"A French philosopher said, 'No man is strong unless he bears within his character antitheses strongly marked.'"
Review: This is a first of its kind review for me because it's the kind of book I'll go back to whenever I feel I need it. I usually don't read books like this that each chapter stands on its own but with the changes I've been going through in my life lately it was necessary that I read this book. I can't go into further detail on that just yet, but this book has been invaluable to me in the last week that I've been reading it.
This is simply a collection of sermons, many he wrote and worked on while he was in jail. What else is a man to do when alone for hours upon hours and days upon days, but write? And write he did!
"Transformed Nonconformist" is one that I've read and reread several times already. His words, if you have only heard his I Have a Dream speech, get better no matter how many times you read them. Depending on where you are in your life his words will effect each reader differently. Much like, I'm sure, Maya Angelou's writing would do.
I've heard people say, of not just Dr. Martin Luther King, but of other prominent writers and orators, that "you must read this book" or "you must listen to him/her speak" but I take a different stance from them. Sometimes you are in a great place and reading something like this might take you out of that good place you are in. There is nothing wrong with wishing not to spend your whole life knowing about the evils in this world especially if you do not feel it is your life's mission to do all you can to erradicate it. Not everyone can or will be a Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so if you must or if you want to read this book, keep that in mind. Cause he does, without warning, remove the blinders many of us wear, or make the reality we know, even more real, on humanity, and the evil that is within us all if we let evil win.
His sermons from Strength to Love is not for the faint of heart. So be careful who you recommend should read this book, if you should recommend it. First ask yourself why you read it? What did you get out of it? And what, if anything, do you hope someone else would get out of it after recommending it? These are questions I think about regardless of the author or the book, but even more so with this book.
Synopsis: The classic collection of sixteen sermons preached and compiled by Dr. King
As Dr. King prepared for the Birmingham campaign in early 1963, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love, a volume of his most best-known homilies. King had begun working on the sermons during a fortnight in jail in July 1962. While behind bars, he spent uninterrupted time preparing the drafts for works such as “Loving Your Enemies” and “Shattered Dreams,” and he continued to edit the volume after his release. A Gift of Love includes these classic sermons, along with two new preachings. Collectively they present King’s fusion of Christian teachings and social consciousness, and promote his prescient vision of love as a social and political force for change.
A Gift of Love
by The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
194 pages
Beacon Press, 1963
speeches/sermons
Continuous Reading
Rating: ★★★★★
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