Displacing the Divine

As religious leaders, ministers are often assumed to embody the faith of the religious 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, and his research has revealed a particularly fascinating trend: portrayals of ministers in American fiction mirror changing perceptions of the Protestant church and Protestant God in American society.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 cultural images of ministers, which highlights the ongoing challenges that skepticism, secularization, and science have brought to today's ministers and fictional counterparts. Displacing the Divineoffers an experiential encounter with social change, enabling readers to access, through the intimacy and humanity of literature, the evolving character of an American tradition.

Douglas Alan Walrath is Lowry Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology at Bangor Seminary. He has served as pastor, church executive, seminary professor, and church strategy consultant in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He lives in Maine.