Sermon on the Mount is not a book to admire from a safe distance -- it's a book that won't let you stay comfortable. With his trademark blend of biblical insight, Southern storytelling, humor, and plainspoken courage, Clarence Jordan brings Jesus' most challenging words down to the red clay of everyday life. Here, the Beatitudes aren't embroidered on pillows -- they're lived out in fields, kitchens, courtrooms, and neighborhoods. As sharp and necessary now as ever, this classic invites readers to imagine what might happen if we dared to take Jesus at his word and make his teachings real.
Jordan earned an undergraduate degree in agriculture and a PhD in New Testament Greek. In 1942, he and his wife, Florence, along with Martin and Mabel England, founded Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia -- an intentional Christian community committed to living a life rooted in the Sermon on the Mount. Out of that Christian experiment came not only this bracing reflection on Jesus' teachings, but also ministries whose influence continues to ripple outward. Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Partners, the Fuller Center for Housing, and many more were all born from the soil of this little farm halfway between Americus and Plains.
Jordan's words remain as hopeful and unsettling as ever -- an invitation to take Jesus, what he said and how he lived, seriously and to imagine what becomes possible when we do. More than eight decades later, Koinonia still welcomes guests, grows food, practices hospitality, and strives to carry on Jordan's vision and Jesus' call.
