Search for the Beloved Community: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. [Paperback]

Kenneth L. Smith (Author), Ira G. Zepp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

Updated from the original version published in 1974, Search for the Beloved Community examines the thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the influences that shaped it. Late co-author Kenneth L. Smith was one of King’s seminary professors. His firsthand knowledge of King’s seminary studies provides the background for an incisive analysis of the influences of the Christian tradition and of Mahatma Gandhi upon this outstanding leader.

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Judson Pr (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817012826
• ISBN-13: 978-0817012823
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #87 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( K ) > King, Martin Luther

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE ONE BOOK TO BUY ABOUT THE REVEREND DR. KING AND HIS THEOLOGY OF PEACE WITH REAL JUSTICE, May 26, 2007

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This review is from: Search for the Beloved Community: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. (Paperback)

The greatest loss for our nation lies in the fact we are permitted to remember no more than four small words from all of Dr. King's years of public eloquence and powerful writings for peace with justice.

King had more than a dream. He bore the eschatalogical vision of every true Christian, of agape and of the march towards the beloved community of all humanity in peace. He called himself the drum major of that march.

This book most deeply and comprehensively explores the thinking and preaching of Dr. King, and its Biblical and spiritual roots and authority. We have lost so much to forgetfulness and to fear and to false condemnations of the dead who cannot here defend themselves but by these their true thoughts and theology. Dr. King would not in any case waste time in defending himself from all the many false charges brought urgently against him. He would only march forward to peace and liberation in Our Lord. Let these words and thoughts which remain inform and inspire us now in these darkening days of injustice and death. We have not lost his leadership entirely. Smith and Zepp do us an immeasurable service in so deeply discovering the true thought of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

How much we lost. How far have we strayed from the path to God's Compassionate and Merciful Peace. Yet how rich is this book and how generously Dr. King still leads us on our march to one family in peace.

Please study also Strength to Love and Dr. King's several other writings. But especially and above all study closely this one book, if only one it can be. Dr. King preached far more than only four little words.