Strength To Love

by Martin Luther King Jr.

This is a collection of classic sermons preached by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Theology, History, Philosophy, Christian, Race

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Luther King Jr. may be seen by many people, unfortunately, as a cliche historical figure. Everybody feels as though they know a lot about him, but in reality most people know nothing about him besides the fact that he was a civil rights leader who got assassinated. I personally have always wanted to pick up a book by MLK Jr. because I have never been satisfied with the info that black history television programs and school classes gave me. Don't get me wrong, those sources gave me good info, but I just yearned for more. Television programs would tell me of things such as the bus boycott, and MLK's marches, but I wanted to know more than just what he did. I wanted an in depth look at his character, and his thought processes, and this book gave me exactly what I was looking for. The insight that I gained about this man's way of thinking is incredible. His teachings and beliefs on love, forgiveness, and suffering are irrefutable. I see now why this man was an instrument of God used to bring a positive shift in this country and the world. This book humbled me, and honestly made me a better christian, a better thinker, and a better person. If you are one of those people who have only HEARD of MLK then you need to get this book, because there's a lot more you can learn about him than what you've heard. And I assure you that your new insights will change you for the better.

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Luther King's Strength To Love

A new anthology of essays exploring the philosophy of Martin Luther King, "To Shape a New World" (2018) (edited by Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry) has moved me to explore for myself the five books King published during his lifetime. King was an activist during his busy life, cut short by assassination fifty years ago. It is valuable to explore the degree of reflective thought King brought to his activism.

King's second book, "Strength to Love" (1963) consists of 14 sermons King preached during or after the Montgomery Bus Boycott at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, or at the Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The book also includes a separate essay "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" that addresses themes considered in the sermons. King states that he was reluctant to have the sermons published. He believed sermons were properly meant to be heard as a discourse on a single occasion rather than to be read. They were "directed toward the listening ear rather than the reading eye." King states that he published the volume only after the repeated requests of friends and colleagues in the hope that "a message may come to life for readers of these printed words."

King was a preacher by calling. It is what he was born and trained to do and in this book, as in his famous "I have a Dream" speech, it shows. This collection shows the influence of the African American Protestantism in which he was steeped upon King. It shows his way with words and his ability to move and inspire. Most importantly, the book shows King's thought, both on religious matters and on social activism. King tries to show how they are to be brought together. Of the books I have read by or about King, "Strength To Love" easily gives me the most understanding of King and what he was about.

What impressed me most about the book was its deep religiosity. King discusses what he sees as the need for transcendence if human life is to be meaningful. In common with many religiously-oriented thinkers, King views human life as a combination of the "eternal and the temporal". The sermons place a great deal of emphasis on the eternal. His understanding of the eternal played a great role in his temporal actions fighting injustice during his life.

King explores the nature of love, the interrelationship of all things, and the search for moral and ontological absolutes -- the existence of God -- rather than relativism. What he says is not necessarily original but it is expressed with power, eloquence, and sincerity. The book focuses at least as much on God and on worship as it does on the need for action to combat injustice in the world. In King's view a religious outlook drives his temporal efforts. He recognizes in the sermons that humanistic people could share in his efforts for social justice while not sharing his religious commitments. King respects this view but clearly rejects it for himself. The sermons address important theological and philosophical issues such as the relationship between science and religion, the mixture of good and evil in human nature, the problem of evil, fundamentalism and liberalism in approaching Scriptural texts and much more. King talks a great deal about his reading and studies and about the views that influenced him. I learned a great deal both about King and about the difficult questions he addresses.

The sermons I most enjoyed included "A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart" which explores the roles of justice and love in religious life, "Transformed Nonconformist" which emphasizes how religious life requires in part a response to the divine rather than simply to the mores of a society. "Shattered
Dreams" which discusses living with loss and disappointment, and "Paul's letter to American Christians" in which King effectively assumes the voice of Paul both to praise and to critique American society and Christianity. In "How should a Christian View Communism" King both articulates his own strong Christian, idealist commitments which rejecting the materialism and ethical relativism of communism. The final essay"Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" explores some of King's activism but it includes as well a great deal of information about King's intellectual growth.

This volume taught me a great deal about King's religious and philosophical thinking and about his commitment to social justice using nonviolent methods. The book has little of the radicalism found in some of King's latter writings. The book shows King at his best as a outstandingly gifted, thoughtful religious individual and African American minister. The book helped me understand King and his mission.

Robin Friedman

[Ted Mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior wrote that "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" in 1963.

Just last week Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan said that "A terrorist attack on any of us is an attack on all of us."

I shared both quotes with my Civics class, but one eighth grader wrote on the board under Dr. King's words that "no one gets this." I asked if they'd like me to discuss it with them and the same student said, "no, we don't care either."

That made me thing of Jimmy Buffett's famous line, "Is it ignorance, or apathy? I don't know and I don't care."

I care, God knows I care, but God only knows how I'm supposed to teach eighth graders how to care.

So I took King's words,

Injustice ANYWHERE is a threat to Justice EVERYWHERE

and I paired them with James Madison's words-

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

[Disunity] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Unity] EVERYWHERE

[Turmoil] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Tranquility] EVERYWHERE

[Insecurity] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Security] EVERYWHERE

Or would that have sounded better with [Offense] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Defense] EVERYWHERE?

[Suffering] ANYWHERE is a threat to [the General Welfare] EVERYWHERE!

Now THERE'S one that probably makes "rugged individualists" absolutely cringe, but AREN'T I my brother's keeper?

And of course,

[Tyranny] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Liberty] EVERYWHERE

So isn't it true?

Don't you CARE?

Don't you realize? Don't you know?

That "Injustice ANYWHERE is a threat to Justice EVERYWHERE!"

Is justice really blind?

Have you ever heard, "No Justice, No Peace!"?

Did you know, what Cornell West says?

He says that “Justice is what love looks like in public.”

Merrium and Webster say that "public" means

"exposed to general view :
open, well-known, prominentc :
perceptible, material..."

and

"of, relating to, or affecting ALL the people."

Did you know?

Do you care?

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"

[Paul Haspel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The strength of heart with which Martin Luther King Jr. combatted segregation and other forms of racial injustice stemmed in large part from his deep religious faith. Such is the conclusion that emerges, quite inescapably, from a reading of Strength to Love, a 1963 volume of some of the sermons that Dr. King prepared for delivery as part of his work as a pastor for two churches: the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reading Strength to Love, I got a strong sense of the challenges that faced Dr. King as a pastor, even before he became a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Both of the churches at which he preached were among the most prestigious African American churches of the South. Their congregations consisted of successful professionals who were smart and well-educated as well as devout. If a preacher at either of these churches was trying to coast through on a recycled version of an old sermon, the members of these congregations would know it, and would make their displeasure known.

Long before he was delivering the “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., or accepting a Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Dr. King faced the task, on a weekly basis, of inspiring his congregation with a sermon that would reinforce long-held and deeply cherished beliefs, while at the same time saying something new. And, as there were people both within and outside the church who would feel that a churchman should “stick to God” and “stay out of politics,” Dr. King wanted to show that his message of Christian love was logically linked with his work to build a more just and equitable American society.

Chapter Five, “Loving Your Enemies,” certainly fits in well with both the tenets of the Christian faith and Dr. King’s career of civil-rights activism. Each of these sermons begins with a Bible quote, and the relevant Greek Testament citation here is Matthew 5:43-45 – “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven.”

After acknowledging the difficulty of coming round to love one’s enemy, and even pointing out that loving one’s enemy might not seem “practical,” Dr. King uses that quote from Saine Matthew’s Gospel as the basis for a persuasive argument that loving one’s enemies is the only practical way to move forward. Dr. King points out, accurately, that “Time is cluttered with the wreckage of communities which surrendered to hatred and violence”, and then he applies this logic to the issue of segregation in the American South:

With every ounce of our energy, we must continue to rid this nation of the incubus of segregation. But we shall not, in the process, relinquish our privilege and our obligation to love. While abhorring segregation, we shall love the segregationist. This is the only way to create the beloved community. (p. 50)

I was particularly interested in those sermons from Strength to Love wherein Dr. King addressed the intellectual issues and problems of his time. Chapter Ten, “How Should a Christian View Communism?”, was particularly helpful in that regard. I suppose that it was inevitable that a Christian preacher, in the Cold War times when Dr. King was living and preaching, would have to confront the issue of communism, as communism was an openly atheistic ideology, and a number of communist countries were then involved in more or less open conflict with the U.S.A. on a variety of fronts.

Dr. King’s framing Bible verse for this sermon is Amos 5:24 – “Let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” – a verse that I think must have been one of his favourites, as he cites it once again in his Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Some of what Dr. King says about the contrast between communism and Christianity is about what I would have expected. He writes that “Communism is based on a materialistic and humanistic view of life and history”; by contrast, “At the center of the Christian faith is the affirmation that there is a God in the universe who is the ground and essence of all reality. A Being of infinite love and boundless power, God is the creator, sustainer, and conserver of values” (p. 100).

Similarly, Dr. King declares that “Communism is based on ethical relativism and accepts no stable moral absolutes. Right and wrong are relative to the most expedient methods for dealing with class war”, whereas “Christianity sets forth a system of absolute moral values and affirms that God has placed within the very structure of this universe certain moral principles that are fixed and immutable. The law of love as an imperative is the norm for all of man’s actions” (p. 100). One might well expect that a devoutly Christian preacher would respond in just such a manner to an ideology claiming that there is no God, and that said preacher’s work is fundamentally empty and meaningless – even if most preachers could not do so with Dr. King’s eloquence.

Yet Dr. King adds that “something in the spirit and threat of Communism challenges us”, and states that “The theory, though surely not the practice, of Communism challenges us to be more concerned about social justice” – because, “With all of its false assumptions and evil methods, Communism arose as a protest against the injustices and indignities inflicted upon the underprivileged” (pp. 102-03).

Dr. King knew well the culture of Southern evangelical Protestantism – and knew also that evangelical Protestant churches’ emphasis on the salvation of the individual soul often went hand in hand with a refusal to confront temporal injustices. The excuses were many – “Those injustices are for God to correct, in His own good time”, or “The world is only temporary. Eternity is forever.” In modern parlance, some evangelical leaders of the time might well have said something on the order of “We need to stay in our lane.”

But Dr. King knew that such hands-off attitudes not only helped perpetuate outrageous social injustices against African Americans and others, but also might actually move some members of marginalized communities toward embracing communist ideology. Works like Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man and Richard Wright’s posthumous novel The Man Who Lived Underground show the attraction of communism for young African Americans who see in the Communist Party one of the few political organizations in the United States that seems to be saying that discrimination against anyone, for any reason, is always wrong.

In fact, both Ellison and Wright in real life – like the protagonists in their novels mentioned above – came to see that white American communists of that time were just as capable of being racist as any other white Americans of the time. Read in that historical context, Dr. King’s “How Should a Christian View Communism?” provides a tough-minded analysis of the conflicting ideological strains that contributed to the tension of 1960’s life.

Perhaps most interesting of all, for me, was Chapter Fifteen, “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” – a sort of intellectual autobiography in which Dr. King discussed the philosophical schools that influenced him. Looking at the different strains of thought within the church of his time regarding the fundamental nature of humankind, Dr. King writes that he is “convinced that the truth about man is found neither in liberalism nor in neo-orthodoxy. Each represents a partial truth. A large segment of Protestant liberalism defined man only in terms of his essential nature, his capacity for good; neo-orthodoxy tended to define man only in terms of his existential nature, his capacity for evil” (p. 158). I found this distinction interesting.

Dr. King goes on to suggest that “An adequate understanding of man is found neither in the thesis of liberalism nor in the antithesis of neo-orthodoxy, but in a synthesis which reconciles the truths of both” (p. 158). The influence of Hegel’s ideas is evident here, and throughout “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” I found it interesting to see how Dr. King had responded to the ideas of a wide variety of thinkers – Niebuhr, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Tillich, Rauschenbusch, Gandhi – on his way to developing his philosophy of non-violent resistance and applying that philosophy in a campaign against racial segregation in the American South.

Originally published in 1963 by Beacon Press of Boston, and later republished in 1981 with a foreword by Dr. King’s widow Coretta Scott King, Strength to Love provides helpful insights into the faith and the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in Africa, it was life changing. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not only an amazing leader for the African American community's fight for social justice, he also offers so much wisdom for all of us with words of guidance in love, faith, hope, and strength. He challenged me to become a thinking Christian, not just a following one.

[Alena · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my search for inspiration and solace I turned to the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. I found those things even if it was a little sad to recognize how many issues and questions remain precisely the same more than 50 years later.
I treasured these sermons and the timeless truths I found within them.

[Kristen Freiburger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savored each sentence like fine dark chocolate. Poignant and powerful messages even all these years later. Thank you for the recommendation Julie!

[Derek Driggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teachings that changed the world.

[Big Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

PASTOR MARTIN came out on this one!! while something like The Trumpet of Conscience was very focussed on social issues, this one was more spiritual and psychological. jolly good fun. excellent writer/speaker. martin is my goat.

[Ari DeBenedictis · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars!!! I'm so so happy that I finally found a really good book and a 5 star worthy book. AND it was within the first month of 2021!! :)

Okay, so this was a fantastic book and I highly recommend it. It's a compilation of MLK sermons, and literally all of them were stellar. They were easy to understand, all based on biblical passages/verses and perfectly mixed God's grace and love for his people with the racial injustice that was happening in the 1960s. This was also interesting to read in 2021, when there is still a lot of racial unrest in our country. I found that a lot of the points MLK was making could also be relevant in 2021, which was obviously disappointing... As far as we have gone in equality, we still have a long way to go.

I hate to admit, but it's been awhile since I've read a Christian book and I'm so incredibly thankful I read this. I needed this. God is so good.

[Dar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I consider myself a person who was “informed” about Martin Luther King, Jr. I knew the timeline of events in his life, and what he stood for. But apart from I Have a Dream, I had never read or listened to his work. I am so glad I remedied that.

First the content. The sermons reveal how King’s faith was carried forward into social action. I could see the development of his scholarship and ideas, and how he used them to challenge his own Black Baptist church tradition, daring it not to be complacent, as well as challenging white churches. He called upon everyone to embrace the true spirit of Christianity, which he defined as brotherhood, inclusiveness, justice and equality, brought about by nonviolent means. He never stated that God would wipe away injustice if faith and belief were strong enough. He said the people must stand up, resist, suffer and persevere. He also believed that winning would not mean vanquishing the enemies, but would mean living together as one society.

Next the style. Dr. King had a good knowledge of philosophy, psychology and sociology as well as theology, and he often cited sources. In many of the sermons, he built a case for his views based on science and reason, and would then say pure knowledge is necessary, but not sufficient. Faith, hope, courage, love and suffering are also required. I was impressed by his ability to get past the notion that all of these qualities are fluffy or “soft-minded” as he would have said; in fact, they call for extreme toughness. The sermons were meant to be delivered and not read on a page, so they use the cadence of spoken language. He especially liked to identify opposites and use repetition: “For the person who hates, the false becomes true and the true becomes false; the evil becomes good and the good becomes evil.” I liked the combination of academic rigor and folksy speech.

Then the criticism. Although MLK often used the term “men and women,” the majority of his sermons used men and mankind in a way that seemed to denote a masculine gender and men’s roles in society. He did use the stories and the work of women in a few examples. There was no recognition of women’s previous efforts (such as women’s suffrage) or ongoing work to achieve equality. (The sermons predate second-wave feminism). There is no doubt that he believed in social justice, and he spoke up for racial and religious tolerance. It is easy to think his beliefs would have eventually led him to speak for the rights of women and the LGBTQ community – as Coretta Scott King certainly did. Throughout his sermons, Dr. King often used the word schizophrenic to mean divided, while otherwise having an appreciation for mental health, so perhaps this is “of his time.” He focuses on suffering, saying the oppressed must be able to bear unlimited suffering and find value in suffering while resisting. In my opinion, there is a fine line in Christianity when it comes to glorifying suffering. The one thing I objected to was his dismissal of humanism as too optimistic and not realistic about sin and evil; and the need for one’s faith/hope/love/courage/suffering to be justified by Jesus. But since he was a Baptist minister, I do not expect him to defend atheism and humanism.

I thought this was a fantastic book. It showed the roots of Dr. King’s ideas, explained his religious faith, and outlined his philosophy of nonviolence. It was optimistic and inspiring. And some of the lines could have been written this week:

“Few people have the toughness of mind to judge critically and to discern the true from the false, the fact from the fiction. Our minds are constantly being invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices and false facts.” – from A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart (sermon), 1959

A Strength to Love is out of print and has been replaced by the expanded edition A Gift of Love.

[Talat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. King's eloquence, rhetorical power and Christian witness inspire at every turn of phrase. each page is saturated with prophetic power. "Strength to Love" (1963) is a collection of sermons that Dr. King delivered in the late 1950s and 1960s and edited for print. I feel challenged to identify what the most powerful part of this book is. Every page seems to bear the best of the book's message. Dr. King's gospel of social justice and non-violence consistently radiates forth. Of special interest to me is Dr. King's explanation of the formative role of Gandhi's satyagraha movement on Dr. King and the civil rights and freedom movement. In at least one proleptic passage, Dr. King sounds the call against war, though it would not be until April 4, 1967 (yes, mysteriously one year to the day before he was assassinated) that he would explicitly warn us that our nation would lose her soul if it continued its involvement in Vietnam. The sermons are simply gorgeous. Dr. King weaves his own reflections and urgings with poetry, African-american spirituals, and philosophy. This is truly a book that transmits the transformative message of Jesus. Dr. King also discusses the influence of Gandhi and the _satyagraha_ movement on his thinking and on the subsequent unfolding of the civil rights movement and Dr. King's later decision to take a stand against the war in Vietnam.

[Cassie Dishman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A religion that professes a concern for the souls of men and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a spiritually moribund religion.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This books was excellent. Challenging, comforting, deeply moving. I highly recommend it.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be."

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude."

"Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated."

[Rachel | All the RAD Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate to admit it, but it took me this long to finally read a book by MLK himself. It was incredible— rich, thought-provoking, Gospel-centered, timely, relevant, powerful.

[Jehnya Footitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this. Don’t get turned away by the constant talk of Christianity and being a follower of Jesus. I feel like it is so incredibly important to read this book thinking about the bigger picture. What a great way to get to know how MLK thought on a deeper level than just his most popular speeches. I’m really glad that I ended up purchasing this book, because I already know I’m going to be re-reading this slower and when I feel like I could use some important life reminders. A true eye-opening read.

[Nick Klagge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book of King's sermons to be very moving. I started thinking about reading it because of the whole tiff-taff over the fake King quote circulating on Twitter after the OBL assassination. (Despite not being a direct quote from King, it certainly expressed a sentiment consistent with his philosophy, and was more or less a paraphrase of a passage in this book.)

Before reading StL, I was of course familiar with King in a cultural sense and had read a couple of his writings such as "Letter from Birmingham Jail," but none of his more intellectual or religious work. If you are the same way, I would urge you to read StL, particularly if you consider yourself a Christian. It evinces a depth of intellectual engagement (both theological and philosophical) that adds a lot of perspective to the work King did in the world.

One intellectual concept that particularly stuck with me, which King actually attributes to someone else (Harry Emerson Fosdick, for those of you keeping score at home), is the distinction between enforceable and unenforceable obligations, which he discusses in the context of the story of the Good Samaritan. Unenforceable obligations, writes King, "concern inner attitudes, genuine person-to-person relations, and expressions of compassion which law books cannot regulate and jails cannot rectify" (37). The story of the Good Samaritan is significant because of his commitment to unenforceable obligations. (King, obviously, also cared a great deal about enforceable obligations!) I feel like discussion of unenforceable obligations is largely missing in modern political discourse, and that's part of why I find significance in reading King, Teddy Roosevelt, Stanley Hauerwas, and others who pay attention to virtue.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two words: Read It.

Whether an agnostic, devout protestant, curious catholic or even aethist... this is the quintiessential compilation of sermons and speeches by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Read and discover why we celebrate this man. A visionary beyond words, yet it is through words that we understand the greatest realms of his imagination.

Im still an agnostic, but after reading I feel like ive finally discovered the power of "the word" and gained respect for a man of his time but who was outside of it.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

• No sabía yo que esto era un libro de sermones 😬 (parece ser que Dios y yo nos vamos a volver cercanos en la línea 3 los próximos días).
• Amo un poco los sermones jajsjaja, me gusta como están construidos, son como muy bonitos.
• Leer misa a las 8am es algo que nunca pensé que haría.
• El concepto de política de la avestruz me parece increíble.

Ha estado bien y me ha gustado bastante pero ha sido demasiada religión para mí. Además siento que los primeros sermones es mucha movida política con algo de religión y los últimos es mucha movida religiosa con un recordatorio político. Pero bueno, al final es culpa mía porque no deja de ser un libro de sermones. Si lo que buscas es acción no violenta desde el amor cristiano, esta en 100% tu movida.

[Hannah Flowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book of sermons highly enough. Words written 63 years ago still ring true today. People like to talk a lot about MLK and what he did, or what they think about what he did, but I find his words alone far more compelling than any commentary on his life. Dr. King's emphasis on forgiveness, modeling Christ by loving ones enemies, courage in the face of fear, and the importance of living out love with action is a reminder to all of us.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strength to Love is a compilation of sermons by Dr. King that includes many of the quotes by him that are circulated on MLK day and throughout the year. These sermons provide a necessary context for each quote. They reveal Dr. King’s commitment to eliminating racial injustice and economic injustice. They reveal his disapproval of police brutality and poverty. They reveal the man who called on the church to address racism and segregation within its own walls and in communities across the country through social action. Today, this Dr. King, who was disliked by many, is often erased from conversations and lessons on his legacy.

In contrast to erasing Dr. King’s commentary on racial and economic injustice, the opposite trend I’ve seen people adopt when discussing Dr. King’s legacy is separating him from his faith in God. While the quotes that are circulated on MLK day and throughout the year are inspiring to Christians and non-Christians, it is important to remember that they are inspired by the Bible, rooted in Dr. King’s faith in Christ, and a product of his relationship with the Lord. Simply put, Dr. King wouldn’t be Dr. King without his faith in God. In an essay entitled “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” discussing the Civil Rights Movement’s Non-Violent approach, Dr. King said: “Christ furnished the spirit and motivation and Gandhi furnished the method.”

In his sermon titled “God Is Able,” Dr. King describes how after receiving threats for weeks, he began to realize that the threats were in “earnest.” One night, he answered his phone and an angry person said: “‘Listen, n*gger, we’ve taken all we want from you. Before next week you’ll be sorry you ever came to Montgomery.'” After hanging up, Dr. King says he reached “the saturation point” and that “all his fears had come down on him at once.” In his immense fear, he decided to “take the problem to God,” praying: “‘I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.'”

He continues, saying: “At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced him. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice, saying, ‘Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever.’ Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm. Three nights later, our home was bombed. Strangely enough, I accepted the word of the bombing calmly. My experience with God had given me a new strength and trust. I knew now that God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life.”

Strength to Love reveals that, like Harriet Tubman, Dr. King’s faith in God was vital to His success as a minister and a champion for the eradication of poverty and racial injustice. His faith in God– in spite of persecution, threats, ridicule, and mocking– is inspiring and serves as a reminder to me, as a Christian, that God is indeed able.

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Luther King Jr was not only a civil right activist; he was also, first and foremost, a pastor. This part of his personality is often overlooked (if not forgotten) yet it's crucial to fully understand him. Indeed, his faith fuelled his political engagement and militant activities.

Here's a short collection, then, gathering some of his most representative sermons. We discover a man deeply shaped by his Christianity, to the point of using the Gospels as a weapon to deeply transform an unfair society. Luther King Jr being quite smart, open minded, and everything but a bigot, it's a book which is very interesting to get to grip with his motivating convictions; from his views on Communism and the Cold War to the relevance of Jesus in addressing societal issues plaguing then the USA (the book dates back to 1964), as seen through the prism of his Christian faith.

Now, of course, as an atheist, I couldn't but smile at his reading and interpreting of the Bible (e.g. his cherry picking to suit his prejudices) and at his own contradictions when it comes to science and religion. Personally, I also found him annoying at times (e.g. his disregarding of Humanism). Having said that, these are personal criticisms stemming from personal opinions that were not his (I am everything but a spiritual person). My disagreements, then, were predictable; although they don't take anything away from the relevance of his core message.

All in all, then, here's a good read to help understand him better.

[Efox · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Admitting the weighty problems and staggering disappointments, Christianity affirms that God is able to give us the power to meet them. He is able to give us the inner equilibrium to stand tall amid the trials and burdens of life. He is able to provide an inner peace amid outer storms. This inner stability of the man of faith is Christ's chief legacy to his disciples. He offers neither material resources nor a magical formula that exempts us from suffering and persecution, but he brings an imperishable gift: "Peace I leave with you." this is that peace which passeth all understanding."

This is the only passage I have highlighted from when I first read this book in College. It still spoke to me this time, in a powerful and profound way. A collection of Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermons, this book was amazing on many different levels. It does a phenomenal job of explaining his intellectual and theological underpinnings for nonviolent activism and for general Christian activism against social injustice - wherever it may be found. Additionally, the sermons were very heartening, thought provoking and spiritually uplifting, even though my time and situation are different. I strongly recommend this book. Very, very good!

[Cami · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Science investigates, religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power, religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts, religion deals with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralysing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.”

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 of MLK's sermons that were tweaked and compiled into a book. Many are great. The last one, explaining how his ideas about non-violence developed, is excellent, and well worth the price of the book.

[Jack Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of sermons by MLK, this book exemplifies the deep conviction and strong voice with which he spoke. I always come away from his work amazed at his resolute commitment to the philosophy of non-violence and love in the face of such extreme hate and bigotry. Of course, this was only possible through a corresponding belief and personal encounter with a divine presence in Jesus Christ that was with him in the midst of deep suffering and continuous trials.

There are a few themes that stuck with me throughout his many different sermons.

1. A firm commitment to the needs others and a refusal to return hate for hate is the hallmark of a true believer.

“We so often ask “What will happen to my job, my prestige, or my status if I take a stand on this issue? Will my home be bombed, will my life be threatened, or will I be jailed?” The good man always reverses the question. Abraham Lincoln did not ask “What will happen to me if I issue the Emancipation Proclamation and bring an end to chattel slavery?” but he asked “What will happen to the Union and to the millions of Negro people, if I fail to do it?” The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy” (p. 26).

2. A faith that cares only for one’s spiritual needs and future hope while rejecting his earthly body and the present injustices that entangle him is a weak and meaningless one.

“It (the church) has often been so absorbed in a future good “over yonder” that it forgets the present evils “down here”. Yet the church is challenged to make the gospel of Jesus Christ relevant within the social situation. We must come to see that the Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one side, it seeks to change the souls of men and thereby unite them with God; on the other, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so that the soul will have a chance after it is changed. Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and yet is not concerned with the economic and social conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is the kind the Marxist describes as an “opiate of the people” (p. 104).

3. The destiny of any one group is inextricably tied to the destinies of the others. Injustice not only hurts the oppressed but twists and distorts the heart of the oppressor.

“In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality” (p. 69).

4. Our response to injustice has to be an urgent one. We are not meant to sit back and wait for God to act. We are meant to be, like Paul, a “chosen instrument” of the Lord to bring his message to those in need while also relying on the Lord and being in constant prayer. It is meant to be both, not one or the other.

“No prodigious thunderbolt from heaven will blast away all evil. No mighty army of angels will descend to force men to do what their wills resist. The Bible portrays God not as an omnipotent czar who makes all decisions for his subjects nor as a cosmic tyrant who with gestapo-like methods invades the inner lives of men but rather as a living Father who gives to his children such abundant blessings as they may be willing to receive. Always man must be willing to do something. “Stand upon thy feet” says God to Ezekiel “and I will speak to you” (p. 139).

[Kabir · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was led to this while taking down Ryan’s wall and I read a quote by MLK out of All About Love by bell hooks, it read, “man is caught in an inescapable network mutuality”. I was like YES and so i knew it was time to revisit the King. We know the american education system is poopoo yes but man i was done a huge disservice by MLK largely being omitted outside of he gave a speech, led a boycott, and was assassinated. I’m not religious by any traditional means however what I learned about this man in these short 160 pages of sermons was so inspiring, insightful, and added so much to what I thought I knew about him.

First and foremost this man was a serious intellectual, i love how this underpins his faith as a whole. And his faith underpins entirely his fight for social justice. I love how he used preaching as a means to an end, his impact must have been so much more far reaching because he was rooted in the church whose own community is so huge. I also really appreciated his constant critique of the church and his emphasis on the social responsibility of the church. All faiths could take a page out of his book tbh.

Kinda made me look at christianity all misty eyed, i don’t believe i will ever be a christian, but he painted it beautifully as this religion of hope and resistance.

What was interesting to me was his inseparability of the effort for social change and man’s journey to good, from God and faith. Again I am not religious, so at first I thought he’s taking this too far, but the way I took it, as a non religious person, is that you need faith period in order to create change and combat societal evils. Whether your immovable mast of faith is in God or not, you need it to make anything shake. I think I have strong faith, it’s just not rooted in God. I wonder what he would make of that.

I disagree with him that man cannot save himself alone. I think he takes away the agency and the power of man to do for himself, yes you need action and yes you need faith with that action, but belief in God is just a form that faith can take. His argument against communism was also unconvincing.

I hate he was murdered, especially so soon. He had really only just begun to practically use and reveal the power of nonviolent resistance. I wonder what things might have looked like had he lived a full life.

In conclusion, this was such a great introduction to MLK. What an inspiring, intelligent, resilient, and powerful man.

[Ruomie Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is one of those books you hold with so much reverence to an extent of not exactly wanting to review it, because of fear of misrepresenting the author’s intent.

With that said, I am just going to quote a few nuggets of wisdom I picked from this book, hoping that will help you determine whether it’s for you or not.

✨ Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
✨ One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong.
✨ Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude
✨ The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy
✨ We (Christians) are called to be people of conviction, not conformity; of moral nobility, not social respectability. We are commanded to live differently and according to a higher loyalty.
✨Most people, and Christians in particular, are thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority opinion, not thermostats that transform and regulate the temperature of society.
✨ Be sure that the means you employ are as pure as the end you seek

[sarah gabriella torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderfully written book. where was this in my political philosophy classes????? mlk truly was a gift to humanity. living life with non-violence, with an open heart, with unconditional love is all we should be striving for. i did skim through the chapters that were overly focused on god's love & knowledge. i grew up catholic and never really found peace or belonging in that kind of thought but the reminder of believing in something greater than yourself was appreciated (and honestly really needed have not been in touch with my faith this year #ihaveabandonedmeditation #failingasawannabebuddhist). only towards the end will you find chapters solely dedicated to god & christianity. every chapter feels so relevant to 2025 and so applicable to most issues we are facing. king is so freaking articulate and passionate. love is strength! love is everything! hate is just fear! our division will cease to exist if we learn to live through love and non-violence. having faith is so important. maybe that's my main takeaway. idt it really matters what kind of faith you have or what your "god" looks like, but the belief in something greater is the change in perspective and perception humanity needs. 5/5 (even tho i skimmed a little but its not bc of u reverend u killed it and u were just doing ur job as the man of god u were) seriously disappointed that i never read this in my political philosophy classes those discussions wouldve been fire this shit ROCKED

[Marcian Enache-Poti · Rating 5 out of 5]

One must read this book to understand that Martin Luther King Jr. is more than the historical figure who fought and won against racial injustice and whose tragic end marked an important page in history. Just as strength to love is more and beyond the mundane romantic understanding our society generally tends to invests in the word "love".
Unexpected, impressive, inspirational and a valuable lesson about life, virtues, attitude and meaning. And it all sums up to love.
This book feels like the essence of the man and figure Martin Luther King Jr.
Thus I very much look forward to reading his other writings.