Holdout Presbyterian

09/22/2025

"Holdout Presbyterian" by Jim Franklin Thomas is a thought-provoking novel that explores themes of faith, community, and acceptance in a changing American town. The story revolves around Reverend Dunce and his young protégé, a gay Muslim who serves as the Reverend's driver, conscience, and body man.

*Plot Overview*

The town of Holdout, once a quiet Christian community in New Jersey, has transformed into a vibrant South Asian immigrant enclave. As tensions rise between the old and new residents, violent confrontations erupt, including a shooting at a mosque and a church fire. Amidst this chaos, a mysterious stranger appears at the church, and a threatening letter from an apocalyptic fringe group sets off a chain of events.

*Key Themes*

- *Interfaith Dialogue*: The novel highlights the struggles of different faith communities to coexist and understand each other.
- *Prejudice and Acceptance*: Reverend Dunce and his protégé must navigate their own prejudices and those of their communities.
- *Community Building*: The story showcases efforts to build bridges between old and new residents, promoting trust, empathy, and hospitality ¹ ² ³.

*Characters*

- Reverend Dunce: A Presbyterian minister trying to navigate the changing landscape of his town.
- The Protégé: A gay Muslim who challenges traditional norms and expectations, serving as a voice for acceptance and understanding.

Overall, "Holdout Presbyterian" is a complex and nuanced exploration of American identity, faith, and community, encouraging readers to reflect on their own biases and assumptions.

Order your copy on Amazon.com .

07/29/2025

Thank you for your kind review Carol Spivey Pierce
James Thomas

07/29/2025

Thank you for the beautiful review Diane McEldowney James Thomas

07/29/2025

Thank you so much for your honest review ♥️ James Thomas Bob Terzian
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02/25/2022

What happens to a church when the pastor prays in a mosque? Or longs for a Hindu woman? What happens when the mosque, and then a church, come under fire?...Real fire?

02/25/2022

11/08/2020

Ok, since it’s a quiet, boring Sunday with not much news to discuss and football’s still a couple hours away, here’s a little puzzler for you to test what careful, perceptive readers you are. In Holdout Presbyterian there are three references to the movie “The Godfather”. See if you can identify them. In one of them, the movie is overtly named, as well as the name of one of the main actors. In another, a quote, often misquoted, from the movie is passed off by Reverend Dunce in a sort of whimsical, throw-away line (hint: he’s speaking to his secretary, Peg Paulssen). And in the third, a couple of lines are quotes almost verbatim in one of the pivotal scenes of the book. (Another hint: in the movie, the line in question was spoken by Don Corleone, and adumbrates a critical turning point in that narrative.). So get your copy of the book Holdout Presbyterian from Amazon, or download it for pennies on the dollar directly from Outskirts Press and get to work. Have fun. And, beware the Turk. Everyone who gets the right answer will have her name posted on this page in celebration of your perspicacity and astute reading.

07/06/2020

This morning, while scrolling through the new images, thoughts and semi/pseudo-thoughts on Facebook, and being confronted with just one more in an emerging spate of disturbing but all too apt comparisons of white American cultural Christianity, and its enduring association with racism, militarism, and an unapologetic embrace of past and present violence against non-white people, with radical militant Islam as embodied by ISIS and/or the Taliban, I was reminded of a speech, both wistful and loving, that I put in the mouth of one of the secondary characters in my book "Holdout Presbyterian," and thought I'd share it with you.
For context, Florence Shadid was born into a Christian family in western Iran, the grand-daughter of a Bishop, no less, and flew out of Iran with her helicopter mechanic husband one week before the Ayatollah Khomeini flew in.
She is, to be clear, nobody's liberal, but her intelligent, cognac colored eyes view the world with both sorrow and love, with a seemingly resolute pessimism that perennially contends with her essentially cheerful nature. Here is Florence's wistful, loving reflection at a meeting of the church elders in the book:
"I've been thinking, while I've been listening to all this, and remembering. Remembering my childhood in Tehran. I don't know how many of you know it, but my family were very prominent people in the Assyrian Apostolic Church. Everybody knew that. And we lived n our own Christian section of the city, but there were always others around. Muslims, Farsees, Jews - we called them Persian Jews. Yes, really.
"On special days, like Christmas, the Muslim families that lived near the church baked bread for us and came to the church to pray with us. And on Eid-ul-Fitr, we would go to the mosque, my grandfather and my father, and all of us. When we had festivals, they always came, the people who were our - our Muslim neighbors.
"This was back before the Ayatollahs came and ruined everything. My Gawd, that was awful. And I am so thankful for this country.. You know? If it were not for this country, I'd probably - I might have been dead long ago. I really . . . I really think I wouldn't be here.
"In the springtime, there would be kites flying on Sepah Square in the middle of Tehran, and you couldn't tell from looking at them, dashing about in the sky, which kites had a Muslim child on the ground on the end of the string, and which had a Christian child, or a Farsee, or a Jewish child.
"And on Sunday after church my mother would take us to get falafel from the shop on Ferdowsi Avenue, a shop that was run by a Muslim family. And the shop owner would always make sure he gave us a little extra. 'For the Bishop,' he would say. And it makes me sad to think how all that's changed. And now, it's like - it's like the Ayatollahs are here now, too. Except that the Ayatollahs in this country are Christian." (pp. 448-449, Holdout Presbyterian. copyright 2020 Jim Franklin Thomas)