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BOOKS
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See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, by Valarie Kaur

This book review includes a video of the reviewer’s interview with Valarie Kaur.

Excerpt from See No Stranger: “’Revolutionary love’ is the choice to labor for others, for our opponents, and for ourselves in order to transform the world around us. It begins with wonder: You are a part of me I do not yet know. It is not a formal code or prescription but an orientation to life that is personal and political, sustained by joy. Loving only ourselves is escapism; loving only our opponents is self-loathing; loving only others is ineffective. All three practices together make love revolutionary, and revolutionary love can only be practiced in community.”

Valarie Kaur's website has a Learning Hub, rich in resources and spiritual practices that guide us to interconnectedness and understanding of her concept of revolutionary love that leads to the Beloved Community.

Brothers in the Beloved Community, by Marc Andrus:

The never-before-told story of the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh—icons who changed each other and the world.

The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a heartbroken letter to their mutual friend Raphael Gould. He said: “I did not sleep last night…. They killed Martin Luther King. They killed us. I am afraid the root of violence is so deep in the heart and mind and manner of this society. They killed him. They killed my hope. I do not know what to say…. He made so great an impression in me. This morning I have the impression that I cannot bear the loss.”

Only a few years earlier, Thich Nhat Hanh had written an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. as part of his effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. There was an unexpected outcome of Nhat Hanh’s letter to King: The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a short period of time. Dr. King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He wrote: “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”

The two men bonded over a vision of the Beloved Community: a vision described recently by Congressman John Lewis as “a nation and world society at peace with itself.” It was a concept each knew of because of their membership within the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace organization, and that Martin Luther King Jr. had been popularizing through his work for some time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Andrus shows, took the lineage of the Beloved Community from King and carried it on after his death.

In Brothers in the Beloved Community, Marc Andrus tells the little-known story of a friendship between two giants of our time.

Dear White Peacemakers: Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace, by Osheta Moore

Book review

This book draws on the Sermon on the Mount, Spirituals, and personal stories from Osheta Moore’s work as a pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota. She invites white Christians to work together to build the Beloved Community as anti-racism peacemakers. Osheta Moore’s website says that this book is a breakup letter to division, a love letter to God’s beloved community, and an eviction notice to the violent powers that have sustained racism for centuries.

Strength to Love, by Martin Luther King Jr.

Context and background

Book review

Background: Strength to Love is a collection of Dr. King’s writings, some composed in jails, all written during the tumultuous years of the civil rights struggle. Coretta Scott King, in the Foreword, says: “If there is one book Martin Luther King Jr. has written that people consistently tell me has changed their lives, it is Strength to Love. I believe it is because this book best explains the central element of Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence. His belief in a divine, loving presence that binds all life.”

ARTICLES

Becoming the Beloved Community excerpt

Becoming a Beloved Community, a Matthew 25 Journey to the Cross (Presbyterians Today 2020 Lenten Devotional)

Living as the Beloved Community: Cultural Competency

Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community

Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This video provides fascinating background and context to Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous letter.

A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, by Martin Luther King Jr.

A collection of Dr. King’s seminal writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections.

What is White Privilege, Really?

This article offers a clear discussion of white privilege: what it is, how to think about it and what to do about it.

Thickening Webs on the Christian Right

This article is concerned with the often-unnoticed efforts by the Christian Right. It describes the expansive plans by Project 2025 to control and in some cases dismantle federal agencies, among other reports.

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