In an Inescapable Network of Mutuality: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Globalization of an Ethical Ideal

The scholarship on Martin Luther King Jr. has too often cast him in the image of the Southern black preacher and the American Gandhi, while ignoring or trivializing his global connections and significance. This groundbreaking work, written by scholars, religious leaders, and activists of different backgrounds, addresses this glaring pattern of neglect in King studies. King is treated here as both a global figure and a forerunner of much of what is currently associated with contemporary globalization theory and praxis. The contributors to this volume agree that King must be understood not only as a thinker, visionary, and social change agent in his own historical context, but also in terms of his meaning for the different generations who still appeal to him as an authority, inspiration, and model of exemplary service to humanity. The task of engaging King both in context and beyond context is fulfilled in remarkable ways in this volume, without doing essential violence to this phenomenal figure.

Lewis V. Baldwin is Professor of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University. He is the author or editor of eleven books on Martin Luther King, Jr., including The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2010).

Paul R. Dekar, Professor Emeritus at Memphis Theological Seminary, volunteers with Dundas Community Services, Canadian Friends Service Committee, Canadian Interfaith Reference Group, and wrote Thomas Merton: God's Messenger on the Road towards a New World (2021); Dangerous People: The Fellowship of Reconciliation Building a Nonviolent World of Justice, Peace, and Freedom (2016); "In an Inescapable Network of Mutuality" Martin Luther King Jr. and the Globalization of an Ethical Ideal (with Lewis V. Baldwin, 2013). Paul and Nancy have two sons and four grandkids.