The Sermons of Martin Luther King

In Strength to Love, we are treated to the sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, within his religious sermons King often has harsh words of criticism for Christianity's and the Catholic Churches historical support of prejudice and racism. King's main premise is that all human beings are tied together in an inextricable web of "mutuality." Because of this, King underscores his foundation of theology and action, nonviolence. King also maintains that the most difficult command of Jesus' to obey is top love one's enemy. Yet King argues there is a significant reason why we must do so. This analysis will review King's book, including comparing and contrasting it to the ideas and theories offered by James M. Cone in A Black Theology of Liberation.

In Strength to Love, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermons are provided, ones that range in topic from communism and the life of Jesus to nonviolence and the interconnection of the human community. The style of the book is to present the different sermons and principles of King's theology and philosophy through fifteen chapters. A forward is provided by King's daughter, Coretta Scott King. King (p. 23) maintains that individuals often think of themselves as riding a moral high horse, when Jesus said "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." In other words, King is preaching that no human being ever becomes all-righteous because the highest morality of God is just beyond the full

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