Extremist for Love: Martin Luther King Jr., Man of Ideas and Nonviolent Social Action

392 Pages·2014·3.13 MB·English

by  Martin Luther

Exploring a life of thought and action— B
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In spite of extensive research and publishing on Martin Luther King Jr., insufficient attention has
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been given to the convergence of ideas and action in his life. In an era where people are often
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sorted into the categories of “thinker” and “doer,” King stands out —a rare mix of the deeply pro- .

found thinker and intellect who put the fruit of that reflection into the service of direct social action.

Praise for Extremist for Love

“Rufus Burrow Jr. offers the most comprehensive and detailed account to date of formal and informal
influences on the ethical thought and social actions of Martin Luther King Jr. There is research
par excellence in primary resources with substantial footnotes as Dr. Burrow clears up many
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misconceptions of Dr. King’s thought and meticulously sets forth his own conclusions. I would highly
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recommend this book for any course on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
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Ervin Smith, Methodist Theological School in Ohio
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“Rufus Burrow has shown that the roots of King’s ideas, nonviolent social protest, and socio-ethical E
practice are grounded in a family deeply rooted in black southern culture and the black Baptist M
church. His book convincingly argues that many watered those roots along the way, but those who
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planted the seeds and did the early nurturing were members of King’s family and educational and
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faith communities. Burrow takes great care in helping us to see that the social gospel, Christian
realist, and social protest influences on King provided the perfect soil for the formal influences of T
Rauschenbusch, Niebuhr, and Gandhi.”
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Reginald C. Holmes, New Covenant Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) O
Denver, Colorado
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“If you are interested in the fundamental ideas and ideals that shaped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
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then you need look no further than this spectacular book. This authoritative work is the most com-
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prehensive to date on King as a person whose deep intellectual ideas and ideals were translated
into transformational action that has altered the course of human history. Rufus Burrow highlights V
many aspects of King’s intellectual influences others tend to ignore or only present in a cursory
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manner. This is a landmark text for King scholarship and social ethics. You owe it to yourself to read
this book!”
Nathaniel Holmes Jr., Florida Memorial University

Dr. Rufus Burrow Jr. teaches theology at Christian Theological Seminary
in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has written extensively on King for more than
twenty years, with projects being published by Westminster John Knox,
Chalice Press, and University of Notre Dame Press.
RELIGION / HISTORY / THEOLOGY
Extremist for Love

EXTREMIST FOR
LOVE
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.,
MAN OF IDEAS AND
NONVIOLENT SOCIAL ACTION
RUFUS BURROW JR.
Fortress Press
Minneapolis
EXTREMIST FOR LOVE
Martin Luther King Jr., Man of Ideas and Nonviolent Social Action
Copyright © 2014 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in
critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit
http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permissions, Augsburg
Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
Cover photoby Francis Miller / Time Life Pictures / Getty Images
Cover design: Laurie Ingram
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burrow, Rufus, 1951-
Martin Luther King Jr., man of ideas and nonviolent social action / Rufus Burrow, Jr.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4514-7020-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4514-8027-6 (ebook)
1. King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968. 2. King, Martin Luther, Jr.,
1929-1968–Political and social views. 3. Nonviolence–United States–History–20th
century. 4. Social action–United States–History–20th century. 5. African
Americans–Biography. 6. Civil rights workers–United States–Biography.
7. Baptists–United States–Clergy–Biography. 8. African Americans–Civil
rights–History–20th century. 9. Civil rights movements–United States–History–20th
century. 10. United States–Race relations–History–20th century–Sources. I. Title.
E185.97.K5B7995 2014
323.092–dc23 [B] 2013034955
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
NationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984.
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
This book was produced using PressBooks.com, and PDF rendering was done by
PrinceXML.
To the memory of my son-in-love, Mr. David Todd Anderson (1966–2012),
who had the audacity to believe that people whose humanity and dignity are
systematically undermined by those who control and benefit mightily from unjust
systems will overcome when they make up their minds to organize and take on the
powers that be. He believed we can all be better than we are, but had an uncanny
sense that we sometimes have to be pushed and prodded in this regard. In the best
sense, and in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., David too was a man of ideas and
ideals who had a deep faith in nonviolent direct action.

CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xix
Introduction 1
PPaarrtt II..RRoooottss ooff PPrrootteesstt aanndd NNoonnvviioolleennccee iinn tthhee KKiinngg FFaammiillyy
1. Paternal Grandparents 17
2. Maternal Grandparents 33
3. Parents 49
PPaarrtt IIII..FFoorrmmaall IInntteelllleeccttuuaall IInnfflluueenncceess
4. The Walter Rauschenbusch Factor 77
5. The Christian Realism of Reinhold Niebuhr 101
PPaarrtt IIIIII..AA PPrreeaacchheerr aanndd SSoommee WWoommeenn PPaavvee tthhee WWaayy
6. Vernon Napoleon Johns: “God’s Bad Boy” 147
7. Black Women Trailblazers 171
PPaarrtt IIVV..CChhrriissttiiaann LLoovvee aanndd GGaannddhhiiaann NNoonnvviioolleennccee
8. Gandhian Influence and the Formal Elements of King’s 221
Nonviolence
9. Training in Nonviolence 283
PPaarrtt VV..WWhheerree DDoo WWee GGoo ffrroomm HHeerree??
10. Enduring Racism: What Can Be Done to Keep Hope Alive? 319
Index 365
vii

Foreword
MartinLutherKingJr.wasthemostinfluentialcivilrightsactivistintheUnited
States in the twentieth century. This point is well established in the growing
body of scholarship on this phenomenal figure. But King was far more than
a celebrated civil rights activist who gave dynamic speeches, led nonviolent
demonstrations,andengagedincreativeactsofcivildisobedience.Hewasalsoa
greatthinkerandmanofideasandletters,andthescopeandvitalityofhismind
weresuchthatheshouldbeconsideredapartofthatrichstorythatconstitutes
American intellectual history.
Rufus Burrow Jr. traces King’s metamorphosis as both an intellectual and
activist, noting that in both categories his life was filled with incredible
fulfillment and achievement. For Burrow, the arresting power of King’s ideas
and idealism, and the ways in which this grounded his quest for social change,
cast him in the image of the quintessential organic intellectual. Burrow teases
out and analyzes the major features of King’s thought and intellectual sources
and categories, while also linking his life to the broader cultural and political
contexts that surrounded him. The finished product is a King who has been
elusive and largely unknown to much of this nation and the world.
AnExtremistforLoveisasuperbworkinseveralrespects.First,itisavivid
characterassessmentofacomplexindividualwhothoughtandactedoutofthe
proudheritageofhissouthernforefathersandmothers.Burrowremindsusthat
King’sthinkingandactivismwerepervadedbythesamevisionsthatcaughtthe
imaginations of his grandparents andparents. The contention, then, isthat the
familial roots of King’s nonviolence and protest activities constitute the proper
point of departure in any credible reconstruction of King’s public career as a
thinker, idealist, and social activist.
Second, Burrow has given us perhaps the most extensive examination of
King’s key ideas and concepts, such as the love and rationality of God, the
dignity and worth of human personality, the essentiality of the love ethic,
the communitarian nature of persons, and human freedom and sin. Careful
attention is also devoted to Mohandas K. Gandhi, Walter Rauschenbusch,
Reinhold Niebuhr, and other formal intellectual influences, which provided
King with intellectual categories, interpretive models, and a conceptual
frameworktoarticulatemanyoftheseideas.Atthesametime,Burrowreminds
ix