The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John: Including the Gospel of Matthew...and the First Eight Chapters of the Gospel of John
by Clarence Jordan

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Book Reviews of The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John: Including the Gospel of Matthew...and the First Eight Chapters of the Gospel of John

Book Review: Is there room for racism in the Church?
Summary: 5 Stars

I don't think that the point of the Cotton Patch translation was to provide yet-another translation of the New Testament. Rev. Jordan was a scholar of NT Greek, and undoubtedly, he knew a lot about the NT. Rather, this work is a photomontage or imposition of images from the New Testament re-created and re-enacted in Gainesville, Georgia, where Governor Herod is seeking to kill the Baby Jesus; Where John the Baptist, "dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket", "living on corn bread and collard greens" is baptizing Protestants and Catholics in the waters of the Chattahoochee river... You can't help but smile.

But what is this place? Where is this place? What is happening here? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us "For instance, when you make a gift to charity, don't make a lot of noise about it, like the phonies do at church and at civic clubs... The truth is, such praise is all they'll get out of it." Fair enough, but "Church and civic clubs" ?? This isn't even close to being a translation! That a scholar of NT Greek should translate the Sermon on the Mount like that is proof positive that he had something in mind other than providing a translation.

And the Gospel unfolds, and there is no mystery to it, except the mystery of how we could all be so blind: [John, chapter 8]

"But we are blue-blooded white folks, and have never been anybody's slave. Why then are you telling us, 'You'll be liberated'?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who is addicted to sin is sin's slave." ... "Our father was the original white man," they retorted. "If indeed you are sons of the original white man, you would act like it. But here you are trying to lynch me, a man who has told you the truth that I got from the Father. A really good white man would never stoop to that. Yes, you're behaving like your father's children all right."

And now the mystery is revealed, if there ever was any mystery in the first place: The Cotton Patch books are about racism and Christianity, and by extension, racism and religion: Is there room for racism in the Church? Can racists be considered "the children of God" ? I think that to most people living today, the question must seem trivial, but "back then," when the book was written, some time in the 1950's, there were many white seperatists that were comfortable with and saw no contradiction between their racism and with their religion. The Cotton Patch "translations" are Rev. Jordan's way of arguing that there is no room for racism within the Church. Rev. Jordan's argument isn't a theological one, probably because the point isn't worth arguing theologically, and because Rev. Jordan's works seem to have been grounded in practical, everyday human life: Rev. Jordan argues his point by super-imposing New Testament characters -- Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist, Herod, and others, on modern day self-righteous and self-contented racism and bigotry in American society, and he trusts our good judgement to see the screeching, dissonant absurdity of it.

The mystery isn't a very big or complex one, but it is a worthy point that Rev. Jordan is making, and his words are simple and eloquent and beautiful. Besides, we live long after St. John cried out at the end of the book of Revelation, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus". If you ever feel as if the events of the NT happened way too long ago, be confident and happy that the Voice still cries in the Wilderness, and John the Baptist is still baptizing the children of God in the Chattahoochee river. :)

Summary of The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John: Including the Gospel of Matthew...and the First Eight Chapters of the Gospel of John

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