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Biography
American

Walter Wangerin Jr.

1944 — 2021

American novelist, essayist, and Lutheran pastor whose fantasy novel The Book of the Dun Cow (1978) — an animal fable about a rooster named Chauntecleer who leads his community against cosmic evil — won the National Book Award and established Wangerin as one of the most distinctive voices in Christian literary fiction. His subsequent works, including the retelling of the Gospels in novelistic form, blend theological depth with literary ambition.

Past sales0
PeriodContemporary
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Walter Wangerin Jr. (1944–2021) was an American writer and Lutheran minister who held the Jochum Chair at Valparaiso University. His fiction and nonfiction draw on Christian theology, medieval allegory, and a deep engagement with narrative as a vehicle for spiritual truth.

Major Works

The Book of the Dun Cow (1978, Harper & Row) — a fantasy novel in the tradition of Reynard the Fox and Watership Down, set in a farmyard world where the rooster Chauntecleer must lead his fellow animals against the serpent Wyrm, an embodiment of cosmic evil. The novel won the National Book Award and the American Book Award.

The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel (1996, Zondervan) retells the biblical narrative as continuous prose fiction.

Paul: A Novel (2000) and other biblical retellings continued his project of bringing scriptural stories to life as literary fiction.

Collecting Wangerin

The Book of the Dun Cow (1978, Harper & Row) is the key collectible — first editions with dust jacket bring $100–$300. Its sequel, The Book of Sorrows (1985), is less collected. Wangerin signed books at Christian literary events and speaking engagements.