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[[Image:MLKing..gif|right]]

[[Image:MLKing..gif|right]]

Reverend '''Martin Luther King, Jr'''., Ph.D. (1929-1968) was by far the most important black leader of the 1960s. Since his assassination in 1968, he has been the single most important exemplar of civil rights and of liberalism generally in recent world history.<ref> Alonzo Hamby, ''Liberalism and Its Challengers: From F.D.R. to Bush'' (1992)</ref>

Reverend '''Martin Luther King, Jr'''., Ph.D. (1929-1968) was by far the most important black leader of the 1960s. Since his assassination in 1968, he has been the single most important exemplar of civil rights in America. King was the son of a Baptist minister and became a Baptist minister himself. King's life was filled with [[Jesus]] from birth to to his death. Everything he did to promote justice was never out of step with [[Christian]] beliefs.

==Education and early career==

==Education and early career==

King was educated at Boston University, where he earned his advanced degree in theology. His PhD dissertation, however, was largely plagiarized; historians believe the supervising committee did not realize that. King became the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

King was educated at Boston University, where he earned his advanced degree in theology. His PhD dissertation, however, was largely plagiarized; historians believe the supervising committee did not realize that. King became the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.  

 

==Theology==

==Theology==

Rathbun (1968) shows the theological basis for King as a social reformer derived from four sources: the [[Social Gospel]] of [[Walter Rauschenbusch]], the Protestant Neo-Orthodoxy of [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] and Paul Tillich, Personalism taught at Boston University, and [[Mohandas Gandhi|Gandhi's]] concept of nonviolent love. King's synthesis of these four sources supported his civil rights activities. Laws may be broken, said King, if they are unjust laws which do not conform to eternal, natural law. Jesus, said King, was a true revolutionary who brought peace as a "presence of justice" instead of an "absence of tension." The church also must be revolutionary to counteract evil and bring about social justice. King's theology of social action foresaw complete, unprejudiced equality based on natural rights and privileges.<ref> John W. Rathbun, "Martin Luther King: The Theology of Social Action." ''American Quarterly'' 1968 20(1): 38-53. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710989  in JSTOR]</ref>

Rathbun (1968) shows the theological basis for King as a social reformer derived from four sources: the [[Social Gospel]] of [[Walter Rauschenbusch]], the Protestant Neo-Orthodoxy of [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] and Paul Tillich, Personalism taught at Boston University, and [[Mohandas Gandhi|Gandhi's]] concept of nonviolent love. King's synthesis of these four sources supported his civil rights activities. Laws may be broken, said King, if they are unjust laws which do not conform to eternal, natural law. Jesus, said King, was a true revolutionary who brought peace as a "presence of justice" instead of an "absence of tension." The church also must be revolutionary to counteract evil and bring about social justice. King's theology of social action foresaw complete, unprejudiced equality based on natural rights and privileges.<ref> John W. Rathbun, "Martin Luther King: The Theology of Social Action." ''American Quarterly'' 1968 20(1): 38-53. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710989  in JSTOR]</ref>