Displacing the divine
Subtitle: the minister in the mirror of American fiction
By: Douglas Alan Walrath.
Series: The religion and American culture series
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 379
ISBN-13: 9780231151061; 9780231521802
Subjects: American fiction -- History and criticism; Clergy in literature; Christianity and literature -- United States -- History
Description: For more than forty years, Douglas Alan Walrath has tracked changing patterns of belief and church participation in American society, and his research has revealed a particularly fascinating trend: portrayals of ministers in American fiction mirror changing perceptions of the Protestant church and a Protestant God. --from publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Fiction as a mirror of culture; title: Part I: Exposing the divine : 1790s-1850s; title: Faltering fathers and devious divines : popular images; title: Misfits in America; title: HarshPuritans and fanatical Calvinists; title: Scoundrels in collars; title: Clerics in contention : church images; title: Liberal challengers; title: Faithful Calvinists; title: Precarious pastors; title: Vulnerable divines : radical images; title: Victims of their believing; title: Perpetrators of oppression; title: Exposing the divine; title: Part II: Discrediting the divine : 1860s-1920s; title: Compulsives and accommodators : popular images; title: Compelled believers; title: Compulsive believers; title: Accommodating believers; title: Prudent believers; title: Con men in collars and heroes of the cloth : popular images; title: Phony preachers; title: Muscular ministers; title: Gallant parsons; title: Activist preachers and their detractors : popular images; title: Social ministers; title: Entrenched reactionaries; title: Social activists; title: Utopian idealists; title: Champions of the faith : church images; title: Muscular believers; title: Social evangelicals; title: Foundering divines : radical images; title: Inept contenders; title: Anachronisms; title: Flawed divines : radical images; title: Weak and impotent men; title: Pretenders, deceivers, and commercial preachers; title: Part III: The legacy : 1930s-2000s; title: Fallen divines : some contemporary images; title: Deprived preachers : a radical image; title: Comic Calvinists : a popular and church image; title: Human divines : a popular image; title: Conclusion: The legacy of the displaced divine; title: The displacing : a summary; title: The legacy.