Martin Luther King Jr. and the Politics of Jesus
Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : January 21, 2008
…Martin Luther King Jr’s comment that 11 o’clock is the most segregated hour in America is not only a true sociological observation, but it is also a deeply disturbing theological assessment of a Church that has long given up on the challenge to embody an alternative imagination…Martin Luther King Jr’s observation reflects a more global phenomenon of a Christianity that has become comfortable–too much at home–within the dominant cultures of our time.
From Greeting: Beyond Racial Reconciliation, by Emmanuel Katongolf (p 80 of the Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics)
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King depersonalized the target of the nonviolent resister’s attack. The opponent is a symbol of a greater evil. Nonviolence is to be directed against the forces of evil rather than against the persons who commit the evil. Evildoers are victims of evil as much as are the individuals and communities that the evildoers oppress.
From p.115 of Bonhoeffer and King: Speaking Truth to Power by J. Deotis Roberts
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What King also knew was that America is a society at least partially constituted by some people whose forebears were once slaves aby by other people whose forebears owned slaves. He knew that black people bore a history of discrimination in the name of race. He knew that white people did not think they were racist. He sought to mitigate the most obvious injustices of those histories. But he also knew that such mitigations were not sufficient. The issue finally was not justice, but memory. The crucial question remains whether Americans can ever acknowledge what it means to be a slave nation. That is what Martin Luther King Jr never forgot and what we who would follow him must remember.
From Remembering Martin Luther King Jr by Stanley Hauerwas in the Journal of Religious Ethics, 1995
I’m convinced that, before Dr. King can be heralded as an American civil rights hero, he must first be heralded as a servant in the church. His ability to speak to power, love his enemies, and rally his brothers and sisters in Christ grew out of his embeddedness in a community–a Christian community. May we remember his example. And, more importantly, may we do likewise.
Mark Van Steenwyk is the editor of JesusManifesto.com. He is a Mennonite pastor (Missio Dei in Minneapolis), writer, speaker, and grassroots educator. He lives in South Minneapolis with his wife (Amy), son (Jonas) and some of their friends.
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Anchored in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis, Missio Dei is committed to following Jesus' way of peace, simplicity, prayer, and hospitality.
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