I am writing this on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday; he would have been 91 this year. He is one of the best examples of faith in action; so, I read some of his theological papers available online to better understand his actions.
What I discovered was a modern thinker with a strong Christ-centric theology. I present a few large excerpts with no further comments. You will note, he is not a literalist or fundamentalist. He is healthily skeptical, placing his criticisms where they belong.
The Christian Pertinence of Eschatological Hope, 1950: “Actually we are celebrating the Second Advent every time we open our hearts to Jesus, every time we turn our backs to the low road and accept the high road, every time we say no to self that we may say yes to Jesus Christ … The final doctrine of the second coming is that whenever we turn our lives to the highest and best there for us is the Christ.”
The Weakness of Liberal Theology, 1948: “It is certainly justifiable to be as scientific as possible in proving that the Pentateuch was written by more than one author, that the whale did not swallow Jonah, that Jesus was not born of a virgin, or that Jesus never met John the Baptist. But after all of this, what relevance do the scriptures have? What moral implications do we find growing out of the Bible? What relevance does Jesus have in 1948 A.D.? These are questions which the liberal theologian must of necessity answer if he expects to influence the average mind. Too often do we find many of the liberals dodging these vital questions.”
Is the Church the Hope of the World, 1949: “[T]he church is supposed to be the most radical opposer of the status quo in society, yet, in many instances, it is the greatest preserver of the status quo. So it was very easy for slavery to receive a religious sanction. The church is one of the chief exponents of racial bigotry. Monopoly capitalism has always received the sanction of the church.
“Since this is the case, we must admit that the church is far from Christ. What has happened is this, the church, while flowing through the stream of history has picked up the evils of little tributaries, and these tributaries have been so powerful that they have been able to overwhelm the main stream. In other words, the church has picked up a lot of historical vices. This is the tragedy of the church, for it has confused the vices of the church with the virtues of Christ. The church has been nothing but the slave of society; whenever the mores call for evil practices, society runs to the church to get its sanction.
“Therefore, I conclude that the church, in its present state, is not the hope of the world. I believe that nothing has so persistently and effectively blocked the way of salvation as the church. On the other hand, the church can be the hope of the world, but only when it returns to Christ. If we take Christ to the world, we will turn it upside down, but the tragedy is that we too often take Christianity. It is our job as ministers to bring the church back to the centre of the human race. But we can only bring the church back to the centre of the human race when we bring Christ back to the centre of the church.”
Letter from the Birmingham Jail, 1963: “Was not Jesus an extremist in love? ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.’ Was not Amos an extremist for justice—‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ—‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.’ … Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice—or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.”
