Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition_____
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January 19, 2000
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A C T IO N "
THE SOCIAL ENGINEER AND THE BELOVED COMMUNITY
By Dante Ché
■—
The contributions o f Martin Luther
King, Jr. to mankind are without ques­
tion. He was a man whose leadership
was pivotal to turning an oppressive
society into one more receptive to
the inherent value o f all human be­
ings.
Through his courage, the power of
his intellect, the charisma o f his per­
sonality and eloquence ot his lan­
guage, he revealed to a nation steeped
in the history o f racism that people
o f color are o f worth as God’s chil­
dren; that the arguments of past gen­
erations to suppress them were with­
out merit; that there was constitu­
tional obligation set forth by the
founding fathers that all men are cre­
ated equal and thereby entitled to the
largesse o f America.
There have been many observa­
tions concerning the life o f Martin
Luther King. Jr. However, to appreci­
ate his vision, one must explore the
exegisis of his philosophy. In a sim­
plified approach, one may conclude
that there were two profound influ­
ences on Dr. King’s construction of
what has come to be known as the
“ Beloved Community” which was the
destination o f his vision, as expressed
in the "I Have A Dream” speech. They
are the evangelical liberalism school,
tempered by the insights ot Christian
realism school o f thought as elabo­
rated on the Rheinhold Niebur. As a
student of Crozer Seminary, Martin
Luther King, Jr. took a number of
electives from professor George W.
Davis, a proponent o f evangelical lib­
eralism. His interpretation o f Chris­
tianity had a definitive effect.
In brief, there are five major te­
nets which Davis espoused which may
be considered the gist o f evangelical
liberalism. (1) The existence o f a
moral order in the universe. A congru­
ent universal rule that moves man from
the malaise o f chaos toward an exist­
ence which is governed by a higher
order of community. (2) God acts in
history. In short, divine revelation is
seen as essentially historical in na­
ture. The Biblical view ofhistory sees
God
w ork
w ith in
e a rth ly
events...historical events do not just
happen. They are done by God. (3) A
high priority is assigned to the value
o f personality in Christian life. That
the highest “cognito ergo sum” is that
o f God. Since man is made in the spiri­
tual image o f God, the implication is
that God is the source of rational truths
o f philosophy o f religion as well as
that revealed o f theology. So it
follows.. personalism is the belief that
conscious personality is both supreme
and the supreme reality in the uni­
verse.” (4) That human existence is
fundamentally social in character and
that human solidarity is
the goal toward which
history ev o lv es...T h e
spirit o f mature religions
is social and socialness
does not stifle individu­
ality or suffocate the per­
sonal. To the contrary, it
nurtures healthy interre­
lationships and interde­
pendence. That is what
we should expect, be­
cause G od’s intention is
that human life will be­
come increasingly social
and that humanity will
achieve solidarity. (5)
Christianity «essentially
a moral and ethical reli­
gion. Davis maintains,
“ Love
your
enemies.. .that ye may be
sons.” The Christian in­
eradicable interest in the
good life for all human
beings stems from the
ethical nature o f Chris­
tian faith and moral foun­
dation o f Christian foun­
dation. These precepts
lie at the base of King’s
philosophical underpin­
nings that he so elo­
quently expressed in his
speech “ I H ave A
UTHs COSPEL CARAVAN
IE HUMMINGBIRDS
Dream” in which he spoke o f the con­
stitutional promissory note o f our
founding fathers, the vision o f the
beloved community and the Chris­
tian principles that every person has
God-endowed divine worth.
However, as King’s thought ma­
tured, he was given over to influ­
ences o f Rheinhold Niebur. In that,
man is a creature of nature as well as
a spiritual being, limited by original
sin. The three operative tenets o f
Rheinhold Niebur were: ( 1 ) the rela­
tionship between spirit (anima) and
nature (i.e. form); (2) the nature o f
individuality (free will); (3) the ori­
gin o f evil. The outcome o f the influ­
ence o f Niebur on King as he evolved
as a social activist was to temper his
views o f the relationship between
power and the oppressed. Also, it
affected the view on love and power.
In response to the rise of the “Black
Power Movement” and the violence
associated w ith it, King w rote
“ ...Power, properly understood, is
the ability to achieve purpose. It is
the strength required to bring about
social change, political, or economic
changes. In this sense, power is not
only desirable but necessary in order
to implement the demands o f love
and justice. One o f the greatest prob­
lems of history is that the concepts
o f love and power is that power and
love are usually contrasted as polar
opposites. Love is identified with a
resignation o f power without love is
reckless and abusiye and that love
without power is sentimental and ane­
mic. Power at best is love imple­
menting the demands o f justice. Jus­
tice at its best is love correcting
everything that stands against love.”
King as a social engineer was a
pivotal conductor in steering America
toward reconciliation and conse­
quently affecting the world in terms of
race relations. The impact he had on
the day-to-day human condition can
be said to be no less than profound. He
engendered to a post-war generation
a heightened sense o f human worth
and, although he was committed to
non-violence as a tactic, he came to
realize that the struggle between ju s­
tice and abuse o f power as vested in
those who control the power is inevi­
table. The beloved com munity...the
Promised Land is still in the distance
as we travel toward the future. Man­
kind more so than ever holds his des­
tiny in his hands. The legacy ofMartin
Luther King, Jr. leaves us a map o f
which we all should take heed.
CH ASE YO U R
DREA
We Celebrate the Birthday o f a Great American Hero
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