Main Themes of Martin Luther King Jrs Theology - Essay Example

Main themes of Martin Luther King Jr’s Theology and their Influence to the Church as a “voice of conscience” in the society today Name: Course: Professor: Institution: 17/11/2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American of African descent born in a prominent family of Atlanta Baptist ministers. King might have emulated his father and others along his family line. This set clear suggestions why he ended up as a remarkable theologian and a pretty vocal preacher of the black church, an aspect that laid foundations for the so-called black theology (Livingston, et al., 1999). King’s theology was tailored as per the circumstances his flock was subjected to especially at a time when racism was the order of the day. Luther’s theology focused on the themes of justice, love, leadership and hope, all centered in the black churchs faith in Jesus Christ (Cone, 2010). Other than the colored church traditions, King sought from other intellectual sources to back up his noble course of liberating his people from oppression. National and international public figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Thoreau inspired him with their individual philosophies. He borrowed the nonaggressive protest tradition that the two advocated. He also gave secular interactionism a chance, alongside protestant liberalism in an attempt to have in place a harmonized approach of theology amid struggle for equality. It’s apparent that the key hindrance to Martin King talented theologian is the narrow, shallow, elitist, and racist definition of theology. These flaws restricts its methods and subject matter to problems and issues that other races tend to identify. King at all times steered from the front. He passionately sought to transform all the forms of oppression in his society. He aspired to establish a fair and a nondiscriminatory society. Thus, it is possible to analyze his involvement with such events as the famous successful Montgomery bus boycott (1953-56). In addition to the defeat in Albany (1961), the Birmingham demonstrations(1963), the Sejma March for goring rights (1965) and his encounter with racism in Chicago (1966). Moreover, Kings had dialogue with black power advocates during and after the Meredith Mississippi March (1966). He arranged the preparation for Poor Peoples March on Washington (1967), had a stand against the Vietnam War (1967-68), and had his last march with garbage workers in Memphis (1968). Martin King was keen not to restrict his theological pursuit to the afflictions of one minority group. As much as his initial drive was motivated by the oppression of the black, his theological vision was diverse and in fact, universal. He targeted the entire humanity as he thought of the brown Vietnamese children and the American whites who he believed were victims of oppression as they assumed the position of oppressors of the black folks. In his essay entitled, "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence," we see clearly in many of the major emphases of his theology. He focused on optimism in regard to human nature, accent on the beloved community and love as the key central meaning of the gospel. In addition, he demonstrated the "unique God-consciousness of Jesus’, the value of human personality and ethical activity as a necessary corollary of the Christian faith. Moreover, King had immence love for Gods imminent presence in the world — all of these ideas are prominently present in liberal Protestant thought. King integrated these aspects in his theology. With so many external influences on his choices, decisions and philosophies, King’s interpretation of love was more reliant on Mahatma’s nonviolent direct approach to situations. Thoreau’s perspective of civil disobedience came in handy for the many circumstances that fell upon King’s people. He felt it was Jesus like to engage in nonviolent approaches to situations. He insisted that suffering that came with no reward was redemptive, a theme that happened to be dominant in his theology alongside love and others. He felt the need to love their oppressors rather than hate them in the event of extended injustices like bombing of their houses. The blacks, in fact, would work to match their oppressors’ capacity to inflict suffering from their capacity to endure that suffering. Practically, the idea of nonviolent direct action to oppression would never be popular with the blacks as it would have made sense with the white oppressors. In fact, a black scholar, Kenneth Clark, felt that such aspects in King’s theology would damage black personality psychologically. Justice, love, and hope are evidently central themes in King’s theology. The desire for justice aspired the black people to establish their independent churches. Their quest for love in human relations held back such attitudes as vengeance and violence (King, 2010). They held on Christ’s logical hope that never disappoints and were able to carry on even when justice seemed out of reach. Martin King intently pondered the core values of the black religious tradition in his heart so that they were ever evident in his words. He felt like a man of so many responsibilities and titles, as one moment he would be a clergyman, the next moment a trouble maker, a civil right leader and then again an agitator (Morris, 1986). In spite of all these, he vocally declared the church as his life and had given his life to the church. Kings service as a pastor of Dexter and Ebenezer Baptist church and presidency of SCLC provided him with a good context to develop distinctive and clear cut ideas on love, hope and justice (Fairclough, 2001). It’s easy to appreciate his theology from the vantage perspective of his that he was God chosen to lead the blacks, a people who had the noble calling to redeem the soul of America. King was keen to base his entire theology on the bible as the source, with love being the dominant theme. ‘Justice and hope were construed to mean the light of love’ (Cone, 2000). When injustices seemed to fall out of hand and whites support for justice openly absent, King drew inspiration from the faith of the black church. He emphasis on Christ’s eschatological assurance to transform dark yesterdays into bright better tomorrows. This idea of faith provided King with political and religious sources for putting across his views and ideas to the black community. With the white racists in charge of sociopolitical power, many blacks were rendered helpless by the fear of losses that would come with their reaction to the oppression. The blacks were bothered by their capacity to challenge the whites and their spiritual ability to carry them through that particular challenge. Moreover, some blacks were not convinced that being integrated into the white society was the best and appropriate objective of the civil rights movement (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008). They were not even sure whether the nonviolent approach to all situations would help achieve that objective as much as all this was backed up by the philosophy of Frederick Douglas and NAACP. It was the blacks’ faith that inspired them to keep keeping on believing that eventually the goal of justice would become a reality. King noticed that the civil rights movement did not solve the afflictions of the poor in the society, and the federal government was not equally motivated to fight poverty as it was to fighting the Vietnamese. The moderates were not even keen to establish equal opportunities for all in the North. Instead, they pursued to legislate segregation in the southern part of the country. This prompted King to focus more on the theme of hope in his theology. His idea of hope was founded completely on the bible. He molded it from the suffering and setbacks that came with fighting injustices in such places as Chicago, while negotiating with black power advocates and in voicing his opinion on Vietnam War. Love and justice were ever placed in context even when justice seemed more of a fairy tale (Rauschenbusch, 1996). It is paramount to identify its three stages that were tied around love, justice and hope to appreciate the character of Kings theological progress. In his reluctant participation as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, he wasn’t for the idea of nonviolent action or a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, he sought permit to have a gun with increased violence from the white, a move that was rejected by the police department. His involvement in the boycott was solely in pursuit of justice as put across by the prophets before Jesus and Jesus himself. Reflection on the preparation of his first major speech at Holt street Baptist church, (December 5, 1955), King confesses he was cut between having a speech that would be militant enough to keep the black people aroused to positive action. Moreover, he endeared to deliver a moderate sermon to keep his fever within controllable and Christian bounds. King felt that right to protest was an inherent part of American Democracy (King-Jr, 2010). He illuminated the injustices that had befell the black people and was in a position to articulate the balance between active protest and appropriate moderation with the passion and rhythm so typical of the ever best in the tradition of the black church. King’s speeches like the “Stride Towards Freedom”, are keen to urge his people to love their enemies. He reveal his desire to engrave everything around love as much as there were more open options of fighting for justice. Martin king’s involvement in social protests had his idea of love emerge as the central theme of his theology. He would further appeal for white support hoping that this would ease the blacks from oppression (King-Jr, 2010). He applied love as a modifier for justice in an attempt to eradicate shreds of violence from both the blacks and the whites. Any digression from justice to love could be attributed to advisors who dealt with his written work. Other factors that would have led to this would be King’s concern on the dangers of violence that would come with aggressive pursuit of justice. Looking back at the first days of the protest, the words on the use were more based on Christian love and reflected on unity that would be realized without having to force things to happen by violence (Paris, 1991). The blacks were stirred to engage in noble social protest by the Sermon on the Mount pretty than a dogma of unreceptive resistance. They were inspired by Jesus to engage in dissent with the inspired defense of love. It is pretty clear that King was worried about the human soul and the all-inclusive well-being of persons. The tendency to deal with sacred and secular challenges in his theology had King move to a whole new level as civil rights leader and a theologian. With the influence from other theologians and black church tradition, King shaped up theology as a whole and gave it a new face. It is irrefutable that King’s theology is relevant to the church today as the “voice of conscience”. To begin with, King ushered the black church to the public arena, laying a foundation that has seen it thrive till today. This church played a vital role for social, economic and political endurance of the African American. It stretched to more individuals than NAACP. It had the capacity to react to Rosa Parks’ case of racial profiling at the Montgomery bus affair. The church would provide a meeting place for large groups of people who provided human and social resources. Kings theology lived on as they integrated with unity and love. This is a common aspect in church today as it has always shared its opinion on moral issues in the society. Their call for justice for the oppressed is common phenomenal today. The less fortunate in the society are defended by the church. The rights of the less abled are fought for by the church. The church stands in the gap especially when there is a need to reach out to those in power. Kings theology lives on as we see volunteers in the church to fight for others rights even though are an act that that comes with consequences. Martin King idea of leadership has been a beacon to look up to for many churches today. His administrative skills were clear to see when he established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in order to see that the guard of the church was in good shape. The leaders involved had many responsibilities in the society, and this continues till today. The black church in United States, for instance, is called upon to help deliberate many noble causes around the world. The clergy, who represent the black denominations are invited in presidential conferences and board meetings, are assigned administrative positions and run economic development programs within the society. Its evident King did well to establish a church that is credible and visible to serve as a voice of conscience nationally and internationally. The elevation of the black Christian clergy that came with King has lived. Leaders that were recognized nationally and inter internationally were born from King’s Civil Rights movement. King’s eloquence and education had him emulated by another clergy that felt the need to seek seminary education and thus served better as ministers of the church. The church has thus been always informed and can make rational and well placed decisions in the society. It is apparent that there are still traces of racism in the world today even in United States. The recent shooting of Michael Brown, an African American in Ferguson Missouri in United States has been attributed to racism. King was keen to revitalize the philosophy of Rauschenbusch to raise the consciousness of whites around the entire planet to the racism that was deep rooted in the American society. Rauschenbusch felt that the social gospel seeks to put the democratic spirit; an aspect inherited from Jesus and prophets, into the control and running of the institutions and teachings of the church (Rauschenbusch, 1945). King borrowed from such theology to dialog and negotiated on behalf of the less fortunate and oppressed citizens of the south an aspect that has lived on till today. The church today seeks from King’s diverse theology in dealing with such challenges in the society. While we have violence in such nations like Syria and even Ukraine, the church has tried to propagate a nonviolent approach to all this to minimize incidences of loss of life and property. This is a feature that Martin King made popular as he exercised his theology. He led this struggle in an attempt to restate hope into the lives of those who had lost hope. He had that sole intention of eradicating evil that came in the form of racism and oppression of the voiceless, through a cohesive form of theology of Christ’s love structured on a future hope and glory. The gospel of Christ restated hope in the black people at a time when slavery had them against the walls. King’s message of hope and peace lives with us today in the entire universe. King was inspired by his deep trust in God. Pretty significantly, Martin saw himself as a called servant. AS he sought admission in Crozer Theological Seminary, he suggested in his writing that his call was pretty different from the many explanations others had shared with him. His urge to serve the society felt inescapable, a responsibility he would never run away from (Clayborn, 1994). He sort of gives an insight about his future service in which his theology would promote the social gospel in a manner that would be different from that of his spiritual ancestors who had struggled to have in place independent churches or fight back against slavery. Like other Baptist leaders, his social agenda was to uplift the African Americans from the bondage of slavery. He contends with his forebear who had been rooted in the civil strife of the African American church. Laying his foundations in the black church tradition helped him to navigate through his church as a servant and a pastor in various part of the country where he was ever vocal against racism and Vietnam War. In his writing, he suggests that he would yet have to live with the meaning of his commitment to the ministry of Christ Jesus. To him, his ministry was centered on peace that he would find it marvelous when asked why he was against the war (King, 1964). He felt the war would deprive the nation economically as funds involved would be channeled to handle the challenges at home that ranged from poverty, racism and oppressions of all kinds. The tendency of America’s failure to look at itself as a sinful and evil nation left King wiith no choice but to act and raise his voice. He called American to sense and utter reality that they were obliged to do right and extend citizenship to black Americans equality as stipulated in the constitution and in the holy scriptures. This King’s attitude and theology have been a common aspect in the church today. The church has sought equality for the underprivileged in the society. It has condemned wars and other evils across all borders an aspect that Martin King initiated (Franklin, 1997). Having a look at the nature of the gospel today, we would be rattled by Martin King’s reaction if he were alive today. King had a strong believe that God’s gospel included all human kind regardless of race, origin, social class and other aspects. Today’s gospel is more modern and has digressed from the real word of the living God. King would be totally agitated to find how this holy word has been commercialized. As much as black Americans were liberated, his dream was to see the word of God remain real eternally. When the church today claims money as the source of all evils, it’s always borrowing for money from the back window. Ministers are greedy and shameless enough to seek payment for prayers that were meant to be free and a source of hope to the poor. King’s theology was about liberation of the poor. Stealing from them would mock his teachings that he shared in sweat, blood and in fact, traded his life for their liberation. This is a clear indication that the church is yet to assume the “voice of conscience” in the society. As such, we identify the gap the King’s theology would have to fill today. The church has neglected the issues of sexuality, progress in racial relations, HIV /Aids, gap between the poor and the rich, gender equality, world wars and leadership in the society. There is a need to react fast as the society has completely lost direction. King’s theology should be carried on by the church to address the challenges in the society. References Clayborne C., 1994. "Martin Luther King, Jr. and the African American Social Gospel," African American Christianity: Essays in History, ed. Paul E. Johnson. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cone, J. H., 2000. Risks of Faith: The Emergence of a Black Theology of Liberation, 1968-1998. Boston: Beacon Press. Cone, J. H., 2010. A Black Theology of Liberation. New York: Orbis Books. Fairclough, A., 2001. To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Franklin, R. M., 1997. Another Days Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis. New York: Fortress Press. Haralambos, M. & Holborn, M., 2008. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. New York: Collins. King-Jr, M. L., 2010. The Trumpet of Conscience. New York: Beacon Press. King, M. L., 1964. A Martin Luther King Treasury. New York: Educational Heritage. King, M. L., 2010. Strength to Love. New York: Augsburg Fortress. Livingston, J. C., Fiorenza, F. S., Coakley, S. & Evans, J. H., 1999. Modern Christian Thought, Volume II: The Twentieth Century. New York: Prentice Hall. Morris, A. D., 1986. Origins of the Civil Rights Movements. New York: Simon and Schuster. Paris, P. J., 1991. Black Religious Leaders: Conflict in Unity. New York: Westminster John Knox Press. Rauschenbusch, W., 1996. A Theology for the Social Gospel. New York: Wipf and Stock Publishers. Read More