James Thigpen’s Trapped in the Body of Jesus: A Review

Prologue

The only reason I know anything about James Alfred Thigpen’s collection of short stories Trapped in the Body of Jesus is that about twenty years ago Alfred and I became good friends. Our wives were faculty members at Hope College (MI) and we shared a bond of being spouse ne’er-do-wells. We socialized regularly and even joined a writing group together.  The day we were introduced, Alfred told me he was from Milledgeville, Georgia and I said, “I’ve heard of Milledgeville—home of Flannery O’Connor.” A sense of relief came over his face and he said in his manner, which was both serious yet light spirited: “When most people hear where I am from, they start making jokes about the state asylum.”  (In the photo, Thigpen reads at O’Connor’s gravesite in October, 1999. Little did we know…)

The Review

No doubt that growing up in town known for being the home of O’Connor and the location of the state’s largest mental hospital would taint any writer, just as my personal recollections of Alfred taint this review. You are forewarned.

In Trapped in the Body of Jesus, James Alfred Thigpen has written three distinct stories that examine the foibles of religion—not as mockery of religion, but revealing the feet of clay of those who inhabit that institution.

The first story, set in the late 50s is “Soapwoman,” which follows the unbaptized 13 year-old Spec Jordan who attends the First Baptist Church and who must wrestle with his family’s pressure for him to be immersed in the watery grave. Moreover, there are the gallons of testosterone that are continually coursing through his body. One Sunday, the dam bursts. Spec’s lust, Mary Lil Soseby, the cute daughter of a lapsed Catholic is scheduled to be baptized.  As he sits in his pew, Spec senses the Soapwoman, an apparition who later appears to Spec as a large black woman wearing a flour sack around her head and a ring of chicken bones around her neck. She turns white boys into bars of lye soap for thinking impure thoughts. “Mister Spec, you been weighed in the balance and found a wantin.’ Daniel 5:27.” says the Soapwoman.  But the Soapwoman in no ordinary specter, as Thigpen writes, “Unlike the devil, limited by God to merely quoting scripture, Soapwoman possessed the capacity for interpretation.” When Spec climbs the rope that controls church bell, which had become knotted  (and must be rung to celebrate Mary Lil’s baptism) Spec is confronted by the Soapwoman directly. Calamity ensues making it a memorable Sunday for the church and Spec.

The second story, “A Bishop of the True Church’ is about the Bishop Orvis Hedgepath, who rejects his rural Mississippi Southern Baptist roots to become a high profile bishop, however, Hedgepath cannot escape his past, nor can his parishioners as he excommunicates many of them on a whim. It is a well-constructed story, where Thigpen, takes advantage of his long affiliation with both the Catholic and Episcopalian churches to give a detailed account of a marriage ceremony that goes completely awry. It is subtly hilarious, but Thigpen makes his point that  the religion of our childhood often goes with us in our adult lives, no matter how much we try to renounce it.

The final story, (which I still remembered after reading earlier drafts 15 years ago) “Division By Zero is Impossible” follows Mullis Pickman to fictitious Fulmen County, Georgia, home of the annual Lightning Festival, where men and women who have been struck by lightning (like Mullis) parade through the streets. It is a bizarre event sponsored and televised by The Disaster Channel, which even provides a dirigible of its’ mascot for the festivities –a scale model of the Hindenburg. In the end of the story, Mullis and other lightning victims share their near death experiences in a group therapy session. This story is not as strong as the other two stories, but it includes gospel song about Jesus as the Master Electrician that is worth the price of admission.  (By the way, Thigpen is also a composer and a freelance music critic for The Washington Post.)   

Epilogue

I know personally that Thigpen has spent years trying to get these stories and others published, but to no avail and as a self-published book Body of Jesus suffers from a few grammatical errors and typos (like a blog). And I’ll admit a title like Trapped in the Body of Jesus, and a dedication to “The Millions of Americans who were not allowed to be born,” are not exactly marketing hooks for attracting a wide readership, but the book deserves the attention of discriminating readers.  (It is available at Authorhouse through Amazon.)

For me, I am relieved to have bound copies of the stories that I read and liked years ago, and a chance to revisit the talent of my good hearted friend. Like Alfred, these are not mean spirited or cynical stories (but the influence of Flannery O’Connor is definitely there), but funny stories that handle the serious topic of organized religion in a humorous, intelligent and respectful way.

Murray Browne lives in Decatur, Georgia and is author of the The Book Shopper: A Life in Review published by Paul Dry Books.