LEADER 05132nam 2200685 a 450 001 9910823557203321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-282-79662-3 010 $a9786612796623 010 $a0-231-52180-4 024 7 $a10.7312/walr15106 035 $a(CKB)2560000000048372 035 $a(EBL)908696 035 $a(OCoLC)674689589 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000435555 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11298653 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000435555 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10420763 035 $a(PQKB)11607263 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC908696 035 $a(DE-B1597)459421 035 $a(OCoLC)829750952 035 $a(OCoLC)979574365 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780231521802 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL908696 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10419533 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL279662 035 $a(EXLCZ)992560000000048372 100 $a20091027d2010 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aDisplacing the divine $ethe minister in the mirror of American fiction /$fDouglas Alan Walrath 210 $aNew York $cColumbia University Press$dc2010 215 $a1 online resource (329 p.) 225 1 $aReligion and American culture 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a9780231511061 311 $a0-231-15106-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [353]-370) and index. 327 $aIntroduction: Fiction as a mirror of culture -- Exposing the divine : 1790s-1850s -- Faltering fathers and devious divines : popular images. Misfits in America ; Harsh Puritans and fanatical Calvinists ; Scoundrels in collars -- Clerics in contention : church images. Liberal challengers ; Faithful Calvinists ; Precarious pastors -- Vulnerable divines : radical images. Victims of their believing ; Perpetrators of oppression ; Exposing the divine -- Discrediting the divine : 1860s-1920s -- Compulsives and accommodators : popular images (1). Compelled believers ; Compulsive believers ; Accommodating believers ; Prudent believers -- Con men in collars and heroes of the cloth : popular images (2). Phony preachers ; Muscular ministers ; Gallant parsons -- Activist preachers and their detractors : popular images (3). Social ministers ; Entrenched reactionaries ; Social activists ; Utopian idealists -- Champions of the faith : church images. Muscular believers ; Social evangelicals -- Foundering divines : radical images. Inept contenders ; Anachronisms -- Flawed divines : radical images. Weak and impotent men ; Pretenders, deceivers, and commercial preachers -- The legacy : 1930s-2000s -- Fallen divines : some contemporary images. Deprived preachers : a radical image ; Comic Calvinists : a popular and church image ; Human divines : a popular image -- Conclusion: The legacy of the displaced divine. The displacing : a summary ; The legacy. 330 $aAs religious leaders, ministers are often assumed to embody the faith of the institution they represent. As cultural symbols, they reflect subtle changes in society and belief-specifically people's perception of God and the evolving role of the church. For more than forty years, Douglas Alan Walrath has tracked changing patterns of belief and church participation in American society, and his research has revealed a particularly fascinating trend: portrayals of ministers in American fiction mirror changing perceptions of the Protestant church and a Protestant God. From the novels of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who portrays ministers as faithful Calvinists, to the works of Herman Melville, who challenges Calvinism to its very core, Walrath considers a variety of fictional ministers, including Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegon Lutherans and Gail Godwin's women clergy. He identifies a range of types: religious misfits, harsh Puritans, incorrigible scoundrels, secular businessmen, perpetrators of oppression, victims of belief, prudent believers, phony preachers, reactionaries, and social activists. He concludes with the modern legacy of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century images of ministers, which highlights the ongoing challenges that skepticism, secularization, and science have brought to today's religious leaders and fictional counterparts. Displacing the Divine offers a novel encounter with social change, giving the reader access, through the intimacy and humanity of literature, to the evolving character of an American tradition. 410 0$aReligion and American culture (New York, N.Y.) 606 $aAmerican fiction$xHistory and criticism 606 $aClergy in literature 606 $aChristianity and literature$zUnited States$xHistory 615 0$aAmerican fiction$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aClergy in literature. 615 0$aChristianity and literature$xHistory. 676 $a813/.00935823 700 $aWalrath$b Douglas Alan$f1933-$01694283 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910823557203321 996 $aDisplacing the divine$94072722 997 $aUNINA