Black and Human: Rediscovering King as a Resource for Black Theology and Ethics

By attempting to renew interest in the theological ethics of Martin Luther King, Jr., this book does not suggest a simplistic return to a traditional reading of King, but rather a reading that reveals some of the quiet genius with which King held together both a concern for the struggle of Black Americans for dignity and justice and a concern for human beings. While Black life in America is the historical outworking of the experience of the descendants of African slaves on this continent, it is also and simultaneously the experience of human beings who are seeking to affirm their worth in contexts that make this extremely difficult. A fresh and critical rediscovery of King’s thought can provide Black theologians and ethicists with the outlines of a model for integrating a particularistic view with a universalistic and global perspective.