Strength to Love

Over the coming months, I’m planning to post each week, alternating between longer posts that examine aspects of the Bible, theology, or religion, and shorter posts that highlight a book or other resource.  If you, dear reader, know of anything that might benefit our local pastors, please email me the details so I can add it to this blog.   
Last week, I highlighted our calling as pastors to cultivate love (1 Cor. 13:1) and to teach our congregants to love.  After I posted, it occurred to me to mention an underappreciated classic I was required to read in seminary: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Strength to Love.  If you do not know much of King’s thought beyond a few lines from “I Have a Dream” and his emphasis on nonviolent resistance, then you need to read this book!  Originally published in 1963, Strength comprises fifteen sermons King preached and later edited for this book.    
These sermons display impressive depth and maturity.  King addresses real problems of his day, going well beyond race relations: competition with the USSR and the prospect of nuclear war were heavy on people’s minds. King responds by drawing not only on the Bible but also on philosophy, history, civics, and black Christian tradition to argue that we have excellent reasons for hope. Our difficulties may be great, but history shows that God is greater.  Things will turn around; God’s plan will come to pass.
To my amazement, Amazon recently dropped the e-book price to $2.99!  The paperback version is $12. With so little to lose, there is no reason not to buy; all Hampton Roads pastors must have this on their tablet or bookshelf.