Missionary man

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to write a novel whose primary theme is the nature of extra-rational belief.The story follows the early career of Cal Taggart, a young, talented and charismatic country preacher in present-day Missouri. At the age of twenty-one, Cal begins a career as a traveling "revival" preacher.A central feature of the story is the occurrence of supernatural phenomena, triggered by Cal's presence, which represent the physical manifestations of extra-rational beliefs. The beliefs become physically manifest in the form of corporeal beings such as demons and other creatures of the imagination, and through other physical phenomena. The beliefs these phenomena represent are those of individuals of extraordinarily intense sensibilities, or of numbers of individuals whose sensibilities are less intense, but, gathered at Cal's revival meetings, are combined and focused. In the context of transference from idea to physicality, the nature and forms of the manifested beliefs themselves, and of extra-rational belief in general, are examined.The novel will also detail Cal's personal conflicts as he struggles to maintain emotional and moral equilibrium in light of his own beliefs and preoccupations and the realization that he is in some manner responsible for what appear to be religious signs.Various characters, other than Cal, are portrayed in detail, each of whose personal preoccupations represent an aspect of human consciousness central to an understanding of extra-rational belief.Other thematic aspects include the concepts of sin and evil and their relationship to each other, the dynamics of radical religious communities, the nature of the Messianic impulse, contemporary American attitudes toward supernatural phenomenon, and apocalyptic forms in contemporary American popular imagination.