King Came Preaching

Mervyn Warren offers you a journey into the preaching of Martin Luther King Jr., a homiletical biography exploring King's sermons, use of language, delivery and more.

The Preacher King investigates Martin Luther King Jr.'s religious development from a precocious "preacher's kid" in segregated Atlanta to the most influential America preacher and orator of the twentieth century. To give the most accurate and intimate portrait possible, Richard Lischer draws almost exclusively on King's unpublished sermons and speeches, as well as tape recordings, personal interviews, and even police surveillance reports. By returning to the raw sources, Lischer recaptures King's truest preaching voice and, consequently, something of the real King himself. He shows how as the son, grandson, and great-grandson of preachers, King early on absorbed the poetic cadences, traditions, and power of the pulpit, more profoundly influenced by his fellow African-American preachers than by Gandhi and the classical philosophers. Lischer also reveals a later phase of King's development that few of his biographers or critics have addressed: the prophetic rage with which he condemned American religious and political hypocrisy. During the last three years of his life, Lischer shows, King accused his country of genocide, warned of long hot summers in the ghettos, and called for a radical redistribution of wealth. 25 years after its initial publication, The Preacher King remains a critical study that captures the crucial aspect of Martin Luther King Jr.'s identity. Human, complex, and passionate, King was the consummate American preacher who never quit trying to reshape the moral and political character of the nation.

Warner Books, in conjunction with Intellectual Properties Management, Inc., presents an extraordinary collection of sermons by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-many never before published-along with introductions an documentary of the world's leading ministers & theologians.

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 best-known homilies. King had begun working on the sermons during a fortnight in jail in July 1962. Having been arrested for holding a prayer vigil outside Albany City Hall, King and Ralph Abernathy shared a jail cell for fifteen days that was, according to King, ‘‘dirty, filthy, and ill-equipped’’ and “the worse I have ever seen.” While behind bars, he spent uninterrupted time preparing the drafts for classic sermons such as “Loving Your Enemies,” “Love in Action,” and “Shattered Dreams,” and continued to work on 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.

"In the quiet recesses of my heart," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often said, "I am fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher." No other statement could identify King better than this. Thus, the statement is the launching point for this work on preacher King's timeless messages on violence and reconciliation rooted in his theological foundation of the universal yet personal, loving God. Yang shows how King, based on that theological idea, vitalizes a pastoral and prophetic preaching voice, hoping to create reconciliation in the context of a violent reality. This concise piece is easily accessible, yet rich enough to see the continuing impact and applicability of preacher King's reconciliatory ideas in the present violent, torn-apart world that desperately awaits reconciliation.

The book benefits anyone who desires an approach to preaching that gets at listeners’ felt needs. What we have been taught about preaching and our chosen approach to preaching may not serve us or our listeners well. Thus, the preacher’s fidelity to an ineffective approach to preaching lies at the heart of the problem. This book helps preachers resolve this issue with life-situation preaching, an approach that begins with listeners’ needs. Herein readers will experience the power of life-situation preaching to address the spiritual and practical problems—challenges, struggles, and unique experiences—African-Americans face daily.

Valentino Lassiter has cast "spiritual breads" upon the waters with this compelling comparison of the historic tradition of African American preaching and the overwhelming spiritual preaching of Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King in the African American Preaching Tradition details preaching by slave preachers to present day preachers. More importantly, it shows how King's sermon content was "cut from the same loaf" as those preachers who preached justice and God's assurance in the 1600s.Lassiter has written a book that will be an important resource for pastors, seminarians, and those who are interested in the never-ending fascination with dynamic African American preaching.

Previously published in hardcover as King's Cross The most influential man to ever walk the earth has had his story told in hundreds of different ways for thousands of years. Can any more be said? Now, Timothy Keller, New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet and the man Newsweek called a “C. S. Lewis for the twenty-first century,” unlocks new insights into the life of Jesus Christ as he explores how Jesus came as a king, but a king who had to bear the greatest burden anyone ever has. Jesus the King is Keller’s revelatory look at the life of Christ as told in the Gospel of Mark. In it, Keller shows how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to look anew at our relationship with God. It is an unforgettable look at Jesus Christ, and one that will leave an indelible imprint on every reader.