"The Beast and the Cross," Amazon.com
Beneath the beauty of Charleston, S.C., in 1975 lay a dark menace. As the renovation of lovely historic homes moved from the South of Broad area up the peninsula, a frontier was created where the tide of gentrification met the shore of poverty. This divide between the well-off and the poor saw a level of crime that threatened the safety of black and white alike. Into this frontier moved the Rev. Dr. John Fairleigh, his wife Barbara and their young children Johnny and Christie. Confronted by crime, this devoted Christian pastor buys a gun for defense of his family and himself out of what he sees as a necessary evil to be used against a greater evil.
William Poole Lancaster, Jr., author of The Beast and the Cross, is a retired Presbyterian minister with two earned divinity degrees. He has served four churches and a presbytery over a 36-year period. For seven of those years, he was a minister in Charleston, S.C. A former copy editor and reporter for The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, he has written for church publications since 1992. He and his wife Marty live in Greenville, S.C., with their fur child Angel, a labradoodle. He has been shooting guns since the age of ten and has the unusual hobby among pastors of shooting rifles, handguns and shotguns. Bill also enjoys golf and furniture making in his retirement.
With the rise of gun ownership and concealed weapon permits, this novel seriously examines the morality of the use of gun violence in self defense. Its conclusions embrace reality, morality and necessity. It is commended for anyone considering the use of guns in self defense.
Beneath the beauty of Charleston, S.C., in 1975 lay a dark menace. As the renovation of lovely historic homes moved from the South of Broad area up the peninsula, a frontier was created where the tide of gentrification met the shore of poverty. This divide between the well-off and the poor saw a level of crime that threatened the safety of black and white alike. Into this frontier moved the Rev. Dr. John Fairleigh, his wife Barbara and their young children Johnny and Christie. Confronted by crime, this devoted Christian pastor buys a gun for defense of his family and himself out of what he sees as a necessary evil to be used against a greater evil.
William Poole Lancaster, Jr., author of The Beast and the Cross, is a retired Presbyterian minister with two earned divinity degrees. He has served four churches and a presbytery over a 36-year period. For seven of those years, he was a minister in Charleston, S.C. A former copy editor and reporter for The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, he has written for church publications since 1992. He and his wife Marty live in Greenville, S.C., with their fur child Angel, a labradoodle. He has been shooting guns since the age of ten and has the unusual hobby among pastors of shooting rifles, handguns and shotguns. Bill also enjoys golf and furniture making in his retirement.
With the rise of gun ownership and concealed weapon permits, this novel seriously examines the morality of the use of gun violence in self defense. Its conclusions embrace reality, morality and necessity. It is commended for anyone considering the use of guns in self defense.
