A Parson's Tales

About the Book

These fictional tales reflect the human experience of a clergyman who seeks to be a friend at large.  Here we meet:  

· The melancholic woman who often cannot speak but thanks him for listening to her silence.

· The young woman betrayed, before the people of her small town, on her wedding day by the young man who promised to marry her.

· The man with the $25 mail-order ordination certificate who becomes a priest to those unwelcome at other churches.

· The gay man whose kindness to students is revealed at his funeral.

· The Cardinal whose gentle compassion is shown to two small orphan boys of another faith.

· The Japanese soldier who risks his life to save an enemy soldier.

· The dark undercurrent in the life of a man who is a church leader.

· The dying parishioner helped in his final hours by a Jewish judge who asks the priest for just one Hail Mary.

· The widely honored priest who confesses on his deathbed that it was all a lie.

· A rich man dying of cancer is shown to be a quiet messenger of goodwill.

These stories circle the edge of conventional religious communities, revealing the lives of those who are sometimes ignored or left outside.

About the Author

Forrest Johnson was born in Chicago, Illinois. He has served as a pastor of churches in the Middle West, New England and Texas. He began writing poetry, essays and stories while in the Navy during World War II. In addition to his work in the church, he has been an actor, television and radio commentator, and a practicing politician. The stories in this collection have been called Chekhovian by some readers as they seek to probe the heights and depths of human experience, as seen through the eyes of a journeyman parson. The renowned religious psychologist Anton Boisen suggested that Johnson write about the people he encountered in his work as a pastor: unlike doctors, who often write about the lives of patients, pastors seldom venture into the realm of the short story and the novel. Mr. Johnson works and writes on a small ranch in western New Mexico.