The Rev. Will Bowen tries not to complain. He wants everyone else to stop carping, too _ all 6 billion of us on the planet.And his message, first preached in a sermon at his small suburban church, has caught on _ even though some critics...

Pastoral sleight of hand occurs when a pastor intentionally and unceremoniously substitutes one biblical principle or concept for another similar, but distinctly different one. This causes confusion because most of his or her parishioners are unable to distinguish between the two -- a situation he...

The Rev. Jerry Sutton, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor who lost a bid to become president of the denomination, is now facing an upheaval in the megachurch he leads, including complaints that he spent church money on his daughter's wedding.For nearly 21 years, Sutton has...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said Thursday it is removing from the clergy a gay minister who announced he has a partner.The Rev. Bradley Schmeling, who has led St. John's Lutheran Church in Atlanta since 2000, will be removed from the roster effective Aug....

In the following essay, Lindenbaum traces the development of Shakespeare's anti-pastoral sentiment in his works. Beginning with The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the critic notes that the forest in this early play is sentimentalized, a place of idleness (otium) where none of society's rules apply or must be obeyed. By contrast, he argues, the pastoral realms of his later plays, including As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest, are not that different from the ordinary world in th...

In the following essay, Alpers identifies Shakespearean characters who, like Melibee and Colin Clout in Spenser's Faerie Queene, assume the role of the traditional literary shepherd to assert pastoral virtues and values. Alpers describes the following characters as “representative shepherds”: Costard in Love's Labour's Lost, Corin in As You Like It, the grave-digger in Hamlet, and Florizel, Perdita, Autolycus, and Polixenes in Act IV of The Winter's Tale.

In the following excerpt, Kermode looks at the scope of the pastoral form, especially as it was used by English Renaissance poets; outlines its history and its critical and philosophical background; and discusses the general theory of Imitation as it relates to the pastoral.

The presentation of rural life in eighteenth century poetry, including the meaning of pastoral poetry and the poetic conventions of anti-pastoral poetry. Plus, an analysis of "The Thresher's Labour" by Stephen Duck. exploring the presentation of rural life in eighteenth century poetry, by studying the poetic conventions of anti-pastoral poetry and more particularly by analysing `The Thresher's labour' by Stephen Duck.