Although The Shepherd of the Hills has a more intriguing and interwoven plot than any of his other books, it contains the same criticism of the church manifested in his first book, That Printer of Udell's and in his two other books featuring Dan Matthews, The Calling of Dan Matthews (1909) and God and the Groceryman (1927).

The Calling of Dan Matthews was Wright's third book and followed The Shepherd of the Hills in the prescribed two year interval. Wright attacks the institutional church where Dan Matthews has become minister and the closed-minded elders, who by their constant interference, make it impossible for him to minister to the people.

Finally Dan decides he cannot work under such control and returns to the Ozarks to enter another sort of ministry in his work as a businessman.

In God and the Groceryman, Dan Matthews feels he has not attained a...