This Novel By Johnny Cash Helped Me Become Catholic.
Johnny Cash and Jesus Christ share the initials “J.C.” Johnny Cash is an adopted son of my home state of Tennessee. Johnny Cash wrote a novel called Man in White, which I read as I began my journey to the Catholic Church. It is the story of the conversion of St. Paul, and it was so good that I couldn’t believe Johnny Cash wrote it.
I found my copy in my local public library. I enjoyed the book so much, that I gave a copy of it to a guy I know who really digs Johnny Cash and Jesus too; I gave it to my Dad for Christmas a few months before I was received into the Catholic Church. Oh, it flat blows away anything I ever read about St. Paul, except for maybe what St. Luke wrote in Acts of the Apostles.
More on that later, perhaps (and on Johnny’s correspondence Bible school diploma), but for now I just want to share the post my friend is writing after I suggested he might like the novel too. He was giving a talk about the Advent Conspiracy at a Theology on Tap event in my town. Afterwards, we chased down fish & chips with a couple of Guinesses and I said, “Did you know Johnny Cash wrote this outstanding novel about St. Paul? It was so good, it blew me away.”
I’ll let Fr. Christian Mathis of Blessed is the Kingdom take up the story from there. Why a novel about St. Paul? I’ll let Johnny expalin,
Well, I decided, if theologians can do so much speculating and make it interesting, I might throw in my two cents worth. After all, Paul had become my hero. He was invincible! He made it his life’s mission to conquer and convert the idolatrous, pagan world over to Jesus Christ.
And he did everything he planned that he lived long enough to do.
