Course Descriptions

This course examines the life, work, and worldview of Martin Luther King Jr., from his roots in African-American traditions and the Black Freedom Struggle, to his culminating vision of a planetary movement linking racial justice, economic justice, and peace. Despite King’s status a global icon, the deeper dimensions of his thought and the radical directions of his later years have often been obscured. To move beyond the superficial images of King presented in education and media, we will return to the primary sources, engaging his speeches, sermons, and writings. This class will also explore new approaches to King as an ecological, cosmological, and early ‘systems’ thinker, as well as the links between his social justice activism and his holistic worldview, which emphasized the “interrelated structure of all reality.” We will place King’s work within the context of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and discuss the contemporary relevance of his vision, which was ahead of its time in linking cosmology, social justice, and ecological consciousness.