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The 50th anniversary this year of the beloved novel To Kill a Mockingbird has many of us remembering the Oscar-winning film and Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch—voted the greatest American hero of 20th century film by the American Film Institute. One key scene shows why this character has become enshrined as an iconic hero and a model of courage: Atticus, alone, facing down an angry, drunken lynch mob late at night with nothing but a newspaper.

Yet when you view Atticus Finch in light of many of our culture's heroes, something doesn't add up. Our society reveres success and power. Our heroes prevail in court cases, survive the island, win the big games. Christians seem just as determined to see our view recognized as correct, our argument heard, our sense of entitlement satisfied. Even the heroes of Christian culture seem to be winners these days.

So it's remarkable that a half century after the publication of Harper Lee's novel, we still celebrate this small-town lawyer who works out of a meager office and spends his time helping people who can't afford his services. By today's standards, Atticus Finch is no winner. We learn at the beginning of the novel that his last two criminal clients were hanged, and —spoiler alert!—his attempt to defend the innocent Tom Robinson (an African-American man falsely accused of rape) doesn't work out well either.

Sometimes when watching that landmark would-be lynching scene in the movie, I forget that in the book, Atticus's daughter Scout tells us that her father's hands were shaking. Plain fear was shooting out of his eyes when she approached him in front of the mob. How could we forget that he allows the bad guy, Bob Ewell, to spit in his face and curse him in public—he simply wipes his face and walks away.

Certainly, onlookers may have made assumptions about Atticus' ability to handle himself. In the courtroom, he steadily draws out the truth without raising his voice, always treating Tom's despicable accusers with respect ...

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