“If there is one book Martin Luther King, Jr. has written that people consistently tell me has changed their lives, it is Strength to Love.”
So wrote Coretta Scott King. She continued: “I believe it is because this book best explains the central element of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence: His belief in a divine, loving presence that binds all life.” That insight, luminously conveyed in this classic text, here presented in a new and attractive edition, hints at the personal transformation at the root of social justice: “By reaching into and beyond ourselves and tapping the transcendent moral ethic of love, we shall overcome these evils.”
In these short meditative and sermonic pieces, some of them composed in jails and all of them crafted during the tumultuous years of the civil rights struggle, Dr. King articulated and espoused in a deeply personal compelling way his commitment to justice and to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual conversion that makes his work as much a blueprint today for Christian discipleship as it was then.
Individual readers, as well as church groups and students will find in this work a challenging yet energizing vision of God and redemptive love.
In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the civil rights movement, which included his efforts to end racial segregation in the United States. The Nobel Committee specifically cited “Strength to Love” as one of the works that contributed to his selection.
In 1977, Martin Luther King Jr. was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.
