Bearing “The Gospel of Freedom”

2020 ◽  
pp. 255-280
Author(s):  
Richard Lischer
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Social Gospel ◽  
Tactical Planning ◽  
The South ◽  
Baptist Church ◽  
Social Commentary ◽  
Martin Luther King

This chapter focuses on the vehicle of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social gospel: the mass meeting. The mass meeting was born in Montgomery, Alabama, with the December 5, 1955 rally at the Holt Street Baptist Church. From the beginning, the meetings served an indivisibly sacred and civic agenda. At Holt, the throng listened to Bible readings, sang “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and took courage from a sermonic speech by the young Dr. King. The mass meetings held throughout the South also served to solidify a sense of community among participants. The meetings provided a continuous social commentary on fast-breaking events, a forum for information and tactical planning, a school for correction and instruction in nonviolence, a place of praise and encouragement, but, most of all, a way of keeping together.

The Word That Moves: The Preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr

1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lischer
Keyword(s):  
Martin Luther ◽  
The South ◽  
Martin Luther King

“The beautiful thing about Movement preaching was that every sermon presented the possibility of a focused response. Because every sermon was an expression of God's solidarity with the Movement, there was always something its hearers could do, hope, or suffer in harmony with this new Way God had unleashed in the South.”

Baptists against Racism and Ethnic Conflict… Worldwide!

2012 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Denton Lotz
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Ethnic Violence ◽  
Baptist Church ◽  
International Summit ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Prophetic Witness ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
General Secretary

One of the most significant and rewarding experiences for me during my tenure as general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance was to sponsor an International Summit on Baptists against Racism and Ethnic Conflict. This significant summit was held from January 8 – 11, 1999, in the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr.'s home church. At this summit we learned of the tragedy of racism worldwide. We learned that we needed to expand our definition of racism to include ethnic violence. We came as Christians and discovered the power of Christ to bring reconciliation and unity. The latter part of this article will review some of the horrific examples of racism and ethnic conflict worldwide. We will also celebrate the prophetic witness of many Baptist congregations worldwide in fighting against racism and ethnic violence.

Conclusion: The Long Stride Toward Freedom1

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kyle Day
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
American History ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The South ◽  
Postwar America ◽  
Martin Luther King

The conclusion assesses the long term implications of the Southern Manifesto for both the course of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the larger racial dynamic s of Postwar America. Under the circumspect rhetoric of moderation, the Southern Manifesto undermined the efforts of civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to desegregate the South, and empowered southern officials to ignore the Brown decision for years. This conclusion thus places the Southern Manifesto in proper historical perspective and provides a summary of the implications of this event, the greatest episode of antagonistic racial demagoguery in modern American History.

A (Multi-) Story-formed Community: The Bible and Politics at Ebenezer Baptist Church

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristopher Norris ◽  
Sam Speers
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Baptist Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Martin Luther King

This article analyzes the ways multiple formative narratives interact to shape the identity and political practices of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, home of Martin Luther King. We argue that the two key narratives of gospel story in scripture and the church’s particular civil rights legacy form the identity and practice of this community in complicated ways: sometimes they are synthesized, sometimes one narrative is temporally merged into the other, and sometimes they operate as competing narratives, generating a tension. We offer three anecdotes from our original research that illustrate the relationship between these narratives and demonstrate that Ebenezer is a community whose identity and political practices are formed by the overlap and interplay of multiple narratives.

Redeeming the Soul of America

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Dorrien
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The South ◽  
Graduate Degrees ◽  
The North ◽  
Boston University ◽  
Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr. grew up in a black southern clerical family, earned graduate degrees at Crozer Seminary and Boston University School of Theology, and electrified the Montgomery boycott on its first night, becoming a movement leader. His training, temperament, and brilliance enabled him to catalyze and hold together the historic, institutional, mostly secular civil rights movement in the North and the fledgling, dramatic, mostly church-based movement in the South.

Moral Politics and the Soul of the World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Dorrien
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Social Gospel ◽  
Moral Politics ◽  
Howard University ◽  
The World ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
Howard Thurman

Benjamin E. Mays and Howard Thurman differently exemplified the black social gospel as theologians, lecture circuit speakers, and academics. In their early careers they formed a social gospel trio with Mordecai Johnson at Howard University. Later they influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Mays was an educator, theologian, and activist in the Johnson mode, while the later Thurman gave himself to mystical theology and ecumenical ministry.

scholarly journals Beyond the Second Reconstruction: C. Vann Woodward’s Concept of the Third Reconstruction in the South

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 105-130
Author(s):  
Hanes Walton ◽  
Josephine A.V. Allen ◽  
Sherman C. Puckett ◽  
Donald R. Deskins
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Southern History ◽  
The South ◽  
The Third ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
Second Reconstruction

Best known for the innovative historical and analytical concept of the “Second Reconstruction,” Professor C. Vann Woodward is much less known for his other related and linked concept the “Third Reconstruction.” Moreover, this latter concept is clearly not as well understood, described, and explained, as was the initial one. Yet, it exists. Professor Woodward in the updated third edition of his classic, The Burden of Southern History (which came out initially in 1968, 1991, 1993, and 2008 with an added Postscript in April of 1968 after the assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King), discusses the “Third Reconstruction” in Chapter Eight entitled: “What Happened to the Civil Rights Movement” (Woodward 2008, 186).

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