Derrick Z. Jackson: The MLK We Hardly Knew
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this: "On the one hand I must attempt to change the soul of individuals so that their societies may be changed. On the other, I must attempt to change the societies so that the individual soul will have a change. Therefore, I must be concerned about unemployment, slums and economic insecurity. I am a profound advocator of the social gospel."
King also wrote this: "One of the great weaknesses of liberal theology is that it becomes so involved in higher criticism, in many instances that it fails to answer certain questions. . . . the weakness lies in its failure to connect the masses. Liberal theology seems to be lost in a vocabulary. Moreover, it seems too divorced from life."
It is not amazing that King wrote of concern for the poor yet criticized liberals who voiced only lip service. What is stunning is that he wrote the above in 1948. He wrote them in seminary school before the age of 20.
"Most people see King's life as starting in 1955," said Clayborne Carson, founding director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, home of the massive King Papers Project. "That's what's really new about these writings. People don't really understand the roots of King, particularly the religious roots. This is a King we hardly knew."
The passages are drawn from the soon-to-be published sixth volume ofthe King Papers. The volume is drawn from handwritten notes and writings found, as Carson put it, "rotting" in the King family basement in Atlanta in 1997. The writings were previously unknown to scholars because they were in boxes mixed in with family papers, Coretta Scott King's personal letters, and even Christmas cards.
"What makes these things so wonderful," Carson said last week to the Trotter Group of African American newspaper columnists, is that "you never get too many of these moments as a scholar where you pick up a document and you know the last person to touch that document was Martin Luther King."
What makes them even more fascinating is that the notes show a King who "did not come easily to his faith," Carson said. "There were lots of doubts, questions along the way. You see him struggle all the way through. He's still a teenager, struggling."...
Read entire article at First in a 2-part series in the Boston Globe
King also wrote this: "One of the great weaknesses of liberal theology is that it becomes so involved in higher criticism, in many instances that it fails to answer certain questions. . . . the weakness lies in its failure to connect the masses. Liberal theology seems to be lost in a vocabulary. Moreover, it seems too divorced from life."
It is not amazing that King wrote of concern for the poor yet criticized liberals who voiced only lip service. What is stunning is that he wrote the above in 1948. He wrote them in seminary school before the age of 20.
"Most people see King's life as starting in 1955," said Clayborne Carson, founding director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, home of the massive King Papers Project. "That's what's really new about these writings. People don't really understand the roots of King, particularly the religious roots. This is a King we hardly knew."
The passages are drawn from the soon-to-be published sixth volume ofthe King Papers. The volume is drawn from handwritten notes and writings found, as Carson put it, "rotting" in the King family basement in Atlanta in 1997. The writings were previously unknown to scholars because they were in boxes mixed in with family papers, Coretta Scott King's personal letters, and even Christmas cards.
"What makes these things so wonderful," Carson said last week to the Trotter Group of African American newspaper columnists, is that "you never get too many of these moments as a scholar where you pick up a document and you know the last person to touch that document was Martin Luther King."
What makes them even more fascinating is that the notes show a King who "did not come easily to his faith," Carson said. "There were lots of doubts, questions along the way. You see him struggle all the way through. He's still a teenager, struggling."...