Godly and Righteous, Peevish and Perverse

From Geoffrey Chaucer's "poor Parson" to Jane Austen's Mr. Collins to Oscar Wilde's Canon Chasuble, religious figures have served as some of the most memorable characters of English literature. Drawn from a thousand years of literature and letters, "Godly and Righteous, Peevish and Perverse" is a sumptuous literary anthology that celebrates the holy (and not so holy) men and women, both British and American, portrayed in great works of prose and poetry.

Throughout this unique, enjoyable book readers will find old friends and new. The clergy and religious in these extracts from masterpieces of literature are as varied as they are numerous: here are the saintly and the venial, the pious and the worldly, the noisy and the reserved, the wise and the foolish, the admirable and the absurd. These selections are not only engaging but also instructive. In mixing the fictional with the factual, they capture the varied personalities of clergy as well as their changing relationship with society and common folk over time and place. Their holy profession and the faith they proclaim have aroused every emotion from reverence and amusement to tolerant acceptance and scorn.

Editor and compiler Raymond Chapman has arranged the book into thematic sections and includes lively introductions and helpful running commentary throughout. Indexes of the authors and the featured clerics make it easy to locate a particular story or figure. Presenting a motley group of human beings as it does with panache, "Godly and Righteous, Peevish and Perverse" will please a wide range of readers, including lovers of great literature and all who are interested in clergy and religious life.