Martin Luther King Jr

Abstract This chapter argues that Martin Luther King Jr was formed theologically and morally by his familial and ecclesiastical environments that were integrally connected. King’s life in that restrictive context readied him for his academic venture as a graduate student in the halls of Protestant theological liberalism at Crozer Theological Seminary and for four years as a PhD student at the Boston University School of Religion. Though King and Reinhold Niebuhr were a full generation apart in age, raised in radically different contexts, and never met in person, both would become world-renowned prophetic theological leaders. The progressive reputation of each made it inevitable that they would respect each other from a distance. King expressed gratitude for the insight he received from Niebuhr’s understanding of power relations and especially how those with power never voluntarily yield it except under pressure from a counteractive force. The chapter offers a reason for the primacy of the racial struggle for King and its tangential status for Niebuhr which may also account for Niebuhr’s more patient disposition towards social change as compared to King’s strong sense of urgency.