JACKSON, Tenn. — Feb. 26, 2016 — Bob Hamblin, professor emeritus of English at Southeast Missouri State University, will present a one-man show on the life of Clarence Jordan as the Jones Lecture March 3 at Union University.
Jordan was the author of “The Cotton Patch Gospel,” a racial reconciliation advocate before the civil rights movement, a Baptist theologian, founder of the Christian community at Koinonia Farms and a key figure in the founding of Habitat for Humanity.
The Jones Lecture Series at Union was established with an estate gift. The university is reviving the long-running series this year after a seven-year hiatus. Hamblin was the speaker for the Jones Lecture Series previously, during the 1997-98 academic year. A native of Mississippi, he taught at SEMO for 50 years and was the founding director for the school’s Center for Faulkner Studies.
Hamblin holds undergraduate degrees from Northeast Mississippi Community College and Delta State University and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Mississippi. He has directed seminars and workshops for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Missouri Humanities Council, and he has taught and lectured in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Japan, China, Taiwan, Romania and throughout the United States.
Hamblin is the author or editor of 30 books, including 16 scholarly volumes, six books of poems, three personal memoirs, three biographies and two books on sports. Hamblin first presented “Preacher in Overalls: The Story of Clarence Jordan and Koinonia Farm” in 2006 at First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he and his wife have been members for many years. Since then he has portrayed Jordan for dozens of churches, schools and civic clubs.
The Jones Lecture presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Carl Grant Events Center on the Union campus. It is free and open to the public.