THE GREAT AMERICAN CONTRADICTION

JOHNNY CASH AND THE GREAT AMERICAN CONTRADICTION
By Rodney Clapp
ISBN-13: 978-0-664-23088-3

One might be led by its title that this book is about Johnny Cash. Such is not the case. This book is (as the author describes it) a “Christian cultural criticism.” In my opinion it is an excellent critique.

Johnny Cash then enters the book as both an example of the contradictions of American culture and the Christian faith, and of prime importance to the author, an example of how those contradictions might be bridged.

The foundation for the most problematic aspect of the book is laid in the first chapter, which serves as an introduction to the problems created by the five contradictions that Clapp will name later. In chapter one Clapp presents a strong argument for the influence that southern culture has had on broader American culture, especially politics and religion. I do not argue with any of the points made by Clapp, but I suggest that some small amount of what Clapp says may be considered pejorative of the south and southern culture. In particular I point chapter 6, “Violence and Peace,” especially pages 112 and 113, where Clapp discuss the “code duello” and the level of homicides in southern states. Violence and guns are often equated with the south, and there is likely significant statistical evidence to the connection (Clapp even offers some), so I do not argue with Clapp but I do suggest a need for sensitivity regarding the subject if one intends to use the book in some public manner.

The great aspect of Clapp’s book is not just that it critiques American culture, but that it points to a way through the wilderness.

The five contradictions illumined by Clapp are: Lonesomeness and Community, Holiness and Hedonism, Tradition and Progress, Guilt and Innocence, and Violence and Peace. Clapp’s writing is at its best in chapter 3, “Holiness and Hedonism,” when he confronts idolatry: “Because idolatry is the most destructive of sinful conditions, the greatest danger to the faithfulness of the American church comes not from without but from within” (p. 60). Truly, idolatry is a subject many pastors have recognized in recent years, and Clapp gives us some fuel for our thoughts on the subject.

Clapp is most insightful with respect to the contradiction between Lonesomeness and Community. He identifies loneliness as a byproduct of our American desire for individual freedom. In fact, freedom becomes an idolatry that leads to diminishment of our created nature. Here, Clapp is at his best in praising country music, for “Unlike so much about our national culture and politics, it admits the inevitability of suffering and the tragic, and acknowledges the creaturely limitations no mortal can escape” (p. 26).

The practical nature of Clapp’s books reaches its zenith in the same chapter, when Clapp urges a “democracy for grownups” and lists six virtues already found within our traditions that a mature democracy can be built upon. They are: hard work, productive work & citizenship, plain living & simple pleasures, honor & integrity, fortitude & survival with dignity, and democracy itself. The virtues are listed on pages 38 and 39, and are elaborated on in sufficient manner.

The final chapter lifts up baptism as entry into a particular kind of public, the people of God. Throughout the book Clapp offered sharp critiques of the Religious Right, and fewer but no-less sharp critiques of the secular Left. Clapp argues that patriotism is both natural and permissible, but must ultimately be submissive to citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

There is much to benefit the pastor who reads this book, as fuel for prophetic thought, as insight into the nature of the church and the meaning of baptism, as assistance in addressing challenging issues, and as guide through the culture wars.

One of my parishioners learned I was reading this book, and went to the mason web site to read a few pages. She described it as “heady,” and it is. Nonetheless, it is not dense and its format, with chapters for five major contradictions, makes it accessible for a group discussion among thoughtful participants.

George R. Pasley