The Voice of Conscience

Before he was a civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of the church. His father was a pastor and much of young Martin''s time was spent in Baptist churches. He went on to seminary and received a Ph.D. in theology. In 1953 he took over leadership of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church was his home. But as he began working for civil rights King became a fierce critic of the churches both black and white. He railed against white Christian leaders who urged him to be patient in the struggle-or even opposed civil rights altogether. And while the black church was the platform from which King launched the struggle for civil rights he was deeply ambivalent toward the church as an institution and saw it as in constant need of reform. In this book Lewis Baldwin explores King''s complex relationship with the Christian church from his days growing up at Ebenezer Baptist to his work as a pastor to his battles with American churches over civil rights to his vision for the global church. King Baldwin argues had a robust and multifaceted view of the nature and purpose of the church that serves as a model for the church in the 21st century.