minister is met by a welcome committee led by Miss Birdie and her friend Mercedes, a.k.a. "the Widows." Their first order of business, to educate him on how things should be done, quickly gives way to a campaign to find him a wife. When their matchmaking efforts fizzle, the Widows turn to another new bachelor. Amputee and Afghan vet Sam simply wants to be left alone-- a desire that's...

As churches face shrinking resources, the model of ministers working at multiple jobs is re-emerging as relevant to the 21st century. Bivocational Ministry provides insights for congregations and pastors, women and men alike, about how to understand, adapt, and succeed in this model. One of the toughest places congregations can find themselves is where they cannot afford, or do not need, a pastor working exclusively for the church--it's a foundation-changing...