Before I post my final quotation from Martin Luther King, Jr., I wanted to state my intention with this small project. Before seminary, I was like many Americans in that I admired King a great deal, but did not realize how little I knew about his life or work. I heard the really famous bits of “I Have a Dream” numerous times and read the oft-cited excerpts of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” I was not aware of just how deep and challenging his thought was. When we only hear the famous sound bites, we get a reduced picture of King and his work. When we reduce him, he becomes easily co-opted by just about anyone. In contrast to the two-dimensional Kings we see in popular culture, the real King wouldnt sit well in any single political or theological camp. Such is the reality of prophets. King was perhaps the greatest theologian to come from America. When we encounter his work in fuller context, we see a man whose thought was deeply rooted in the Christian tradition, in particular the tradition of the African-American Church. He sought after a robust vision of justice and human flourishing. Read King’s works unabridged and you will be challenged. You will be uncomfortable. You will be called to think and act more deeply. All the quotations come from “Strength to Love,” a collection of King’s sermons. When I read this short book in graduate school I marveled at King’s first-rate and deeply theological mind. In giving numerous quotations, I hoped to show not only that he had broad-ranging concerns, but also he was able to integrate these concerns into a cohesive whole. He sought to bring his deep faith in Jesus Christ to bear on matters of racial reconciliation, democracy, economic justice, violence, revolution, and international conflict. And while the sermons in “Strength to Love” cover a myriad of topics, they are only one small collection of his works. King is a man whose life and writings reward many hours of study and contemplation. It’s been really rewarding to catalog these quotations today. (Also, it’s been fascinating to see which quotations received the most likes and shares.)
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 02:49:54 +0000
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