Who Is Martin Luther King Social Justice

What is a Beloved Community? The term first originates from use in the early twentieth century, coined by Philosopher-Theologian Josiah Royce. The Term has, however, just recently received much attention due to great civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. To the King, A Beloved Community was a “ Critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence”. It is an idea meant to be “a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth”. Martin Luther King Junior aimed to end three main “Evils”. These Evils are modernly known as: Poverty, Racism, and Militarism. However as utopian as the idea may sound, the king acknowledged that there would always be inevitable conflict in

Many aspects of social justice can be found in the Bible. Jesus partakes in many actions that would fall under social justice. He fed the hungry, stood up for women’s rights and welcomed the outcasts who were hated. Through history, there are very few people that stood up for equality and against oppression. One such person would be Martin Luther King, Jr. who based a lot of his work on the bible and the religious figures that are described in it.

“America needs to end racial injustice and make justice a reality for God’s children”(Martin Luther King Jr., 3).

Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who seldom cared what other people thought about him, lived in the moment. In doing so, He became furious over the amount of injustice. This essay shows King’s fury over injustice through the use of rhetorical appeals through ethos, logos, and pathos.

On April 12, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. composed one of his most famous letters in a Birmingham jail addressing eight prominent Alabama clergymen. This letter known as The Letter from Birmingham Jail has become one of the most important works in the fields of theology and ethics since its composition. In the following essay, I will attempt to provide a brief illustration of the intellectual landscape that King developed over his short life as well as touch major influential experiences that contributed to King’s ethical and theological developments as seen within this prolific letter. This endeavor is not only to satisfy my own curiosity, but more importantly begin to peer more deeply into this legendary prophet in the hopes that I may be able to apply his own theological understandings the context in which we live.

In both Mesopotamia circa 2100 BCE and Israel circa 367 CE, two very different forms of religion were being practiced. However, key concepts in both religions remain strikingly similar, and in some cases, nearly identical. The relationship between people and their deities is a strong one based entirely on literature, whether that be oral or written. And while this relationship is characterized mainly by love and admiration, fear of and punishment by deities was not an uncommon practice in any religion. The Epic Of Gilgamesh and The David Story both work to prove that the relationship between a people and the divine is characterized by both love for and fear of deities. This relationship based on love and fear directly impacts both the decisions made with the guidance of deities and the punishments inflicted for decisions made without approval of these deities.

Evolutions of civilizations can occur because of differences in people’s religion, culture, or geographic setting of the settlement. The relationship between the world of the gods and that of men was perceived differently by the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrew ancient civilizations. This is demonstrated by the way each group viewed the process of creation. They had different thoughts on the creation of their gods, the universe and of man. This essay will discuss the relationship between humans and their gods in three different ancient civilizations: Sumerian, Egyptian and Hebrew.

In his correspondence to his fellow clergymen entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King, a promoter of peace and brotherhood, analyzes his act of non-violent resistance to clarify the necessitate of producing creative tension. King begins by elucidating the differences between just and unjust laws. According to King, unjust laws are human laws that are not harmonized with the natural laws of God that cause the degradation of personality and damage the soul. According to this ideology, King states that when injustice occurs there is a correct approach to civil disobedience. First, King expects one to collect information regarding the immoral implication of law with the intent of proving injustice. This requires one to be able to distinguish between the laws of man and the laws of good, the immoral laws and moral laws, the unjust laws and just laws. Next, negotiation is used to establish an understanding of the endured injustice; however, this purpose is not to humiliate or defeat the adversary, but to promote friendship through a form of selfless and spiritual love known as agape. As Martin Luther King Jr. points out, “It is an overflowing love which seeks noting in return. And when you come to love on this level you begin to love men not because they are likeable, not because they do things that attract us, but because God loves them and here we love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does” (“Non-violence” 2).

Martin Luther King’s adherence towards peace and especially social justice is clearly shown in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In this letter King writes with passion and conviction. Through this suggestive yet powerful letter Martin Luther King uses various rhetorical devices to get his point across by saying “justice too long delayed, is justice denied.” Through the clergymen’s arguments and use of ethos, pathos, and logos, he demonstrates to them that they need to take action immediately.

2 values that Martin Luther king Jr felt that worth giving his life for were freedom and faith. Martin Luther king, Jr was arrested and sent to jail in Birmingham because he protested treatment of blacks against political demonstrations. He then published a letter in a newspaper declaring demonstrations for justice with his faith. He wrote that everyone has a right to break unjust laws and encouraged people to confront issues and put into practice rather than watching it from far away. He explained every details the reason of what he is doing and why he does this movement. He also focused on “nonviolent direct action” not “direct action”. He did not want people to fight each other violently based on Matthew 5:38-39 “you have heard that it

Unlike DiAngelo’s White Privilege essay, a group of religious authorities under the umbrella of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. wrote a response letter to Dr. Reverend King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” First quoting a portion of Dr. King’s letter then responding to the quote, the group takes a Biblical stance on the racial issues that continue to preside in modern day American culture. Beginning the essay, the group differentiates between merely acting upon the symptoms of racism. “... (a) superficial kind of social analysis…” and discovering and fixing the root of the racial. By investigating the racial issues at hand and striving towards Dr. King’s dream of a community of equal opportunities for all races, then the conversation of racial inequality can begin. Realizing that fostering a multiracial community centered around radical love that forsakes “safety of our social order,” we, as the Christian body need to develop a society that eliminates the social prejudices currently penetrate into every aspect of

The governing legal, moral and religious codes of ancient civilizations were written and enforced by a minority that exercised power and authority over the majority. This minority consisted of priests, rulers and elites with established power and influence in society. In these codes of early civilizations, there was an overarching emphasis on maintenance of structure and order in society. Simply put, while these codes reflect the conditions, needs and values of the times in which they were formulated, they also unveil the authors’ agendas to preserve their power by maintaining the status quo. Therefore, these codes acknowledge and uphold the prevailing social, gender and racial inequalities as natural conditions of human existence and reveal the manifold biases present in early civilizations.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a protester and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, greatly known for his use of nonviolent forms of demonstration. On a specific occasion, King was arrested for leading a peaceful protest as part of the Birmingham Campaign, which attempted to bring national awareness to the gruesome treatment endured by blacks. While in jail, King replies to the clergyman’s remarks of him being a foreign agitator in his “Letter from a Birmingham jail,” passionately defending the actions he took. The clergymen accused King of being an extremist, as they saw his relentless protesting and civil disobedience as a threat to a stable political and social system. In paragraphs 27-32, King attempts to persuade the

In the pursuit of social justice and civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael, sought to amend a flawed system. To accomplish this task, these men entered the armory and chose to wield nonviolence as their weapon. Their goal: to combat violence with nonviolence, to fight hate with love, and to spread equality through peace. In the end they succeeded. Violence breeds violence, hate breeds hate, it is an ineffective approach and an archaic mean to resolving societies issues. Malcolm X and Carmichael were both extreme individuals but that does not make them violent. They attacked social justice and civil rights passionately and assertively, not violently. The methods used

Protecting the rights and dignity of the poor and oppressed is the most important moral duty of the church.’ Critically evaluate this statement with reference to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King.