I am reading again. (For those friends making suggestions I haven't forgotten you, I just haven't been to a library lately.) I have a few books left in my house I still need to read and one of them is Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is arguably the most influential works by an American writer in the 19th century and was written by a woman who had never written a book before. I have just read a few chapters.
Early on we see a small worship service in the negro's home on the plantation property. The son of the landowner reads the scripture and they all sing and pray together. A few things about her description of this scene have caught my attention.
1. They use the same Bible some churches still use today, the KJV. This impresses me because the language in the book, even though it was published in the 1850s, is not that different from our own. Surely the KJV was as difficult for them to understand as it is today, but it was all they had. Still, it is incredible to think that I can dust the the exact same book off my shelf that was read and inspired the world so long ago. The slaves and slave owners both read the same book and followed the same Jesus that I follow.
2. They sang some of the same songs we sing today. In their service Stowe describes them singing a song that I believe is On Jordan's Stormy Bank. This song was recently covered by Jars of Clay on their Songs of Redemption album. I didn't have to imagine this quaint group singing, I could hear it. It is unreal to me that the same book and the same song they used could be heard in some churches today. From a marketing standpoint that might be repulsive, but historically and culturally it is beautiful.
3. They worship the same as we do today. To hear her describe what went on there you'd think you were in a pentecostal church. This book, written over 50 years before the legendary Azuza street revival that kicked off the pentecostal movement, perfectly captures every practice pentecostals are know for, except speaking in tongues. I have heard it said that Pentecostalism is noting more than negro religion taken up by the white man. I can see why they might say that. From the singing to the praying and the shouting and the enthusiasm, a remarkable parallel.
Stowe is thoroughly descriptive and sensitive to the slave's plight. The work is gripping because it is real and yet so unbelievable. Her foreshadowing in these first few chapters makes me scared to read on.