THE COTTON PATCH EVIDENCE

by Dallas Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 7, 1971

The remarkable career of the late Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm, a radical integrated Christian community in rural Georgia. A graduate and holder of a doctorate degree in Greek New Testament from Southern Baptist Theological School, Jordan was an early irritant to the established ministry in his literal insistence on the brotherhood of man and pacifism. With a friend he established Koinonia in 1942 as a nonprofit missionary effort which ""seeks to combine religious training with actual experience in community service. . . to (spread) the proclamations of Jesus Christ and the applications of his teachings."" Under escalating harassment -- boycotts, destruction of the farm property, shootings and dynamitings by the surrounding segregationist neighbors -- the Koinonia community continued to hold on, experimenting with various forms of leadership, worship and economic (as well as literal) survival. And yet the violent neighbors were, in a way, not the main enemy: ""I would rather face the frantic childish mob. . . than the silent insidious mob of good church people. . . . What can I say for those who know the word of God and will not speak it?"" Lee was also responsible for the ""cotton patch version"" of the Bible, a lively, colloquial and rhythmical translation. (Ex. John the Baptist: ""You sons of snakes, who put the heat on you to run from the fury about to break over your heads?"") Mr. Lee wisely includes many of Jordan's pronouncements, sermons and notes to illuminate what would otherwise be a rather dogged narration, and this is a dedicated tribute to a gifted religious man who ""had plunged into the Scriptures as if he were expected to respond to what he had learned.

Pub Date: July 7, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION