Preachers and Misfits, Prophets and Thieves: The Minister in Southern Fiction
Hallelujah! Just when you think there's nothing new to be said about religion  and the South, here it comes, with all the force and conviction of a call. This  excellent book is characterized by fine, clear writing, provocative ideas, and  always these unforgettable characters, holy and horrible, saints and scalawags,  drawn from the fiction of our time.-- Lee Smith, author of Fair and Tender  Ladies, Saving Grace, and On Agate HillLee Ramsey has brought to us  under one roof a company unforgettable, recognizable, powerful, weak, happy, and  sad human beings. Open this book anywhere and read one page. See? It never slows  down straddling a subjective fence with finesse, grace, and guidance, on one  side is religion and on the other is literature. With his passionate and  original insights and his clear, reasoned writing Lee is preaching an eloquent  sermon that just might bring new life to churches and communities all over.-- Clyde Edgerton, author of Lunch at the Piccadilly and The Bible  SalesmanLee Ramsey neither dismisses fictional Southern preachers as  caricatures nor accepts them as factual portrayals of religion in the South.  Instead, he listens to them and learns about ministry, for himself and for his  readers. Now I have to return to the literature cited and read again. I think I  may have laughed and cringed and cried in the wrong places. I do not know Lee's  ability at arithmetic, but his reading and writing are well above grade  level.-- Fred B. Craddock, Professor Emeritus of Preaching and New Testament,  Candler School of TheologyThis is one of those grace-filled books that  ought to be required reading for anybody, secular or ordained, who participates  actively in the life and leadership of his or her church.-- Phyllis Tickle,  author of The Great Emergence