Issue 11 Preaching and PrayerBlog | The Late Greats – Martin Luther King Jr
The Late Greats – Martin Luther King Jr
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 19.06.17
He was (in 1963) the man who in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington encapsulated the aspirations of black Americans: ‘I have a dream’. He was (in 1964) awarded the Noble Peace Prize for a non-violent campaign that saw segregation in the USA finally outlawed. He was (in 1968) the civil rights leader who was assassinated and whose birthday (from 1986) has been commemorated as a National Holiday in the US. But, above all else, Martin Luther King was a Baptist preacher.
Born in 1929, King was called Michael until a sabbatical in Europe took his father to Berlin and an encounter with German Protestantism. On his return, King Sr renamed both himself and his son ‘Martin Luther’.1 Martin Jr proved to be academically gifted; he trained for ministry at the Crozer Seminary in Pennsylvania; a PhD from Boston University followed. His first pastorate was at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he quickly assumed a principal part in the bus boycott that followed the arrest of Rosa Parks. From there his influence as a leader of the civil rights movement grew and he was in demand as a preacher and speaker across the Southern states. In 1960 he returned to his home church, Ebenezer, in Atlanta where he served as his father’s copastor until his death.
