Just finished reading Will Campbell: Radical Prophet of the South, by Merrill M. Hawkins, Jr. This is Hawkin's PhD dissertation, written for Baylor University, and published 1997 by Mercer University Press.It is part biography and part historical and theological exposition. It has the academic style and flavor, but also the thorough documentation and critical analysis of its genre.
It was very helpful to me in the aftermath of Campbell's death to have an overview of his life and writings. I had read his books over the years but never put them all together in a coherent story. I had also, like many people, admired Campbell while being puzzled by him. Many of us Baptists ministers sat at his feet in rapt fascination while he criticized our churches and our schools, in fact the whole culture in which we are wrapped up. Few had the courage to do as he did and stand as a prophet and an activist against it all.
Hawkins helps make sense of it all and offer some analysis of Campbell's limitations as well as his greatness. The book is especially helpful for giving Campbell's unique perspective on race relations in the South, an approach that reaches out to poor whites as well as African Americans. I have a criticism to offer about the editing, or the lack of it. There are numerous errors of composition and printing that prove to be more and more distracting as you read through it. They must have been having a bad year at Mercer Press back then.
Information or Formation?
2 days ago
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