“Letter from Birmingham Jail”: King’s Stand Against Social Injustice
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of biblical references served its purpose in making the clergymen realize the injustice they were really exhibiting. They may have claimed that King and his protestors were actually doing the morally wrong thing in their nonviolent protest that, according to them, instigated violence, but they were simply turning a blind eye from the truth of their actions. Since the receivers of King’s letter, as well as King himself, were all ministers, he frequently references biblical characters and stories because of how deeply rooted the Bible is in their professions and much of an impact it makes in driving the main point. One of the first things King addresses is how he was not as unwanted and undeserving of being in Birmingham as the eight clergymen had originally …show more content…
He was not the only one to go out of his own familiar territory in order to spread an important concept. “[T]he Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world,” just as King had been “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond [his] own home town” (King 148). Since Paul was one of the main authors of the New Testament, the clergymen would have definitely understood King’s reference. Paul was considered an outsider to many, but he continued to preach the gospel of Christ for as long and far as he possibly could. Comparing Paul’ situation to what King had done, it is quite easy to see how King was not as much of an outsider as the clergymen had originally claimed. This was a fact the clergymen could not deny, especially since this was most likely a topic they had come across in their own respective
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of biblical references served its purpose in making the clergymen realize the injustice they were really exhibiting. They may have claimed that King and his protestors were actually doing the morally wrong thing in their nonviolent protest that, according to them, instigated violence, but they were simply turning a blind eye from the truth of their actions. Since the receivers of King’s letter, as well as King himself, were all ministers, he frequently references biblical characters and stories because of how deeply rooted the Bible is in their professions and much of an impact it makes in driving the main point. One of the first things King addresses is how he was not as unwanted and undeserving of being in Birmingham as the eight clergymen had originally …show more content…
He was not the only one to go out of his own familiar territory in order to spread an important concept. “[T]he Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world,” just as King had been “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond [his] own home town” (King 148). Since Paul was one of the main authors of the New Testament, the clergymen would have definitely understood King’s reference. Paul was considered an outsider to many, but he continued to preach the gospel of Christ for as long and far as he possibly could. Comparing Paul’ situation to what King had done, it is quite easy to see how King was not as much of an outsider as the clergymen had originally claimed. This was a fact the clergymen could not deny, especially since this was most likely a topic they had come across in their own respective