Throughout the history of English literature, church ministers have figured prominently in novels, plays, morality tales, and even poetry. Pastors in the Classics is a unique, unprecedented collection of relevant literary masterpieces in which the pastor's experience is a major part of the story. Part 1 is a reader's guide to twelve important classics written over four centuries and covering seven different nationalities. Each chapter not only describes and interprets the work in question, it also highlights a specific feature of pastoral ministry explored in the work. Part 2 is a handbook that defines the canon of literary masterpieces that deal with the pastor's experience, offering reading suggestions for both ministers and lovers of literature. From the familiar ( The Canterbury Tales ; Cry, the Beloved Country ; and The Scarlet Letter ) to the lesser-known ( Silence, Witch Wood ) to the surprising ( A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ), 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.