Martin Luther King Jr. and the Image of God

Scholars universally acknowledge the role that Christian belief played in the social movement engendered by Martin Luther King Jr. Yet few have actually delved into the complexity of King's theology itself. The centrality of one aspect of his theology in particular - imago Dei, the belief that human beings are made in God's image - has been surprisingly overlooked.

In this book, Richard W. Wills Sr. offers a comprehensive analysis of King's appeal for civil rights by investigating his understanding of imago Dei. Wills begins by tracing the evolution of this idea through the history of Christian thought, showing the intellectual sources King drew on in constructing his own beliefs. Wills then demonstrates how King employed this idea in his civil rights work. The belief that we are all made in God's image was crucial, Wills shows, to King's understanding of human nature and equality. While King shared with many of his black church forebears the view that humanity's creation by God was a powerful argument for the equality of all people, he also took the concept much further. For King, being made in God's image meant that human beings have not only the right but also the power to reshape society and to build a beloved community on earth. Though explicitly grounded in Christian faith, the doctrine of imago Dei provided King with a theological rationale that was capable of addressing the needs of the community well beyond the walls of churches.

Wills's thorough reconsideration King's thought makes the case for his importance as a theologian. It convincingly demonstrates that the concept of imago Dei formed the heart of his theology and, in turn, that his theology was central to the unfolding of the civil rights movement.


Author: Richard Wayne Wills Sr.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 05/01/2009
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.57h x 6.36w x 0.94d
ISBN: 9780195308990

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 06/12/2009 pg. 21
Choice 01/01/2010

About the Author

Richard W. Wills Sr. is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University.

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