A prophet of God, flaws and all
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Forty years after that gunshot in Memphis what are we to think about the man and the legend?
In an era when bombastic ranting from many quarters of the Christian community in North America--the vitriolic anti-Americanism of the reverend Jeremiah Wright, the ideological intolerance of the Christian Right--cast a shameful pall on Christianity and its place in the public square, we need to consider what King's life tells us today.
King's legacy as one of the giant figures of the 20th century is undisputed. Rightly revered as an agent for change in the U.S., King's place as a great Christian prophet, unafraid to use his faith to challenge secular law and authority, is one that makes both secular and religious leaders nervous.
But King is not the two-dimensional figure often painted by those who either deify or demonize him. He is complex, challenging and rooted in the Black gospel of the American South.
In 1963, King wrote his famous Letter from a Birmingham City Jail and led a march of some 200,000 people of all races on Washington where his "I Have a Dream" speech burst forth and imprinted itself on the consciousness of a nation.
The King of 1963 boldly asserted that racial justice was not just a civil matter, but a natural expression of Christian teachings that demanded an overturning of unjust laws. Citing two giants of Christian thought, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, King used religious language to shape prophetic denunciations of violence and injustice not only toward Black Americans, but the poor and oppressed everywhere.
But by 1968 King was frustrated by an unjust war in Vietnam and the gains of younger, radical Black leaders. His focus seemed to have shifted to blaming capitalism for the poverty and racism that plagued America and advocating for the welfare state.
In 1990, Christian History magazine listed the King-led March on Washington as one of top 100 most important events in church history alongside Martin Luther's posting of his 95 Theses, Augustine's conversion, the schism of the Church in 1054, the launching of the Crusades and the Great Awakening. This caused uproar among many Christians, particularly evangelicals and Christian Right advocates who generally disagreed with King's ideas, politics and methods.
Important role
Those that deny King's place as a prophetic voice fail to understand the role of the flawed prophet in God's plan. The fact that King was flawed-posthumously accused of marital infidelity and academic plagiarism-does not cancel out his outstanding role as a uniquely Christian voice in a sea of humanist noise. It puts him in the same line as biblical figures like David and the apostle Peter, deeply flawed people through whom God worked.
Reading King's words today, I am astonished that a man such as this-a Baptist preacher who was unafraid to use the language of the Bible to point out the injustice of the world around him and call people to a distinctly Christian view of justice, peace and love-would even be tolerated as a public figure.
What would our firmly secularist politicians, media, and academic elites say today if a respected national figure where to utter these words:
"With this faith, I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through the mountain of despair….Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will."
King's famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech is prophetic of his departure and a summation of his vision. They are words that sum up a uniquely Christian worldview, one that fights to be heard above the noise. We as Canadians need Christian voices to speak out-on injustice, hatred and intolerance as well as in defense of the unborn, the vulnerable and the poor.
Prophetic words are hard to come by these days. If we have to claim the words of a man of God to re-establish our place as Christians in building a just society, let's do it.
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