Fortunately the book was like cool waters in a desert. Any thoughts that King was not authentically Christian can be firmly laid to rest by this book. It's a collection of sermons, that while centered around race, never get far from Scripture and the work of Christ.
"A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart"
King starts off the book with the admonition that, "There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackle of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance. The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of softmindedness." (p. 17) Amen. Someone tell that to the Twitterverse. Those with hard hearts "[see] people...as mere objects or as impersonal cogs in an ever-turning wheel." (p. 17) This idea of "not being seen" as fully human permeates the book and I believe is the root of our current agitations. And in words so directly relevant to our riot-torn cities today he states, "Violence brings only temporary victories; violence, by creating many more social problems than it solves never brings permanent peace. I am convinced that if we succumb to the temptation to use violence in our struggle for freedom, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate sight of bitterness, and our chief legacy to them will be a never-ending reign of chaos." (p. 18) Truer words...
"Transformed Nonconformist"
In addressing those who blindly conform to societal, racialists norms, King cites no less an authority than Thomas Jefferson, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." (p. 24) Americans must be free to think independently or "move within the shadows of fascism." (p. 24) Yet the nonconformist must conform himself to the ways of a holy God. "Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit... [We] recognizes that social change will not come overnight, yet [we] work as though it is an imminent possibility." (p. 27) This is the voice we need crying in our wilderness.
"On Being a Good Neighbor"
Using the parable of The Good Samaritan, King notes that the tale involved a kind of blindness. "The real tragedy of such narrow provincialism is that we see people as entities or merely as things. Too seldom do we see people in their true humanness... We fail to think of them as fellow human beings made from the same basic stuff as we, molded in the same divine image." Again that theme of seeing people as people, not as statistics or merely identity categories. King points out that the two men who passed by the broken man each worried what helping him would do to themselves; the Good Samaritan reversed the concern and asked, "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" (p. 34) King calls this "dangerous altruism. King differentiates True Altruism from Pity. "Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the writing of a check." (p. 35) Dangerous altruism demands our soul. Pity focuses on "humanity;" sympathy focuses on the particular hurting human "who lies at life's roadside." (p. 35) "Instead of seeking to do something with the African..., we have too often sought only to do something for them. An expression of pity devoid of genuine sympathy, leads to a new form of paternalism which no self-respecting person can accept." (p. 36) This the breath of fresh air that I needed. I wanted to yell, "YES!"
"Love in Action"
King repeatedly returns to Jesus as his model. The Cross affirms a higher law. Evil cannot be repaid with evil. Only love overcomes evil. "What a magnificent lesson! Generations will rise and fall; men will continue to worship the god of revenge and bow before the altar of retaliation; but ever and again this noble lesson of Calvary will be a nagging reminder that only good can drive out evil and only love can conquer hate." (p. 42) This is lesson we need to learn anew. Jesus knew those who persecuted him were blind, "They know not what they do." Until both our hearts and and our heads can recognize the truth that only goodness overcomes evil, we will continue to spiral in harming each other.
"Loving Your Enemies"
For those that would denigrate this call of Christ as too difficult or weak and cowardly, King states, "Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one's enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival...Jesus is not an impractical idealist: he is the practical realist...When Jesus said 'Love your enemy,' he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibility as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives." (p. 49-50) Nothing other than a total surrender to the Lordship of Christ will effect this kind of response to injustice. "We must love our enemies, because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness." (p. 55)
"Shattered Dreams"
King is clear that the kind of response he is calling for is only possible for the Christian. It is only the love of God pouring through his own that can see injustice as an opportunity to embrace one's enemies. "The Christian faith makes it possible for us nobly to accept that which cannot be changed, to meet disappointments and sorrow with an inner poise, and to absorb the most intense pain without abandoning our sense of hope for we know, as Paul testified, in life or in death,... 'that all thing work together for good to them that love God, to them without are called according to his purpose.'" (p. 96)
"How Should a Christian View Communism?"
My doubts about King moving further Left and towards Communism were put to rest by this essay. "Let me state clearly the basic premise of this sermon: Communism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible. A true Christian cannot be a true Communist, for the two philosophies are antithetical and all the diabetics of the logicians cannot reconcile them." (p. 97-98) King flatly rejects the tenet of Communism which believes that the ends justify the means. A Christian simply cannot use that thinking. "Destructive means cannot bring constructive ends, because the means represent the-ideal-in-the-making and the-ends-in-progress. Immoral means cannot bring moral ends, for the ends are pre-existent in the means." (p. 99) This line of reasoning directly contradicts those that say they need to tear down American society so they can rebuild another, more just society. The destructive means BECOMES the end. It cannot be otherwise. However, King attributes the rise of Communism to the failure of the Church to uphold the values it supposedly embodies. The Church failed to speak out about racism and destructive colonialism. "The judgment of God is upon the church. The church has a schism in its own soul that it must close." (p. 103) He sees the fire burning in the hearts of Communists as a direct rebuke to Christians. Had we that same fire burning in our hearts, Communism would not be capturing so many around the world.
"Our God is Able"
In a stirring admonition to do the hard work Christ calls us to, King states, "In our sometimes difficult and often lonesome walk up freedom's road, we do not walk alone. God walks with us. He has placed within the very structure of this universe certain absolute moral laws. We can neither defy nor break them. If we disobey them, they will break us. The forces of evil may temporarily conquer truth, but truth will ultimately conquer its conqueror. Our God is able." (p. 111) Hallelujah!
"The Answer to a Perplexing Question"
Since the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out a demon, man has been asking why we cannot cast out evil. Men have tried to do it in their own efforts, but King reminds us that, "Man, by his own power can never cast evil from the world. The humanist's hope is an illusion, based on too great an optimism concerning the inherent goodness of human nature." (p. 129) Neither can we simply wait for God to drive it out in his own good time. "God, who gave us minds for thinking and bodies for working, would defeat his own purpose if he permitted us to obtain through prayer what may come through work and intelligence. Prayer is a marvelous and necessary supplement of our feeble efforts, but it is a dangerous substitute." (p. 131) We see echoes of his frustration with those that would wait on the Lord for end of segregation in King's haunting "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." "The belief that God will do everything for us is as untenable as the belief that man can do everything for himself. It, too, is based on a lack of faith. We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith, but superstition." (p.133) The answer is to unite God and man in "one marvelous unity of purpose through an overflowing love as the free gift of himself on the part of God and by perfect obedience and receptivity on the part of man..." (p. 133) Man, channeling the perfect love of God, can change the world. "Racial justice, a genuine possibility in our nation and in the world, will come neither by our frail and often misguided efforts nor by God imposing his will on wayward men, but when enough people open their lives to God and allow him to put his triumphant, divine energy into their souls. Our age-old and noble dream of a world of peace may yet become a reality, but it will come neither by man working alone nor by God destroying the wicked schemes of men, but when men so open their lives to God that he may fill them with love, mutual respect, understanding, and goodwill." (p. 134-135) This is exactly what we need. We need Jesus!
It's impossible to state how much this book resonated with me. As a fellow believer, it seemed like the Holy Spirit was testifying with his spirit and we were in complete agreement. My only sadness is that this message went forth almost 60 years ago and we failed to listen to it. How long will we continue to ignore the only thing that can cause actual racial justice: the love of Christ channeled through his children.
