Bill Arnold
PENNSYLVANIA
Graduate
I am a Presbyterian minister, presently serving as the associate pastor for senior adults in a large Presbyterian congregation. Prior to that, I was a professor of pastoral care and counseling in a theological seminary. My doctoral work was done in the double area of Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Counseling.
Examples of a few stories I love to tell are: "Praying for Rain", "Lessons from Under a Tractor", "The Porcelain Man", Tolstoy's "The Three Hermits", "Perfect Joy" (a tale of St. Francis), "Starting a Fight" (a Celtic parable), "Lessons from Abu-Kasem" (a Sufi tale)
As a native of the South, and a child of the manse, I have been immersed in stories much of my life. Consequently, good humor, sacred qualities, and sagas have particular appeal to me. Not surprisingly, then, stories with those characteristics seem to be the ones I "tell" best. You can expect a southern accent, embellishment, and a love for both the humor, the passion, and the wonder found in stories from the southern United States, Celtic tales, and legends built around the very human characters found in the Bible, the lives of the saints, and related literature. My current work has drawn my attention to the arena of "elder tales."