"I was a preacher," said the man seriously. "Reverend Jim Casy – was a Burning Busher. Used to howl out the name of Jesus to glory. And used to get an irrigation ditch so squirmin’ full of repented sinners half of ’em like to drowned. But not no more," he sighed. "Jus Jim Casy now. Ain’t got the call no more. Got a lot of sinful idears – but they seem kinda sensible."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 4. Jim Casy, once a follower of the Burning Bush sect, a breakaway group from the Methodists, has lost his faith. The theme of isolation is presented here, as the reformed evangelist abandons organized religion and rejects his former calling. He says that he is just plain Jim Casy now. Admitting to flipping his ideological thinking, he is now considering some "sinful" ideas that appear "sensible" to him. He is undergoing a spiritual crisis.