Includes bibliographical references.

Pt 1. A guide to masterworks of clerical literature. The Canterbury tales: scandalous clergy -- The scarlett letter : hidden sin and its consequences -- The warden : integrity in the face of public attack -- Elmer Gantry : the travesty of an almost-Christian -- Witch Wood : powers and principalities in flesh and blood -- Murder in the cathedral : the minister as martyr -- The diary of a country priest : the power of an ordinary ministry -- The power and the glory : can a bad minister produce good fruit? -- The hammer of God : the triumph of the gospel in a minister's life -- Cry, the beloved country : sanctified for service through suffering -- Silence : becoming like Jesus in his death -- Gilead : finishing well -- pt. 2. A handbook of literary portrayals of the pastor's life. Introduction -- Adam Bede -- And the shofar blew -- At home in Mitford -- Barchester Towers -- The bishop's mantle -- The book against God -- The Book of Bebb -- Brendan : a novel -- Brideshead revisited -- The Bridge of the San Luis Rey -- The brothers Karamazov -- The damnation of Theron Ware ...

The Dean's Watch -- Death comes for the archbishop -- Death in holy orders -- Deep river -- Father Brown -- The flight of Peter Fromm -- The gauntlet -- Godric -- The God-seeker -- Go tell it on the mountain -- Holy masquerade -- In My father's house -- In the beauty of the Lilies -- The Ionian mission -- Jane Eyre -- Jonah's gourd vine -- Les Mis�erables -- Light from heaven -- The Mackerel Plaza -- A man for all seasons -- Mansfield Park -- March -- Men and brethren -- The minister's wooing -- Moby-Dick -- A month of Sundays -- Morte d'Urban -- Old mortality -- One foot in heaven : the life of a practical parson -- The Poisonwood Bible -- A portrait of the artist as a young man -- Pride and Prejudice -- The private Memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner -- Saving grace -- Scenes of clerical Life -- The simple Honorable man -- Starbridge series -- The Sunday wife -- The testament of Gideon Mack -- The thanatos syndrome -- Thomas Wingfold, curate -- The Vicar of Wakefield -- Wheat that springeth green -- Wise blood -- Woman of the Pharisees -- Young Goodman Brown.

"Throughout the history of English literature, clergy have figured prominently in novels, plays, morality tales, and even poetry. Pastors in the Classics is a unique exploration of literary masterpieces in which the pastor's experience is a major part of the story. This collection uncovers the good, the bad, and the ugly ways in which pastors have been presented to the reading public for the past half millennium, and how pastors today can glean wisdom from those who have gone before. Whether you are a pastor or a lover of great literature, you will find insight, humor, and grace within these pages."--Back cover.