The classic collection of Dr. King’s sermons that fuse his Christian teachings with his radical ideas of love and nonviolence as a means to combat hate and oppression.
As Martin Luther King, Jr., prepared for the Birmingham campaign in early 1963, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love, a volume of his most well 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. Strength to Love includes these classic sermons selected by Dr. King. 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.
“If there is one book Martin Luther King, Jr., has written that people consistently tell me has changed their lives, it is Strength to Love.”
—Coretta Scott King, foreword
Foreword to the 1981 Edition, Coretta Scott King
Preface
ONE
A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart
TWO
Transformed Nonconformist
THREE
On Being a Good Neighbor
FOUR
Love in Action
FIVE
Loving Your Enemies
SIX
A Knock at Midnight
SEVEN
The Man Who Was a Fool
EIGHT
The Death of Evil upon the Seashore
NINE
Shattered Dreams
TEN
How Should a Christian View Communism?
ELEVEN
Our God Is Able
TWELVE
Antidotes for Fear
THIRTEEN
The Answer to a Perplexing Question
FOURTEEN
Paul’s Letter to American Christians
FIFTEEN
Pilgrimage to Nonviolence
Sources