Books

Faith-Based Activism

Christianity fuels social justice in The Beloved Community.

Charles Marsh’s The Beloved Community (now available in paperback) reminds us that the civil rights movement was, at heart, a faith-based phenomenon inspired by a radical understanding of the gospel. Marsh, a professor of religion at the University of Virginia and author of the acclaimed God’s Long Summer, drives this point home in his sweeping survey of the men and women who led the nonviolent charge to usurp the racist social and political order of the Jim Crow era.

Marsh decries the marginalization of faith in our record of the civil rights revolution. He writes: “The worldly body of Christ remains the only real counterculture, precisely because it is the place where obedience, gratitude, and praise create free, complex, and multiracial spaces—the most enduring source of forgiveness and reconciliation in a violent and balkanized world.”

With vigorous scholarship, Marsh fills in the missing pieces by connecting the witness of Martin Luther King Jr. to less-heralded, more explicitly evangelical leaders. Clarence Jordan’s Koinonia Farm in Georgia was ahead of its time in modeling intentional community and racial reconciliation.

And John Perkins’s Voice of Calvary ministry in Mississippi gave rise to a new generation of faith-based activists, in effect recovering—and then expanding—the original spiritual thrust of King’s dream.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

The Beloved Community is available from ChristianBook.com, Amazon.com (paperback), and other retailers.

An interview with the author about The Beloved Community is available on our site.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

News

Red-Light Rescue

The Problem with Hating Religion

Don't Mess with Missions

An Upside-Down World

Creation or Evolution? Yes!

Mega-Headache

Family Feud

News

Surprised by Friendship

The Story of America?

Give Parents a Say

<em>Ricardo the Fierce</em>

Dethroned

Simple Process, Vibrant Church

Signs of the Church

Mere Mission

The Beatles' Spiritual Journeys

Editorial

Go Gently into That Good Night

Sex Isn't Work

News

Child Sex Tours

The Scandal of Forgiveness

A Tale of Five Herods

Editorial

Reviewing the Fundamentals

Top Ten Stories of 2006

News

Passages

News

Christianity Today News Briefs

News

Quotation Marks

Fleeing Nineveh

Blue Law Special

News

Go Figure

News

Status Quota

Ghost Growth

The Year Conservatives Saved Christmas

Spoils of Victory

The Pain at New Life

Devastated by an Affair

Salvation Army Wins Battle

View issue

Our Latest

News

Black Clergy and Christians Grapple with Charlie Kirk’s Legacy

Many say the activist’s inflammatory statements on race should inform how we remember his life.

News

A Sudden Death: Voddie Baucham, Who Warned the Church of Fault Lines

Known for confronting critical theory, moral relativism, and secular ideologies, Baucham died a month into leading a new seminary in Florida.

Why Many Black Christians Reject the Evangelical and Mainline Labels

The history of a prominent church pastored by MLK in Alabama shows the reason African Americans often don’t embrace either term.

News

Pastor Abducted in Nigeria Amid Escalating Kidnapping Crisis

Armed gang continues to hold him after family paid the ransom.

Review

The Liturgy of American Charisma

Historian Molly Worthen studies dynamic leaders, eager followers, and their shared efforts to “consecrate a new reality.”

Inside the Ministry

The Next Gen Initiative

Casting a captivating vision of following Jesus for the next generation.

News

Where Refugees Were Seen as an Opportunity from God

In Sweden, a church continues to advocate evangelism of Muslims, despite criticism from all sides.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube