by William Poole Lancaster
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 206 pages
Let me begin by confessing two things. First, I love a good mystery. It may be my favorite escape from the hectic pace of daily life. Second, I have known and liked the way Bill Lancaster writes about the church and the world for many years. Bill is an honorably retired Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister who has covered stories for the Presbyterian News Service as well as serving as a pastor and associate presbyter for Foothills Presbytery. His new book and first novel, “The Beast and the Cross,” available from Amazon.com, offers more than a good read. It did not provide much of an escape for me, but rather a challenge — all too rare these days either in the fiction I see or in other media — to reflect deeply on the question of moral choice.
Set in Charleston, S.C., in the 1970s, the story evokes the racial and social tensions of that era. People who lived in the 1970s will remember the anxiety of this time. In the South, presbyteries had seen churches leave the PCUS for the PCA. Desegregation, a right and good thing, had resulted in power shifts in businesses, schools and communities. We had witnessed riots from Birmingham to Los Angeles on the nightly news in our living rooms. We were sending troops half a world away in an attempt to end a conflict that had not been ours to begin with. The times were changing, and people everywhere were anxious and afraid.
Bill’s book introduces readers to a Presbyterian pastor whose concern for the safety of his family escalates in response to a series of home robberies in his neighborhood. After soul-searching, he decides to buy a gun, and he subsequently uses it with unintended disastrous results for the family of a teenaged boy, his own family, his congregation and his ministry.
As these results are played out but never resolved in the novel, the reader has a chance to think about the deep and long-lasting implications of decisions that appear right and good in the moment. In our own day, it seems that the hallmark of political campaigns and denominational allegiances is the call to join with the right side over against the less-than-pure, less righteous, less able — you fill in the adjective that works for you — other.
Nationally a current hot debate centers on regulation of gun purchases, both around the matter of background checks and the issue of what types of guns are appropriate for civilian use. This engaging novel looks at the deeper and far more complex questions that surround the choices we all make about where we place our loyalties and how we view the rights of others and our responsibility to their welfare.
It is an engaging read, and I think it would make for a very helpful book discussion around topics of Christian faith and issues of gun control, self-defense, how our choices shape who we are and affect our families, and the circumstances under which taking another life might be considered. For sessions looking for a summer study for adult and youth classes, this book could provide for deeper understanding faith and daily life in the world we live in.
PAIGE MCRIGHT is an honorably retired minister currently serving as interim executive presbyter in North Alabama Presbytery.
