What was Martin Luther King Jr. really like? In this ground breaking volume, Lewis V. Baldwin focuses on the man himself. Drawing on the testimonies of friends, family, and closest associates, this volume adds much-needed biographical background to the discussion, as Baldwin looks beyond all of the mythic, messianic, and iconic images to treat King in terms of his fundamental and vivid humanness. Special attention is devoted to King's personal insecurities and struggles, his humility and affinity to common people, his delight in pleasant and passionate conversation, his insatiable love for the precious but ordinary things of life, his robust appetite for artfully-prepared and delicious soul food, his enduring appreciation for music and dance, his cheerful and playful attitude and spirit, his abiding interest in games and sports,-and his amazing gift of wit, humor, and laughter. King emerges here as an ordinary human being who enjoyed and celebrated life to the fullest, but was never bigger than life. Here we see the personal qualities of King-as a real, fleshly human being-and also as a man shaped by his social and cultural experiences and locations.

A major contribution to African-American religious scholarship and clearly the most significant analysis of King's cultural roots yet available in print.

This book is a conscious effort to explore the dimensions of King's cultural legacy, and aspires to demonstrate how King's vision gradually transcended southern particularism to assume national and international implications.

The scholarship on Martin Luther King Jr. has too often cast him in the image of the Southern black preacher and the American Gandhi, while ignoring or trivializing his global connections and significance. This groundbreaking work, written by scholars, religious leaders, and activists of different backgrounds, addresses this glaring pattern of neglect in King studies. King is treated here as both a global figure and a forerunner of much of what is currently associated with contemporary globalization theory and praxis. The contributors to this volume agree that King must be understood not only as a thinker, visionary, and social change agent in his own historical context, but also in terms of his meaning for the different generations who still appeal to him as an authority, inspiration, and model of exemplary service to humanity. The task of engaging King both in context and beyond context is fulfilled in remarkable ways in this volume, without doing essential violence to this phenomenal figure. "I have personally been to Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorial in Memphis, Tennessee, and have felt inspired by his example of sacrifice and conviction. I welcome this very insightful new book that introduces readers to him, while also highlighting his strategic nonviolence as a pathway to much-needed global peace. There is much here that is consistent with Gandhi's principle of ahimsa. This is a comprehensive exploration of Dr. King's meaning for the world." --His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Spiritual Leader of the Tibetan People "We have taken for granted Martin Luther King Jr. as a 'world citizen, ' but have spoken about this in vague, generalized terms. This magnificent volume puts an end to such vagueness. Baldwin and Dekar have, through the thoughtful reflections and powerful testimonies of scholars from across the world, brought into sharp relief a King concerned about the world, helping to shape it in ways we never truly understood." --Allan Aubrey Boesak, Distinguished Desmond Tutu Visiting Professor of Ecumenical Theology and Prophetic Preaching, Christian Theological Seminary "Anybody concerned about the economic, social, and gender inequalities anywhere in the world will benefit from the vision and the transformational impact of Martin Luther King Jr.'s exemplary leadership, which is carefully analyzed in this book by a diverse group of scholars, religious leaders, and activists." --Peter J. Paris, Professor Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary "Here is Martin Luther King Jr. as a global visionary deeply rooted in the promise and limitations of his time and place. These international, transreligious, and multidisciplinary writers expose Dr. King's influence at work in places and around issues that he himself knew little or nothing about. They sort out King's genius of mind and spirit to engage the evils and the promise of globalization." --George Williamson, Civil Rights Activist and Founding President, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America Lewis V. Baldwin is Professor of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1992) and The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2010). Paul R. Dekar is Professor Emeritus of Evangelism and Missions, Memphis Theological Seminary, Memphis, Tennessee, and is the author of Creating the Beloved Community: A Journey with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (2005) and Thomas Merton: Twentieth-Century Wisdom for Twenty-First-Century Living (2011).

The burgeoning terrain of Martin Luther King Jr. studies is leading to a new appreciation of his thought and its meaningfulness for the emergence and shaping of the twenty-first-century world. This volume brings together an impressive array of scholars from various backgrounds and disciplines to explore the global significance of King-then, now, and in the future. Employing King's metaphor of "the great world house," the major focus is on King's appraisal of the global-human struggle in the 1950s and 1960s, his relevance for today's world, and how future generations might constructively apply or appropriate his key ideas and values in addressing racism, poverty and economic injustice, militarism, sexism, homophobia, the environmental crisis, globalization, and other challenges confronting humanity today. The contributors treat King in context and beyond context, taking seriously the historical King while also exploring how his name, activities, contributions, and legacy are still associated with a globalized rights culture.

This title treats King's positions on global liberation struggles through the prism of his own words and activities. From the pages of this collection, King emerges not only as an advocate for global human rights but also as a towering figure who collaborated with Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert J. Luthuli, Thich Nhat Hanh, and other national and international figures in addressing a multitude of issues we still struggle with today.

The burgeoning terrain of Martin Luther King Jr. studies is leading to a new appreciation of his thought and its meaningfulness for the emergence and shaping of the twenty-first-century world. This volume brings together an impressive array of scholars from various backgrounds and disciplines to explore the global significance of King-then, now, and in the future. Employing King's metaphor of "the great world house," the major focus is on King's appraisal of the global-human struggle in the 1950s and 1960s, his relevance for today's world, and how future generations might constructively apply or appropriate his key ideas and values in addressing racism, poverty and economic injustice, militarism, sexism, homophobia, the environmental crisis, globalization, and other challenges confronting humanity today. The contributors treat King in context and beyond context, taking seriously the historical King while also exploring how his name, activities, contributions, and legacy are still associated with a globalized rights culture.

About the Contributor(s): Thomas A. Mulhall is an independent researcher trained in International Peace Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin. He has done extensive research on the life and thought of Martin Luther King Jr. He contributed to the book ""In an Inescapable Network of Mutuality"" Martin Luther King Jr., and the Globalization of an Ethical Ideal, edited by Lewis V. Baldwin and Paul R. Dekar (Cascade, 2013).

About the Contributor(s): Lewis V. Baldwin is Professor of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University. He is the author or editor of eleven books on Martin Luther King, Jr., including The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2010). Rufus Burrow Jr. is Indiana Professor of Christian Thought at Christian Theological Seminary. He has authored or coauthored three books on King, including Martin Luther King, Jr. for Armchair Theologians (2009).

The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. explores the development of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s understanding of the relationship between religion, morality, law, and politics. This fascinating work is part of a broader effort by scholars in various fields to examine unexplored areas in the life, thought, and activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., and it represents the first book length treatment of how King united moral-religious convictions and political activity. This timely study is also the first in-depth analysis of King's views on the roles that religion and morality ought to play, not only in public debate concerning political choices and law, but also in efforts to create political and legal structures that are just and to perpetuate participatory democracy. Beginning with the social, political, and economic implications of King's vision of the "New South" and his prophetic critique of southern civil religion, this pathbreaking study casts King in the role of "political liberal," "consummate politician," and "political theologian." The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. focuses considerable attention on King's refusal to separate religious faith and moral considerations from politics, legal matters, and social reformism. In so doing, it demonstrates King's remarkable ability to transcend church-state boundaries and to formulate an alliance that permeated every facet of American life. Featuring four chapters by Lewis V. Baldwin-a leading authority on King-as well as a chapter by Rufus Burrow, Jr., and one co-authored by Barbara Holmes and the Honorable Susan Holmes Winfield, this volume reveals how King moved beyond southern particularism to create a more democratic America and a more inclusive world. Among the topics covered are King's relationship to various American political traditions and figures, King's theories of civil disobedience and his understanding of the Constitution, and the influence of moral law and personal idealism on King's teachings. As debates over faith-based initiatives rage in America's modern political arena, Baldwin's lucid analysis of King's writings on the boundaries that exist between church and state, politics and religion, offers a valuable resource to those engaged in public and private discussions of this important topic.

MLK and the Practice of SpiritualityThe scholarship on Martin Luther King Jr. is seriously lacking in terms of richly nuanced and revelatory treatments of his spirituality and spiritual life. This book addresses this neglect by focusing on King's life as a paradigm of a deep, vital, engaging, balanced, and contagious spirituality. It shows that the essence of the person King was lies in the quality of his own spiritual journey and how that translated into not only a personal devotional life of prayer, meditation, and fasting but also a public ministry that involved the uplift and empowerment of humanity. Much attention is devoted to King's spiritual leadership, to his sense of the civil rights movement as "a spiritual movement," and to his efforts to rescue humanity from what he termed a perpetual "death of the spirit." Readers encounter a figure who took seriously the personal, interpersonal, and sociopolitical aspects of the Christian faith, thereby figuring prominently in recasting the very definition of spirituality in his time. King's "holistic spirituality" is presented here with a clarity and power fresh for our own generation.

Based on years of original research, Never to Leave Us Alone is the first book-length treatment of the prayer life of the famed religious and civil rights leader. Drawing on personal prayers that King recited as a seminarian and graduate student, preacher, pastor, and then civil rights leader, award-winning historian Lewis Baldwin explains how King turned to both private prayer and meditation for his own spiritual fulfillment, and to public prayer as part of his sermonic discourse, as an aspect of his pastoral care, and as a way of moving, inspiring, and reaffirming people in the context of a crusade for equal rights, social justice, and peace. In the end, Baldwin argues, King's prayer life and reflections offer important keys not only to King the man but also to our own cultivation of core human values. The book includes photographs.

The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. explores the development of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s understanding of the relationship between religion, morality, law, and politics. This fascinating work is part of a broader effort by scholars in various fields to examine unexplored areas in the life, thought, and activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., and it represents the first book length treatment of how King united moral-religious convictions and political activity. This timely study is also the first in-depth analysis of King's views on the roles that religion and morality ought to play, not only in public debate concerning political choices and law, but also in efforts to create political and legal structures that are just and to perpetuate participatory democracy.

Beginning with the social, political, and economic implications of King's vision of the "New South" and his prophetic critique of southern civil religion, this pathbreaking study casts King in the role of "political liberal, " "consummate politician, " and "political theologian." The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. focuses considerable attention on King's refusal to separate religious faith and moral considerations from politics, legal matters, and social reformism. In so doing, it demonstrates King's remarkable ability to transcend church-state boundaries and to formulate an alliance that permeated every facet of American life.

Featuring four chapters by Lewis V. Baldwin -- a leading authority on King -- as well as a chapter by Rufus Burrow, Jr., and one co-authored by Barbara Holmes and the Honorable Susan Holmes Winfield, this volume reveals how King moved beyond southern particularism to create a more democratic Americaand a more inclusive world. Among the topics covered are King's relationship to various American political traditions and figures, King's theories of civil disobedience and his understanding of the Constitution, and the influence of moral law and personal idealism on King's teachings.