The main concern of this book is to offer a comprehensive analysis of Martin Luther King’s appeal for civil rights by providing an explication of how he understood imago Dei in contrast to theological thinkers dating from as early as the 5th century. From his position as mediating theologian, Martin Luther King drew at least three major conclusions from his explication of imago Dei that ultimately formed the basis of his appeal and the core of this book’s reconsideration of his theology. His first theological conclusion is strikingly similar to that of his early black church and abolitionist p ... More

The main concern of this book is to offer a comprehensive analysis of Martin Luther King’s appeal for civil rights by providing an explication of how he understood imago Dei in contrast to theological thinkers dating from as early as the 5th century. From his position as mediating theologian, Martin Luther King drew at least three major conclusions from his explication of imago Dei that ultimately formed the basis of his appeal and the core of this book’s reconsideration of his theology. His first theological conclusion is strikingly similar to that of his early black church and abolitionist predecessors; it argues that all individuals, as children of God, are equally valued in as much as they are birthed with an inherent dignity that ultimately represents the requisite for the bestowal of just and fair treatment. His second and third conclusions regarding the bearing of imago Dei on humanity’s capacity to actualize sociopolitical equity and beloved community advance Martin Luther King into new and in somewhat uncharted theological terrain. While unapologetically filtered through the lens of his Christian faith, the doctrine of imago Dei provided Martin Luther King with an anthropology that was capable of addressing community beyond provincial notions of justice for its own pursuit, so as to offer the broadest possibility for human interest and mutual cooperation.