ERIC Number: EJ1173640
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7996
EISSN: N/A
"I Just Want to Do God's Will:" Teaching Martin Luther King, Jr. as a Religious Leader
Neumann, David
Social Studies, v109 n1 p45-56 2018
Teachers often respond to the perils of teaching about religion by simply avoiding the subject. An investigation of secondary lesson plans on three prominent Martin Luther King, Jr. websites reveals little attention to the ideology of the civil rights movement, especially those touching on religious ideas. Ignoring King's religious views risks fundamentally misrepresenting his identity, his ideology, and his motivation for nonviolence. "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story", King's 1958 account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott articulates three key features of the theological framework that inspired his activism: the spiritual motivation for his leadership, the ethical basis for his strategy of nonviolent direct action, and the theological understanding of human nature that undergirded his leadership and strategy. These points provide a useful model for introducing King's ideas in the classroom. The effort to intentionally and thoughtfully teach religion could contribute one step toward inculcating genuine tolerance among students. Civil discourse is not fostered simply by identifying core principles everyone shares but also through thoughtful, critical engagement with disparate ideas, including what are, for many people, the most heavily freighted ideas.
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Clergy, Religion, Religious Factors, African Americans, Civil Rights, Activism, Lesson Plans, United States History, Secondary School Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Self Concept, Biographies, Leadership Role, Ethics, Religious Education, Prosocial Behavior, Critical Thinking, Social Studies
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A