Reconstructing Nonviolence: The Political Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. after Feminism and Womanism

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Karen V. Guth
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Political ◽  
Martin Luther King

„I Have a Dream“

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Werner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Political ◽  
Church Staff ◽  
Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King and East Germany are connected both directly and indirectly. The Communist Party had the power to make public decisions on agenda-setting topics related to Martin Luther King. The Christian Bloc Party mostly represented the state and published books by Martin Luther King, which churches and the civil rights movement liked to use. Moreover, pacifists and civil rights activists used these books to undermine the political system in East Germany. Church institutions reported by far the most on Martin Luther King. This empirical study, which can also act as a basis for further research on Martin Luther King and East Germany, will appeal to both church staff and admirers of Martin Luther King.

A Hero to Be Remembered

2020 ◽  
pp. 113-130
Author(s):  
E. James West
Keyword(s):  
Martin Luther ◽  
Black History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
Martin Luther King

This chapter explores how internal and external tensions influencing Ebony’s depiction of black history fed into the struggle to establish a national holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1970s and 1980s. Against this backdrop, Bennett and other Ebony contributors struggled to negotiate the continued importance of the magazine’s black history content in a changing cultural and political climate. For some, the King Holiday represented an opportunity to reflect on the activist’s legacy as a ‘hero to be remembered.’ For others, it was a chance to reiterate the political application of the black past and its role in the ongoing struggle for black liberation.

scholarly journals Sovereignty and Submission: Luther’s Political Theology and the Violence of Christian Metaphysics

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Timmann Mjaaland
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
The Political ◽  
Basic Difference ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
Hidden God ◽  
Political Scene

The classical controversy between Carl Schmitt and Eric Peterson goes directly to the heart of the matter: What is ‘political theology’ about? Is it a descriptive or normative endeavour, oriented towards history or political influence on contemporary issues? This article explores these questions with reference to Protestant theology, in particular the writings of Martin Luther. Protestant theology has often emphasised the basic difference between the spiritual and political spheres, but I question the validity of this distinction with respect to Luther’s theology. When Luther enters the political scene, an apocalyptic understanding of friend and enemy tends to dominate his thinking. Furthermore, I discuss whether this is compatible with his metaphysical understanding of the ‘hidden God’ in his majesty, and hence, whether a metaphysical violence is deeply embedded in Luther’s theology, possibly even his understanding of ‘justification by faith’. Finally, I suggest a reconsideration of Luther’s political theology based on the questions raised by Schmitt and Peterson.

“Tough Love”: The Political Theology of Civil Disobedience

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 851-866
Author(s):  
Alexander Livingston
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nonviolent Resistance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
Civil Rights History ◽  
Martin Luther King

Love is a key concept in the theory and history of civil disobedience yet it has been purposefully neglected in recent debates in political theory. Through an examination of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s paradoxical notion of “aggressive love,” I offer a critical interpretation of love as a key concept in a vernacular black political theology, and the consequences of love’s displacement by law in liberal theories of civil disobedience. The first section locates the origins of aggressive love in an earlier generation of black theologians who looked to India’s anticolonial struggle to reimagine the dignity of the oppressed as “creative survival.” The second contextualizes King’s early sermons on moral injury and self-respect within this tradition to reinterpret Stride toward Freedom’s account of the dignity-enhancing effects of nonviolent resistance as the triumph of love over fear. The third considers the implications of these arguments for conceptualizing the moral psychology of the white citizen and its consequences for contemporary debates over the ideological uses of Civil Rights history. The call to respond to oppression with aggressive love illustrates the paradoxical character of civil disobedience obscured by legal accounts as well as by criticisms of the very idea of “civil” disobedience. This is the paradox of affirming civility while enacting disobedience in order to bind political confrontation with political pedagogy.

scholarly journals Martin Luther King Jr. on Democratic Propaganda, Shame, and Moral Transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 009059172110217
Author(s):  
Meena Krishnamurthy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Black Politics ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Moral Transformation ◽  
Martin Luther King

This essay develops an account of Martin Luther King Jr.’s justification for and use of what I will call “democratic propaganda”—truthful propaganda that is aimed at promoting and fostering democratic political action by stirring readers’ emotions. I interpret King’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in the broader context of his work and argue that it is a piece of democratic propaganda. I give an account of what led King to support the use of democratic propaganda and why he hoped it would help to overcome a central problem in the civil rights movement: the political inaction of the white moderates. King emphasizes shame in the Letter, and I argue that this concept offers us a new way of thinking about the efficacy of democratic propaganda. I close by considering the relevance of King’s approach for today’s Black Lives Matter movement. Despite the innovativeness of King’s use of shame, I suggest it may be time for a new approach to Black politics and activism.

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