"Pilgrimage to nonviolence"
I will be reading Martin Luther King, Jr’s sermon collection, Strength to Love, across four weeks in January. If you would like to read along, you can purchase a copy here.
Go to schedule and see all notes.
Week 4: Chapters XIII-XV
“Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”
In the final sermon of this collection, King outlines his journey to nonviolent resistance as a philosophy and way of life. His path through liberalism, neo-orthodoxy, existentialism, and theories of social crisis and change took him around the world and across time.
I traced the sources cited in Strength to Love—finding some expected heroes, a roster of philosophical greats, many poets, and some new-to-me brains.
One thing I did not find, however, was any women. I feel sad about this, although I know it reflects King’s time and the intellectual history he inherited. Honesty compels me to point this out, although it hurts. Still, I believe we can make space for this critical observation without diminishing King’s legacy.
With no further ado, here’s the source list for Strength to Love.
It is imperative that we hold this list alongside the Christian scriptures, for King’s work is nothing if not biblical. In his speeches and writings, King weaves these thinkers into a biblical narrative and a theological commitment that reflects his location as a Baptist minister.
In his “serious intellectual quest for a method that would eliminate social evil.” King teaches the value of reading widely, learning across difference, and embracing both reason and faith—all for a noble end. These lessons make a vital companion to his canon of teachings on justice, love, and nonviolence.
This is the final post in this four-part series.
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