Laying Claim to Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Legacy

An Ethical Assessment of Social Gospel Historiography

Bibliographic Data

ID14760434
AuthorsKaren V Guth (0009-0000-9797-6859, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume48
Issue1
Pages26-44
Publication date2020-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12300
OpenAlexW3008135118
LanguageEN
References cited12

This essay assesses the oft‐made link between Walter Rauschenbusch and Martin Luther King Jr. Denying neither Rauschenbusch’s influence on King nor King’s social gospel status, it nevertheless questions the way historians locate Rauschenbusch’s legacy in King and the civil rights movement. This strategy, however unintentionally, reproduces the white social gospel’s “astigmatism” on race and undermines the contributions of black social gospel (and other neglected) leaders even as revised histories affirm them. After exploring King’s references to Rauschenbusch and Rauschenbusch’s reflections on race, the paper compares their theologies. This comparison reveals key differences on race and economic justice that ramify across Rauschenbusch’s and King’s distinctive articulations of social gospel categories, further complicating historians’ claims on King. Oversimplifying the connection between these important figures in religious ethics distorts theological understanding of social gospel legacies and compromises their power for future generations

Civil rights · Gospel · Martin luther king · Political science · Power (physics · Race (biology · Social Gospel · Sociology · Theology · White (mutation · American Constitutional Law and Politics · American Political and Social Dynamics · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies · Religious Studies

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