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The Beloved Community

Charles Marsh · 2006

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About the book

U.Va. Regligious Studies professor Marsh argues that the Civil Rights movement was, at its core, a Christian attempt to forge a "beloved community" of believers who identify with the poor and dispossessed and seek justice on their behalf. As his alternative telling unfolds, he introduces readers to a Martin Luther King Jr. they may not recognize (one who looked forward to a life of privilege and comfort until he was forced into leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott), as well as lesser-known figures such as Koinonia farm founder Clarence Jordan and Voices of Calvary founder John Perkins. Both of these men, like many others featured in the book, came to activism by way of Christian faith and belie the popular notion of "the civil rights movement as a secular movement that used religion to its advantage." Marsh laces his narrative with powerful critiques of secularism-among both activists and academics-and of white evangelical Christians for shallow, ineffectual concern for the poor and for people of color.

Book details

Year
2006
Language
English
Publisher
Perseus Books Group
Editions
2
Pages
292
ISBN
9780465044160

Data source: Wikidata

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