CADRE Comments

I have been mostly absent from CADRE recently, as I have been devoting a lot of time to teaching and adjusting to life in a new community. I have some new posts in the works, including a review of Michael Licona's book on the resurrection. But as it is Martin Luther King day, I want to repost an excerpt from one of his essays that I find powerfully moving (it is from "My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence"). It is especially so in light of an astonishing fact I learned yesterday: according to the book by Arthur Raper, The Tragedy of Lynching , from 1889 to 1929 a black person was either hanged or burned alive every four days. MLK was undoubtedly aware of these facts. How could anyone in his position in their right mind want peaceful reconciliation with the white man? King gives the reason in this passage: In recent months I have also become more and more convinced of the reality of a personal God . True, I have always believed in the personality of God. But in past years the idea ...

I know Black History Month is over and Martin Luther King, Jr. day was weeks ago but belatedly I would like to honor his legacy by quoting at length a remarkable passage from one of his essays. Whenever I despair about the state of the world and the immensity of human cruelty, these words inspire me to hope, and remind me that such hope cannot be based upon faith in human goodness, but only the power of God's love: In recent months I have also become more and more convinced of the reality of a personal God. True, I have always believed in the personality of God. But in past years the idea of a personal God was little more than a metaphysical category which I found theologically and philosophically satisfying. Now it is a living reality that has been validated in the experiences of everyday life. Perhaps the suffering, frustration and agonizing moments which I have had to undergo occasionally as a result of my involvement in a difficult struggle have drawn me closer to God. Whatever...