[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.” For King, the idea of liberation included the reconciliation of Egypt with its former oppressed citizenry.As we, therefore, consider King’s thoughts about human capacity, we can see the careful ways in which his theology was differentiated.It is over this question of human capacity that King begins his departure from some of the more common anthropological views adhered to in the ecclesial mainstream.k i n g ’ s t h e o l o g i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s 131His thoughts are more attuned and more readily shared by his academic mentors and peers with whom he studied.It was a framework that captured the theological tone and tenor of a school of thought known as Personalism.As he contemplated human capacity, King imagined the results of free-willed beings who could choose the direction of their chartered path, a view clearly rejected in the more fundamental circles from which he was accustomed to seeing during his youth.As McKanan explains, “Many social reformers had to conclude that their understanding of God’s presence in humanity was at odds with traditional Protestant doctrine, which stressed God’s difference from humanity and the awesomeness of divine power.” 32 Despite the dogmatism in either theologicalcamp, King explored concepts that stood the test of time, consulted the fi ndings of recent scholarship, and developed his theological anthropology.He was not bound by the thinking of his Baptist tradition or the unbridled optimism of the pacifi st or evolutionist.While hearing, and at times even borrowing, concepts from both, his would be a position that docked in neither.While King believed that integration, voting rights, decent affordable housing, educational equity, and economic justice were in society’s best long-term interests, not simply that of African Americans, he also understood that there were a host of segregationists who failed to embrace his vision of human life as interrelated and inextricably bound, gradualists who scoffed at his sense of urgency, and liberals who affi rmed his goals but denounced his process.King, however, believed in the inherent goodness of the human condition and despite these evidences of opposition held to his theological hope in the conversion and redemption of human society.As indicated in chapter 1, the early church, abolitionists, and antislavery proponents drew upon the idea of humanity created in the image of God to frame arguments for the discontinuance of slavery.That human beings were created in the image of God and were therefore justifi ed in their pursuit of just treatment were views that were fairly consistent in both King’s and his predecessors’ positions.In this respect King and his predecessors stand in close agreement regarding the meanings that were attached to how they understood human existence and its possibilities.However, unlike the black church of the preceding century, King proceeded to develop a scholarly explication of human nature so as to personally determine whether or not human beings actually retained suffi cient capacity to desire, pursue, and realize the genuine well-being of others.It was, after all, one thing to say that humanity “merited” and therefore should be moving toward a more perfect union, in which justice was experienced by all.It was quite another to suggest that that kind of theological theorizing was indeed humanly possible within the context of a pluralistic society.33 As King contemplated what it meant to be human through the lens of132t h e o l o g i c a l m e d i t a t i o nan image of God theology, he concluded with an anthropology that celebrated humanity’s capacity to desire and do that which is morally constructive.As a result of having been made in the image of God, this idea regarding human capacity represented a signifi cant shift in King’s thinking.King would often liken the social climate through which he journeyed to days that were both“dark and diffi cult.” Notwithstanding the serious challenges, King maintained a theological orientation that affi rmed humanity’s ability to experience change and to then participate in the process of ongoing change that would be redemptive and reconciling in nature.Imago Dei and Beloved CommunityThis fourth and final implication of King’s image of God conception continues to demonstrate his distinctiveness from that of the black church by broadly identifying beloved community as an intended goal of the civil rights movement, a position that stood in stark contrast to Booker T [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl trzylatki.xlx.pl
.” For King, the idea of liberation included the reconciliation of Egypt with its former oppressed citizenry.As we, therefore, consider King’s thoughts about human capacity, we can see the careful ways in which his theology was differentiated.It is over this question of human capacity that King begins his departure from some of the more common anthropological views adhered to in the ecclesial mainstream.k i n g ’ s t h e o l o g i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s 131His thoughts are more attuned and more readily shared by his academic mentors and peers with whom he studied.It was a framework that captured the theological tone and tenor of a school of thought known as Personalism.As he contemplated human capacity, King imagined the results of free-willed beings who could choose the direction of their chartered path, a view clearly rejected in the more fundamental circles from which he was accustomed to seeing during his youth.As McKanan explains, “Many social reformers had to conclude that their understanding of God’s presence in humanity was at odds with traditional Protestant doctrine, which stressed God’s difference from humanity and the awesomeness of divine power.” 32 Despite the dogmatism in either theologicalcamp, King explored concepts that stood the test of time, consulted the fi ndings of recent scholarship, and developed his theological anthropology.He was not bound by the thinking of his Baptist tradition or the unbridled optimism of the pacifi st or evolutionist.While hearing, and at times even borrowing, concepts from both, his would be a position that docked in neither.While King believed that integration, voting rights, decent affordable housing, educational equity, and economic justice were in society’s best long-term interests, not simply that of African Americans, he also understood that there were a host of segregationists who failed to embrace his vision of human life as interrelated and inextricably bound, gradualists who scoffed at his sense of urgency, and liberals who affi rmed his goals but denounced his process.King, however, believed in the inherent goodness of the human condition and despite these evidences of opposition held to his theological hope in the conversion and redemption of human society.As indicated in chapter 1, the early church, abolitionists, and antislavery proponents drew upon the idea of humanity created in the image of God to frame arguments for the discontinuance of slavery.That human beings were created in the image of God and were therefore justifi ed in their pursuit of just treatment were views that were fairly consistent in both King’s and his predecessors’ positions.In this respect King and his predecessors stand in close agreement regarding the meanings that were attached to how they understood human existence and its possibilities.However, unlike the black church of the preceding century, King proceeded to develop a scholarly explication of human nature so as to personally determine whether or not human beings actually retained suffi cient capacity to desire, pursue, and realize the genuine well-being of others.It was, after all, one thing to say that humanity “merited” and therefore should be moving toward a more perfect union, in which justice was experienced by all.It was quite another to suggest that that kind of theological theorizing was indeed humanly possible within the context of a pluralistic society.33 As King contemplated what it meant to be human through the lens of132t h e o l o g i c a l m e d i t a t i o nan image of God theology, he concluded with an anthropology that celebrated humanity’s capacity to desire and do that which is morally constructive.As a result of having been made in the image of God, this idea regarding human capacity represented a signifi cant shift in King’s thinking.King would often liken the social climate through which he journeyed to days that were both“dark and diffi cult.” Notwithstanding the serious challenges, King maintained a theological orientation that affi rmed humanity’s ability to experience change and to then participate in the process of ongoing change that would be redemptive and reconciling in nature.Imago Dei and Beloved CommunityThis fourth and final implication of King’s image of God conception continues to demonstrate his distinctiveness from that of the black church by broadly identifying beloved community as an intended goal of the civil rights movement, a position that stood in stark contrast to Booker T [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]