I'll just read this aloud so it'll be on my tape. "My first knowledge of
Charles M. Jones was in 1952 when, as a teenager of thirteen, I became
fascinated with the newspaper accounts of the controversy in Chapel
Hill. I did not understand the complexity of the situation but generally
believed, along with most of my friends and my local minister, that
Charles Jones was a heretic and was getting his just reward.
I lost interest in the controversy because it was concluded and assumed
that Jones was eventually tried for heresy and conflicted. Such an
impression for a thirteen year old can be excused, but the same
impression was also held by numerous people who should have known
better. My interest in the Jones controversy was rekindled by Professor
Paul M. Gaston of the faculty of the University of
Virginia when he asked me to consider writing an account of it. Since
the initial inquiry for material about the case, I've traveled several
thousand miles, interviewed many of the principles, including Jones, and
have discovered that the controversy is still very much alive in the
minds of many people. I also found that there still exists much
confusion as to what actually took place twenty years ago in Chapel
Hill. This study is an attempt to unravel the confusion which still
surrounds the controversy between the Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church,
Orange Presbytery, and Charles Jones." I need to read that, [the thesis]
I think.