Recently a pair of mourning doves chose a high shelf on the front of our home to build their nest. They flew back and forth for days, twigs in their beaks, cooing excitedly. When the delicate construction was complete, it…
How many indictments will be too many?
America got dueling news regarding Donald Trump this week. We learned the 2024 presidential candidate is so far ahead in the Republican primary polls that he appears to be a shoo-in for renomination. And at the same time, we learned…
On its 60th anniversary, ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ still speaks
Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is as relevant and hard-hitting today as it was when penned in 1963, a panel of religious leaders said at Georgetown University. For one, King’s audience is the same now as…
Broken covenant: An interview with Vann Newkirk II about ‘Holy Week,’ MLK and white supremacy
Vann Newkirk II is senior editor of The Atlantic and one of our most thoughtful and talented writers on race, politics and culture. I first met him years ago when Baylor University sponsored an annual film program on race and…
MLK’s civil rights work was an outgrowth of his Baptist tradition, author explains
Martin Luther King’s role as a Civil Rights leader was heavily influenced by the Baptist tradition that gave structure to his ministry and activism, Jeremiah Chester said during a webinar presented by Baptist History and Heritage Society. “We can’t separate…
Woke, awake or unfaithful? Racism in the white church
Feb. 16-18 at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, we convened our second national conversation about racism in the white church, “Time to Wake Up.” Although those attending were passionate about the program and online and social media comments before, during and…
Questions to ask while pondering if Asbury is hosting a ‘true revival’
Surprise! It’s a revival! So said Thomas H. McCall, a theology professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, located adjacent to the ongoing spiritual event at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky. “Sometimes God does what Johnathan Edwards called ‘surprising work’ and what John…
What I learned from meeting Martin Luther King in Louisville and Josie in Hopkinsville
I watched a movie one night recently called Selma. It was about the 1965 freedom march in Selma, Ala., led by Martin Luther King Jr. Given all of the turmoil now roiling our country regarding Black Lives Matter, I wanted…
The other speech Martin Luther King gave at Southern Seminary in 1961
Sixty-two years ago this spring, Martin Luther King Jr. famously preached in chapel at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. The date was April 19, 1961. What is less remembered is that King also spoke that day in a…
Bernice King: We must win freedom in every generation
“Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.” So says Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and director of the King Center in Atlanta. There, the theme of this new year is…
Martin Luther King preached freedom in Africa too
At the height of his fame in the 1950s and ’60s, Martin Luther King Jr. waged a two-front struggle, battling segregation and racial injustice and inequality in America and drawing attention to the challenges in Africa caused by colonialism. His…
A privileged white Southern dad reflects on racism and the legacy of MLK
“I was born a poor Black child.” So begins Steve Martin’s movie The Jerk — the first R-rated movie I saw. I was 13 and begged my college-professor father to take me. As we were leaving his office, he asked…