The Arc of Truth

<p>Martin Luther King Jr. said and wrote as much or more about the meaning nature and power of truth as any other prominent figure in the 1950s and '60s. King was not only vastly influential as an advocate for and defender of truth; he also did more than anyone in his time to organize truth into a movement for the liberation uplift and empowerment of humanity efforts that ultimately resulted in the loss of his life. Drawing on King's published and unpublished sermons speeches and writings <i>The Arc of Truth</i> explores King's lifelong pilgrimage in pursuit of truth.</p><p>Lewis Baldwin explores King's quest for truth from his inquisitive childhood to the influence of family and church to Morehouse College Crozer Theological Seminary Boston University and other academic institutions in the Northeast. Continuing on the book follows King's sense that he was involved in experiments of truth within the context of the struggle to liberate and empower humanity to his understanding of the civil rights movement as unfolding truth to his persistent challenge to America around its need to engage in a serious reckoning with truth regarding its history and heritage. Baldwin investigates King's determination to speak truth to power and his untiring efforts to actualize what he envisioned as the truthful ends of the beloved community through the truthful means of nonviolent direct action. King believed taught and demonstrated by example that truth derives from a revolution in the heart mind and soul before it can be translated into institutions and structures that guarantee freedom justice human dignity equality of opportunity and peace.</p><p>Ultimately King's significance for humanity cannot be considered only his contributions as a preacher pastor civil rights leader and world figure--he was and remains equally impactful as a theologian philosopher and ethicist whose life and thought evince an enduring search for and commitment to truth.</p>