"The Glad River"

“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.” These words of Psalm 46:4 (KJV) are cited on page 291 of Will D. Campbell’s “The Glad River” (1982) and are apparently the source of the title.

I recently finished reading Campbell’s novel, deciding to read it shortly after hearing of his death early last month. He would have celebrated his 89^th birthday this week, on July 18, had he not passed away on June 3.

Campbell was often referred to as a “maverick.” Among other newspapers and websites, headlines in the New York Times on June 4 and on HuffingtonPost.com on June 5 described him that way.

The central character in “The Glad River” is Doops, a young man born in Mississippi in 1920, four years before the author. And while Campbell said his novel was not autobiographical, Doops is also a maverick as was his creator.

Although having a Baptist mother who tries for years to convince Doops to be baptized, he continually refuses to do so until late in the book—and I can’t tell the details without it being a spoiler for those of you who have yet to read the book.

Doops is continually seeking to find “real” Baptists – such as those of the 16^th century who were known as Anabaptists and about whom he wrote a story during his time in military service during World War II.

As Doops correctly understood, those baptists (intentionally not capitalized) were pacifists, did not believe in the death penalty, and believed in the complete separation of church and state. That seemed to be what Doops also believed. And that was why he couldn’t be a conventional Baptist in the South.

So, Doops was probably somewhat autobiographical after all.

In an article published shortly after Campbell’s death, noted Baptist historian and author Bill Leonard wrote how Campbell was “obsessed with grace.” That seems to be a correct assessment. While he didn’t write about it directly, grace is an underlying theme of “The Glad River.”

As a result of God’s grace, undeserved and unreserved forgiveness, another of Campbell’s themes, is clearly seen in the novel.

James Wm. McClendon, Jr., was a prominent baptist theologian, born the same year as Campbell, although he died in 2000. (He is the one who emphasized being baptist with a small “b,” as I wrote about in a blog article found here.)

In his highly acclaimed “Ethics: Systematic Theology, Volume I,” McClendon cites a passage from The Glad River at the beginning of Part II. Then in writing about “The Politics of Forgiveness,” McClendon tells of Campbell’s discussion with his non-believing friend P.D. East.

As I wrote on this blog three years ago today, on one occasion, P. D. asked Will, “In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?” Campbell’s pungent answer was, “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway” (“Brother to a Dragonfly," p. 220).

That is essentially the meaning of grace. And that is the type of God’s love and acceptance experienced by the beer-guzzling, rough-talking young men in “The Glad River”: Doops and his friends Kingston and “Model T.”

Whether we admit it or not, many of us “good Christians” think we are morally superior to others, such as, perhaps, fundamentalist Christians and bigoted Southerners with whom we disagree – or even superior to people like the young men in Campbell’s novel.

A serious reading of “The Glad River” can perhaps help us reflect on our pharisaicalism and even on our judgmental attitudes towards others, those bas----- whom God loves just as much as he loves us.

“We’re All Bastards”

Ten days ago my post was about Will Campbell (and his book Providence). Since Campbell is such a colorful figure, I expected to receive more comments, but I am pleased that two people did respond. Both who commented made reference Campbell’s The Convention: A Parable (1988), which I have just started to read for the first time. One also mentioned Campbell’s most widely acclaimed book, Brother to a Dragonfly (1977).

I read Brother, an autobiographical work, many years ago, so I don’t remember a lot of its content. But there is one significant part I have not forgotten. One of Campbell’s Mississippi friends was a man who went by the name P. D. East. On one occasion, P. D. asked Will, “In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?” Here was his pungent answer: “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway” (p. 220).

I can’t remember when it was, probably ten to fifteen years ago, but I had the opportunity at some meeting to talk briefly with Will Campbell. I asked him whether after these many years he would change his summary of what the Christian message is. He quickly said he still thought that summed it up pretty well. It probably does, for it is a strong statement about God’s grace.

The only way I can understand what happened to Sara Miles (see the previous posting) is by seeing that as an example of grace. Some of you will be interested to know, and others will be put off to know, that Sara is a lesbian with a “bastard” child (her word, on p. 175 of Take This Bread, and used literally rather than figuratively as Campbell did). It was because of her “radical conversion” that she started a highly successful “food pantry” at her church. It was also a few years later that she and her partner were legally married (partly at the insistence of her daughter Katie) when that was possible in California.

Sara Miles didn’t write much about grace in Take This Bread, but what happened to her can’t really be explained in any other way. In her latest book, Jesus Freak (2010), which I have yet to read, she says more about grace, referring to “God’s radical grace” in the first chapter (p. 11). It is that grace that makes Christianity good news. It is failure to affirm grace that often causes us Christians to seem judgmental, unaccepting, and unattractive to many non-Christians.

I am now more than halfway through writing the first draft of my next book Thirty True Things Every Christian Needs to Know Now. At this point, I am still planning for the title of the thirtieth chapter to be “The Last Word is Always Grace.” That’s truly good news for all of us b…!

Will Campbell and "Providence"

Will Campbell is one of the most colorful persons I have ever met, and I have just finished reading his captivating book, Providence (1992). Campbell, a Baptist minister, activist, and author, was born in Mississippi in 1924. He was the late cartoonist Doug Marlette’s inspiration for the character Will B. Dunn in his comic strip Kudzu.

Campbell is the author of many books, fiction and non-fiction. His autobiographical work, Brother to a Dragonfly, which I enjoyed reading years ago, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1978. And I found Providence to be a fascinating narrative.

The unlikely theme of the nearly 300-page book Providence is the history of one section (one square mile) of land in Holmes County, MS. From the mid-1830s to 1938, that section was called Providence Plantation, and then from 1938 to 1955 it was Providence Cooperative Farm. 

The latter was founded and run by missionary evangelist Sherwood Eddy and Rev. Sam H. Franklin with the goal of helping southern sharecroppers. Providence and another cooperative started earlier were organized around four principles: efficiency in production and economy in finance through the cooperative principle, participation in building a socialized economy of abundance, interracial justice, and realistic religion as a social dynamic.

According to Campbell, there were many problems and faults with the efforts of the leaders of the Cooperative Farm, although they meant well. I was especially interested in the many references to Sam Franklin (1902~94), for he went on to become a Presbyterian missionary to Japan. When I lived in Tokyo (from 1966 to 1968), I was a member of a book study group of which Franklin was a member, and I remember him well.

The first part of the book tells about the years when that part of Mississippi was occupied by the Choctaw Indians and the shameful efforts that drove the Choctaw from the land they had occupied for untold generations. Then Campbell narrates some of the evils of slavery and the mistreatment of those used as possessions by the white plantation owners.

Campbell goes on to describe the situation on that one square mile during the Civil War, during the terrible time of Reconstruction, and during the following half-century of struggles by a series of plantation owners. The last part of the book then tells of Campbell’s own unsuccessful efforts to restore the plantation to the Choctaws.

For all of you who are interested not only in American history but particularly in justice issues, I highly recommend Providence. And if you don’t know much about Will Campbell, or even if you do, I think you will find his story engaging. If you would like to see a brief 2008 interview with Campbell, click here for his thoughts about “Racism and the Church” (a little over two minutes).