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Invite you to a luncheon discussion featuring
UNG SAN SUU KYI MALCOLM X DIETRICH BONOEFFER RIGOBERTA MENCHU NELSON MANDELA WINONA LADUKE FANNIE LO
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AN SUU KYI MALCOLM X DIETRICH BONOEFFER RIGOBERTA MENCHU NELSON MANDELA WINONA LADUKE FANNIE LO
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CURTISS PAUL DEYOUNG
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other traditions, countries, and ways of life.
countries, and ways of life.
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“Curtiss DeYoung stands tall
in the arena of public theology,
pioneering a whole new academic movement in
reconciliation studies. In times like these, we need
empowering reminders of the mentors, heroes and
saints whose living faith compelled them to re-imagine
the world. For those hungry to explore the connection
between spirituality and social justice, DeYoung
provides the book we’ve been waiting for.”
—Jim Wallis, President and Executive Director,
Sojourners/Call to Renewal, and author
of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets
It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It
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Challenge, Our Only Hope (1997, Judson Press).
strategies, especially reconciliation, in United
by Faith (2003, Oxford) and Reconciliation:
Our Greatest Challenge, Our Only Hope (1997,
For speaking engagements or interviews with Curtiss Paul DeYoung,
contact Bob Todd, 612.330.3234 or [email protected]
530664-0307
Living Faith
How Faith Inspires Social Justice
Curtiss Paul DeYoung
The impulse toward and of reconciliation
FEATURES
• Portraits of three of the most important and
effective activists of the last 60 years
• Explores the connection between contemplation
and action
What impels a Mohandas Gandhi or a Martin Luther King,
Jr.? How does religious experience animate a lifetime of
dedication and drive for social justice?
In this instructive and inspiring account, Christian ethicist
Curtiss DeYoung profiles three of the most dynamic and
influential religious activists of the twentieth century:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Malcolm X, and Aung San Suu Kyi—
each from a different generation, a different faith
community, and a different continent. His portraits show
how their mystic faith drove them to justice commitments
and beyond customary boundaries between people from
other traditions, countries, and ways of life.
Shelving: Religion / Ethics / Justice
Readers: General readers; college,
university and seminary professors
and students; clergy; librarians
Reading
7
Level:
ISBN-13: 978-0-8006-3841-2
ISBN-10: 0-8006-3841-7
$15.00 / CAN $18.00 / UK £8.99
Price:
5.5" x 8.5", paperback, 176 pages
Spec:
World
Rights:
Pub Date: April 2007
REL000000, REL028000
BISAC:
Living Faith is more than a set of inspiring portraits. It also
powerfully analyzes how these figures—along with such
other luminaries as Rigoberta Menchú, Nelson Mandela,
Winona LaDuke, Fannie Lou Hamer, Elie Wiesel, Thich
Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama—shared a fiery core
experience and common characteristics that empowered
their lives and work. In each, DeYoung shows, there is a
wordless experience beyond religious and social
categories. Mystic faith, he argues, grounds a distinctive
way of being, overpowers division, and models
reconciliation for our torn and conflicted new century.
Curtiss Paul DeYoung is Professor of Reconciliation
Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. A wellknown advocate and activist, he has served non-profit
agencies in New York City, Washington D.C., and
Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has written and presented
extensively on social-justice strategies, especially
reconciliation, in United by Faith (2003, Oxford) and
Reconciliation: Our Greatest Challenge, Our Only Hope
(1997, Judson Press).
To Order call 1-800-328-4648 or visit www.augsburgfortress.org
For speaking engagements or interviews call Bob Todd
at (612) 330-3234 or e-mail [email protected]
Author Bio
Curtiss Paul DeYoung is professor of reconciliation studies at
Bethel University in St. Paul, MN—one of the few such academic
positions in the United States. In addition, he serves the university
in administrative roles as the special assistant to the president for
reconciliation and community partnerships and as the director of the
South Africa term. DeYoung has earned an EdD from the University
of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, an Masters of Divinity from Howard
University School of Divinity in Washington, DC, and a BA from
Anderson University in Anderson, IN.
Curtiss DeYoung is the author or co-author of five books: Living
Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice (Fortress, 2007), United
by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the
Problem of Race (Oxford, 2003), co-written with Michael
Emerson, George Yancey, and Karen Chai Kim, Beyond
Rhetoric: Reconciliation as a Way of Life (Judson, 2000), cowritten with Samuel G. Hines, Reconciliation: Our Greatest
Challenge, Our Only Hope (Judson, 1997), and Coming
Together: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity (Judson,
1995). He is also an editor for the forthcoming The People’s Bible
(Fortress, expected 2008). DeYoung’s books have been
reviewed in Washington Post Book World, Sojourners, Christianity Today (cover story), Christian
Century, Publisher’s Weekly, Theology Today (Princeton), and featured on National Public Radio.
Prior to his current position, he was the president and CEO of the Twin Cities Urban Reconciliation
Network (TURN) in Minneapolis, MN—a grassroots relational network that empowered leaders for urban
social change from diverse racial, cultural, socio-economic, and faith perspectives. Reverend DeYoung
has also served congregations in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and New York City. He worked at the
Covenant House Times Square shelter for homeless and runaway youth in New York City. He is an
ordained minister in the Church of God (headquarters in Anderson, IN).
In 1999, DeYoung’s work shifted to include an international focus when he participated as a Fellow at
the prestigious Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria in a session that convened 70 leaders from 39
countries to discuss race and ethnicity. He has since been to South Africa on several occasions
speaking on issues of social justice and reconciliation. He has recently begun to research and reflect on
the complex challenges blocking reconciliation in Jerusalem.
DeYoung regularly speaks across the country in many varied settings including university campuses,
local congregations, national conferences, denominational conventions, and grassroots organizations.
Curtiss DeYoung has been married since 1984 and is the father of two children.
For further information and to discuss speaking opportunities or interviews with the author please contact
Bob Todd, Fortress Press, (612) 330-3234, [email protected], www.fortresspress.org
What People Are Saying
“Curtiss DeYoung stands tall in the arena of public theology, pioneering a whole new academic
movement in reconciliation studies. In times like these, we need empowering reminders of the mentors,
heroes and saints whose living faith compelled them to re-imagine the world. For those hungry to explore
the connection between spirituality and social justice, DeYoung provides the book we’ve been waiting
for.“
– Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It
“It is exciting to see the religious heart and soul of my father’s work appreciated and espoused by Curtiss
DeYoung’s Living Faith.”
—Ms. Malaak Shabazz, Trustee of the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Education Center,
Inc., and the sixth child of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz
“Religion is too often a divisive force in the world, abused in giving legitimacy to ideologies and practices
that dehumanise others. But genuine advocates of the great religious traditions discover in their own
scriptures, and in dialogue with others, the resources needed to engage the powers for the sake of
reconciliation and restoring justice. By telling the story of twentieth century faith-activists, Curtiss
DeYoung has provided a road map for all, irrespective of tradition, who recognize the deep connection
between spirituality and the struggle for justice and peace. His passion for his subject is evident on every
page, making his lively study a challenging document of faith and hope.”
—John W. de Gruchy, Emeritus Professor of Christian Studies, University of Cape Town
"The time has come when leaders of different faiths need to redefine religion and God. There is
something very wrong when we can justify killing of humans and destruction of nature in the name of
religion. Living Faith is a book that can be said to be a step in the right direction, a book that all who are
concerned about the state of the world and of humanity must read."
—Arun Gandhi, President, M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Memphis, TN
“With the increasing destructive manifestation of religious violence around the globe, this book presents
powerful stories of ‘visionary activists,’ who, guided by their different faith traditions, inspired millions to
pursue peace and justice. . . . In comparison to other sources on religion and peace, this book is rooted in
a revolutionary social justice analytical framework and successfully combines inspirational quotes from
Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist leaders. This book is a must read, especially for those who still have
doubts about the relevancy of spirituality in the pursuit of justice and peace, and those who utilize
religious identity as a dehumanizing tool.”
—Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Associate Professor at the American University’s School of International
Service, Faculty Director of the Peacebuilding & Development Institute, and Co-founder and Executive
Director of the Salam Institute.
For further information and to discuss speaking opportunities or interviews with the author please contact
Bob Todd, Fortress Press, (612) 330-3234, [email protected], www.fortresspress.org
Q & A with author Curtiss Paul De Young
1. Why did you write this book?
The twenty-first century began with the tragedy of September 11, 2001. A group of extremists
claimed that their actions were motivated by religious beliefs. I felt compelled to write this book so
that we not lose the experience of the twentieth century when so many social reformers found
their religious faith to be the source of a commitment to nonviolence and positive social change. I
believe that faith at its best inspires social justice.
2. Do you really believe that religion can be a force for good in society?
Much of the violence we experience in our world today has been endorsed by religion. Yet most
religious traditions have core beliefs that speak to human rights, peace, and social justice.
Religious faith has the potential to go either way. The essence of one’s faith determines whether
religion heals or harms. I describe a faith that causes activists to pray for peace and act for
justice.
3. Why do you focus on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Malcolm X, and Aung San Suu Kyi? They do not
seem to have much in common. The inclusion of Malcolm X is surprising.
Living Faith includes the stories and statements of many faith-inspired social justice activists of
the twentieth century. The three that receive the most attention are representative of themes that
emerge in the lives of most of these leaders. Bonhoeffer is a wonderful example of a transformed
worldview. Malcolm X illustrates a personal healing process that eventually led him to embrace
the belief that the destiny of all of humanity is intertwined. Kyi exemplifies an ethic that seeks to
radically change society from the inside out. The surprising inclusion of Malcolm X testifies to the
rapid metamorphosis he was going through in the last year of his life…which few seem to have
noticed.
4. What do you mean by “living faith”?
Living faith speaks of how these leaders experienced God in direct life-giving ways and engaged
in action to address societal ills. Their faith was active and alive. It was not limited to believing the
“right” doctrines, going through rituals, and following rules. Living faith transforms individuals and
societies.
5. Do you have any thoughts on religion and politics in the United States?
These twentieth century activists were political in the sense that they were trying to change their
societies or nations. But rather than choosing partisan politics, they spoke truth to the governing
realities of their times and settings. There seems to be a hunger for this type of faith-inspired
activist today.
6. Do you have any thoughts on religion and politics in the United States?
These twentieth century activists were political in the sense that they were trying to change their
societies or nations. But rather than choosing partisan politics, they spoke truth to the governing
realities of their times and settings. There seems to be a hunger for this type of faith-inspired
activist today.
For further information and to discuss speaking opportunities or interviews with the author please contact
Bob Todd, Fortress Press, (612) 330-3234, [email protected], www.fortresspress.org
7. Do you have any thoughts on religion and politics in the United States?
These twentieth century activists were political in the sense that they were trying to change their
societies or nations. But rather than choosing partisan politics, they spoke truth to the governing
realities of their times and settings. There seems to be a hunger for this type of faith-inspired
activist today.
8. How is Osama bin Laden different than the faith-based leaders you describe in your book?
Osama bin Laden’s viewpoint represents a manipulation of a historic religious faith in order to
attack the human rights of some so that others might gain liberation. Adolf Hitler created a statebased terror using religion as a tool of oppression. To a lesser degree, many political leaders use
religion to privilege their perspective at the cost of others. At the core of the great historic religions
is a call for social justice and peace so that all people can experience the fullness of their
humanity and live with dignity. The leaders in this book are nurtured by the core beliefs of their
faith traditions.
9. You imply at the end of the book that there is potential for religious leaders to work together
for peace and reconciliation. How can that happen?
Perhaps it sounds a bit naïve and clichéd to say, but if people just lived by the core beliefs of their
religious traditions the world would be a better place. As I closely examined the lives of many
faith-inspired social justice activists I discovered that their way of understanding and living faith
had many similarities despite their different faith traditions. This shared space suggested to me
that they could work together—and many have (and are). If we saw public displays of
reconciliation and unity among Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders in Jerusalem, might that
possibly inspire some of the adherents of those faiths to do likewise? I want to think so.
10. Several of the leaders in the book were killed for their work for social justice. How do you
appeal to young people today to embrace this living faith you write about?
One cannot avoid the truth that social change entails some risk. In a few cases that has brought
death. Young people do not want a sugarcoated reality. I do think they will be inspired by the
courage and integrity in these lives. I hope those who emerge as leaders for social justice in the
twenty-first century will surpass their predecessors from the previous century.
11. The leaders described in this book from Fannie Lou Hamer to Mohandas Gandhi seem
extraordinary. What is the message to the average person?
The faith exhibited by the activists noted in Living Faith is available to anyone. While history may
have determined their accomplishments, their faith journey is one that can be embraced by
anyone. Real and lasting social change is not implemented and sustained by the extraordinary
but by average folks like us who together become a movement.
12. What do you hope will be the outcome of the publication of Living Faith?
I hope this book will create a global conversation on the role of religious faith in the process of
pursuing peace and social justice in our world. I also desire that the publication of Living Faith will
offer aspiring leaders in the twenty-first century a source for identifying the necessary character
development required for leadership in a time of growing diversity and complexity.
For further information and to discuss speaking opportunities or interviews with the author please contact
Bob Todd, Fortress Press, (612) 330-3234, [email protected], www.fortresspress.org
LIVING FAITH
When Activists Become Mystics Reconciliation is Possible
..
Curtiss Paul DeYoung
© Fortress Press, 2006
Sample Chapter
Unedited Original Manuscript
For further information and to discuss speaking opportunities or interviews with the author please contact
Bob Todd, Fortress Press, (612) 330-3234, [email protected], www.fortresspress.org
Table of Contents
1. Mystic-Activists—An Introduction
2. The Just Shall Live by Faith
3. Dietrich Bonhoeffer—“The View from Below”
4. A Worldview from the Margins
5. Malcolm X—“Recognizing Every Human Being as a Human Being”
6. An Identity Rooted in Humanity
7. Aung San Suu Kyi—“A Revolution of the Spirit”
8. The Ethics of Revolution
9. A Lived Faith
Epilogue
Appendix: Brief Biographical Sketches of Twentieth Century Mystic-Activists
Acknowledgments
Endnotes
Bibliography
2
Chapter 1
Mystic-Activists—An Introduction
One evening near midnight, in the midst of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, the phone
rang at the home of Martin Luther King Jr. The caller said: “Nigger, we are tired of you and your mess
now. And if you aren’t out of this town in three days, we’re going to blow your brains out, and blow up
your house.” Shaken by the threatening message and the ugly voice, Martin King sat down in his kitchen
and poured himself some coffee. Sitting at the table he prayed, “Lord, I’m down here trying to do what’s
right. I think I’m right. I think the cause we represent is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now.
I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage.” King said he felt an inner voice say: “Martin Luther, stand up for
righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the
world.”1
King’s kitchen experience implanted in the very depths of his soul a faith-inspired passion for
social transformation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of a number of leaders in the twentieth century
whose ardent religious faith inspired a relentless social activism. A nearly mystical awareness of God’s
presence “enabled him to make that contribution in the face of enormous and frightening opposition. And
what that sense did for him personally, it also did for much of the movement as a whole.”2 Like King,
many other social justice activists in the twentieth century embraced a faith that gave them courage and
vision against great odds. And their personal faith emboldened the movements they led.
The twenty-first century is a very different time. We live in a world shaken and dispirited by
multiple traumas. The Holocaust in Germany and the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan in the 1940s
were turning points in a growing disillusionment with modern era idealism. The assassinations of civil
rights leaders in the 1960s were critical junctures in the loss of hope among many people of color and
antiracist whites in the United States. The Rwandan genocide of the 1990s exposed a religion not only
incapable of reconciling ethnic tensions in society, but also culpable in horrific violence. The terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, demoralized citizens of the United States and those within the
international community as well—and revealed again religion’s long history of trysts with xenophobia and
violence. These dramatic moments in history, along with many equally tragic incidents, shattered
traditionally held assumptions and ideals. One survivor of Hiroshima thought to herself as the nuclear
bomb dropped, “There is no God, no Buddha … There is no God, no help.”3 What does this reality mean
for today’s emergent leaders and how they envision the possibility of reconciliation and social justice?
I revisit the hopeful vision and praxis of twentieth century faith-inspired social justice activists in
order to discover a source of inspiration for leaders in the twenty-first century who will guide us in our
search for a more just world. The evil in the world that killed Mohandas Gandhi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero, and others has extinguished the hopeful vision of
many. Yet these martyred activists were willing to sacrifice their lives because they believed that it was
possible to create a future that was more just and more reconciled. Some have seen fruits from hopeful
perseverance. Rigoberta Menchú has lived to see peace and justice in Guatemala partially accomplished
and she continues to strive for the complete fulfillment of her hopes. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu,
and Allan Boesak have lived to see violence averted in a peaceful transition from a white supremacist
government to one that seeks truth and reconciliation in a liberated South Africa. Others wait with a holy
patience like Aung San Suu Kyi. Even while experiencing confinement and the loss of independence
resulting from the house arrest imposed by the current dictatorship, she still lives with the hope that one
day she will see freedom and democracy in Burma. There are many more stories. Will there be similar
stories to tell about leaders in the twenty-first century? Or will despondency and resignation prevail?
Today, more than ever, we need leaders who choose to resist despair and embrace faith and hope!
The Evolution of My Interest in Faith and Activism
My interest in faith-inspired social justice activists began in 1970 when I was twelve years old. I
resided in a suburb of Kalamazoo, Michigan. I lived a rather sheltered and isolated life common to many
whites in the northern United States. Issues of social or racial justice rarely entered my world. Then one
evening in 1970 I watched a documentary filled with news footage and commentary on the Civil Rights
3
Movement called “King: A Filmed Record … Montgomery to Memphis.”4 The central figure was the late
Martin Luther King Jr. Prior to that night I do not remember being aware of King or the Civil Rights
Movement. That rapidly changed as I read every book I could find related to Martin Luther King Jr. and
this movement. I eagerly sought out recordings of his speeches. I wrote papers in my high school classes
on King.
I attended Anderson College (now University) in Anderson, Indiana, in the late 1970s. I
discovered that my campus pastor, James Earl Massey, had been a friend of Martin Luther King Jr.
Through Massey I also discovered the writings of Howard Thurman, a mystic theologian who spiritually
mentored many of the leaders in the Civil Rights Movement including King. In a few of my undergraduate
courses I began to learn about others from the Christian faith tradition that embraced reconciliation and
social justice, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jim Wallis. After graduation I moved from the Midwest to
New York City to work with homeless youth at Covenant House. I lived in a Roman Catholic Franciscan
lay community where I learned about Saint Francis’ passion for the poor. Also living in this community
were friends of Dorothy Day (she had died a year earlier) who told me about her life, shared with me the
writings of Thomas Merton, and introduced me to Daniel Berrigan.
In the early 1980s I enrolled at the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC—one
of the nation’s most respected historic African American institutions of higher education. The seminary
lived and breathed liberation thought and action. Many on the faculty had participated in the Civil Rights
Movement and known Martin Luther King Jr. One of King’s closest associates, Bernard Lee, was a
student during my tenure at Howard University. (Lee was finally keeping a promise made to King to finish
his ministerial studies.) I took a master’s level course on the life and thought of Martin Luther King Jr.
taught by Calvin S. Morris, a former member of King’s staff at the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Howard Thurman’s writings permeated the ethos of the school (he had died two years prior
to my arrival). In my coursework I was introduced to black liberation theology and Latin American
liberation theology (and had the opportunity to hear a lecture by Gustavo Gutiérrez—a founder of
liberation theology). Desmond Tutu spoke in a chapel convocation. I also learned about the work of
Malcolm X while at Howard University.
Since completing my divinity school studies in 1985 I have spent over twenty years seeking to
better understand the essence of reconciliation and social justice through building relationships,
observing oppression and injustice first hand, experimenting with practical solutions, reading and
researching widely, writing reflectively, and consistently stepping out of my comfort zone. This journey
has taken me across the United States to small towns and urban centers, as well as internationally to
South Africa (several times), and most recently to Palestine and Israel. I have developed relationships
with activists for reconciliation and social justice in many places globally that I have yet to visit personally.
My journey is ongoing.
I conceived of this book sometime in the early 1990s because of a particular interest in and an
affinity with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Since they had inspired my own
life and work, I desired to gain a deeper understanding of their vision and activism through a disciplined
study. Courses I took in feminist theology during the 1980s at Howard University and in feminist theory
during the 1990s at the University of St. Thomas firmly set in place an interpretive lens informing me that
a study of three men trained in Western settings limited the possible insights. So I began to research the
lives and writings of Aung San Suu Kyi and Rigoberta Menchú. Kyi and Menchú offered the viewpoints of
women, additional faith perspectives (Buddhist, indigenous), and non-Western international lenses (Asia
and Latin America).
As this book took shape three twentieth century leaders emerged as representative of themes I
discovered: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Malcolm X, and Aung San Suu Kyi. These three individuals anchor this
book. They offer a range of time periods, cultural settings, gender perspectives, and faith traditions within
the twentieth century. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian German white man who resisted the Nazi
government during the 1930s and 1940s. Malcolm X was an Islamic African American man who struggled
against racism in the 1950s and 1960s. Aung San Suu Kyi is a Buddhist Burmese woman who led the
freedom movement in her country during the 1980s and 1990s. The two men are dead. So their lives and
messages are entirely within the twentieth century. In the case of Kyi, I focus primarily on her actions and
words in the twentieth century. While I chose these three persons as the central figures in this study, I
4
also incorporate the viewpoints and life experiences of other twentieth century faith-inspired activists from
diverse cultural and religious settings throughout the world, including Martin Luther King Jr., Rigoberta
Menchú, Winona LaDuke, Oscar Romero, Fannie Lou Hamer, Elie Wiesel, Mohandas Gandhi, Dorothy
Day, Desmond Tutu, Thich Nhat Hanh, Abraham Heschel, Allan Boesak, and the Dalai Lama.
My viewpoints and life experiences significantly influence the interpretation I offer of these
leaders’ lives. I do not aspire to render an unbiased stating of facts. I write with an agenda and a passion.
I explore the essence of leaders who struggle for social justice with a religious faith foundation guiding
their efforts. My method of research with a bias for social change is most like what Sara LawrenceLightfoot calls social science portraiture, which “is a method of qualitative research that blurs the
boundaries of aesthetics and empiricism in an effort to capture the complexity, dynamics, and subtlety of
human experience and organizational life. … Portraitists write to inform and inspire readers.”5
An obvious difference between the way Lawrence-Lightfoot uses social science portraiture and
the approach I use is the relationship with the individuals in the study. Her research is with living persons
she interviews and observes. My research involves the words and life stories (as told by the subjects and
by multiple biographers) of individuals who were unavailable for interviews due to death or inaccessibility.
Two of the three primary leaders studied are deceased and the third, Aung San Suu Kyi, is living under
house arrest in a totalitarian regime. Lawrence-Lightfoot strongly contends that “portraits are constructed,
shaped, and drawn through the development of relationships.”6 I suggest that given the many years I
have interacted with these texts and narratives, a relationship of sorts has developed with the persons. I
have read the works (and works about) Dietrich Bonhoeffer since the late 1970s, Malcolm X since the mid
1980s, and Aung San Suu Kyi since the early 1990s. The impressions I have gained from the lives and
works of other social justice activists date back to the early 1970s.
My own journey seamlessly informs the nuances of the narratives and interpretation. LawrenceLightfoot suggests that “the portraitist inevitably renders a self-portrait that reveals her soul but she also
produces a selfless, systematic examination of the actors’ images, experiences, and perspectives. This
balance—between documenting the authentic portrait of others and drawing one’s self into the lines of the
piece, between self-possession and disciplined other regard, between the intuitive and the
counterintuitive—is the difficult, complex, nuanced work of the portraitist.”7 I do not deny that a part of my
soul is interspersed with the words and lives of these whose stories inspire and encourage me. My social
location—white, middle class, male, United States, and the like—and my background and training in the
Christian religious tradition affect my interpretation and conclusions. I have sought as much as possible to
write from an interfaith perspective, with a great respect for religious and cultural traditions other than my
own, genuinely hoping to learn from the insights of persons I have studied through the years.
A Unique Kind of Activist
I initially thought of these leaders as “visionary activists.”8 I use the word “visionary” to denote one
who has the ability to see and understand clearly what causes injustice and how injustice gives birth to
oppressive social conditions. A visionary has an equal ability to see and understand clearly what creates
a just society (and sincerely believes in the possibility of achieving this). Robert Kennedy's famous
paraphrase of the words of George Bernard Shaw captures how I use the descriptor “visionary” for these
leaders, “Some [people] see things as they are, and say why; I dream of things that never were, and say
why not?”9 As visionaries such leaders recognize injustice and are able to envision a just world, but as
activists they also design and implement ways of moving from how things are to how things should be.
Visionary activists put flesh on their visions for a better world. They believe that vision and action must be
intertwined. They follow the biblical declarations that without a vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18);
the just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17); and faith without action is dead (James 2:17).
Yet the term “visionary activist” does not fully capture the essence of this unique breed of leader.
These leaders discover their vision and reason for activism through their religious faith. They discern,
nurture, and sustain their hope for the future through a spirit of mysticism. I borrow the identifier “mysticactivist” from Alton B. Pollard III for these leaders.10 Pollard uses this descriptor for Howard Thurman. He
was a mystic in the traditional sense, yet not remaining hidden in the experience of the spiritual sought to
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engage society, particularly regarding racism. Catholic monk Thomas Merton is another example of a
contemplative who spoke to social justice issues with mysticism as a point of departure.
Most religious traditions have people who are called mystics, contemplatives, Sufis, or the like.
These individuals describe a “direct experience of ultimate reality”11 or “the experience of some form of
union with God.”12 Mysticism cannot be defined in any comprehensive way because it speaks of the
mystery of religious faith. Mystical encounters defy “conceptualization and verbalization.”13 If the
experience can be described definitively then it is not mysticism. Mystics talk of visions and ecstasy,
describing their peak experiences using “colorful language and poetry to convey the gist of it.”14
According to Thomas Merton the contemplative seeks to “recover the light and the capacity to understand
what is beyond words and beyond explanations because it is too close to be explained: it is the intimate
union in the depths of your own heart, of God’s spirit and your own secret inmost self.”15
I expand Pollard’s notion of mystic-activism. He uses the identifier to describe Howard Thurman,
who was deeply rooted in mysticism and, from that place of contemplation, critiqued society and reached
out to activists as a spiritual mentor. I use “mystic-activist” to also speak of leaders whose activism is
deeply rooted in their faith and a sense of the mystery of the Divine. Most of faith-inspired activists are not
mystics or contemplatives in the purest sense of how these terms have been understood traditionally. The
call to activism consumes them. Yet their activism compels them to passionately reach inward toward the
Divine for sustenance, wisdom, perseverance, and a sense of belonging. Their activism needs mysticism.
I have chosen to use Pollard’s term, “mystic-activist,” to describe the spiritual quality of the
activism of such leaders. Descriptors like “religious”, “faith-based”, and “spiritual” are often imprecise or
even carry negative connotations for some. I also use “mystic” to distinguish the faith experience I
discovered in the lives of these activist movement leaders. Mystics are often thought of as people who
seem strange or superstitious. This is not a helpful view of mystics. I use “mysticism” to speak of a faith
experienced through a direct relationship with the Divine in contrast to a religion only mediated through
rituals or rules. The activists in this study testify of a vibrant, alive, and engaged faith.
In a book about Archbishop Oscar Romero, Marie Dennis, Renny Golden, and Scott Wright note
that activists or prophets “who are caught in the fire of history and nudged by the great maw of justice
rarely court the inner realms of mysticism … Conversely, mystics are said to avoid the marketplace and to
seek the gates of silence which swing open to the rapture of God.” This is a false dichotomy. Dennis,
Golden, and Wright conclude, “Few prophets could endure the scandal and scourge they evoke without
an inner life of fathomless depth and intensity. And few who climb the mystical mountain of Carmel reach
the great heights of Mystery without walking back down to embrace the rag-tag people pushing history
toward blessing or curse.”16
Outline of the Book
I have discovered a number of shared themes—or ways of being—emerging from the lives of
faith-inspired social justice activists. I examine and focus upon four themes that appear, to varying
degrees, in each of their lives: (1) their religious faith motivates them; (2) their worldview emerges from
the margins of society; (3) their identity is rooted in a belief that we share a common humanity; and (4)
they embrace an ethics of revolution that demands structural change. Chapter two focuses on the role of
religious faith in the lives of faith-inspired social justice activists and offers brief spiritual biographies of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Malcolm X, and Aung San Suu Kyi. The next six chapters are three couplets looking
at the themes of worldview, identity, and revolutionary ethics. Chapters three, five, and seven are
biographical sketches—social science portraits—of the three principle leaders using thematic lenses to
retell their life stories: worldview/Bonhoeffer, identity/Malcolm X, and ethics/Kyi. (There is an appendix
with very brief biographies of the other twentieth century activists noted).
In chapters four, six, and eight, I closely examine these same three essentially spiritual themes by
creating a conversation of sorts between Bonhoeffer, Malcolm X, and Kyi and other mystic-activists from
the twentieth century, as well as with an assortment of theologians, theorists, and commentators. The
ninth chapter returns to the discussion of the religious faith of mystic-activists with a few thoughts about
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the development of twenty-first century faith-inspired leaders. The book concludes with an epilogue on
religion and reconciliation in the twenty-first century.
I delve deeply into the lives and words of faith-inspired leaders that worked for social change in
the twentieth century. My goal is to show how they became people who challenged society and affected
change. I believe I have discovered critical knowledge that is important for the formation process of
leaders for the twenty-first century. New leaders need to be equipped for interaction with a greater
number of cultural and religious worldviews than previous generations as the widely diverse perspectives
represented in our world increasingly come into contact.
In addition to his many literary works in the 1960s and 1970s, James Baldwin was also an
acclaimed social critic. In an essay reflecting on the deaths of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. he
sounds a warning, “The American republic has always done everything in its power to destroy our
children’s heroes, with the clear (and sometimes clearly stated) intention of destroying our children’s
hope. This endeavor has doomed the American nation: mark my words.”17 His candid words of grief and
despair articulate the feelings of people all around the world. We can feel overwhelmed by the tragic peril
of ethnic hostilities, dramatic disparity between rich and poor, choices that lead to chaos, and a
destabilization of any sense of social cohesion. We can “doom” our world as Baldwin warned. Our future
on planet earth depends greatly on the spirit of the leadership that emerges in this new century. Rather
than allow despair to paralyze us, we can choose to embrace the grand possibility of becoming a global
human community guided by principles of justice and peace. By penning this treatise, I choose hope and
the faith that leads to peace and justice!
__________
1
Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 57-58. Garrow presented King’s sermonic version of this episode.
King himself wrote of it in Stride Toward Freedom, 134-135.
2
Gottlieb, Joining Hands, 108.
3
Robert Jay Lifton, Death in Life, New York: Basic Books, 1967, 373, quoted in Fasching and
Dechant. Comparative Religious Ethics, 79.
4
King: A Filmed Record … Montgomery to Memphis, prod. and dir. Lumet and Mankiewicz.
5
Lawrence-Lightfoot, “Introduction,” xv; Lawrence-Lightfoot, “A View of the Whole,” 10.
6
Lawrence-Lightfoot, “Illumination: Navigating Intimacy,” 135.
7
Lawrence-Lightfoot, “Illumination: Expressing a Point of View,” 86.
8
See previous references to “visionary activists” in DeYoung, Coming Together, 186-187 and
DeYoung, Reconciliation, 137-138.
9
Witcover, 85 Days, 8.
10
Pollard, Mysticism and Social Change, 1, 62. Suzanne Noffke refers to Catherine of Siena as a
mystic activist (9). Barbara A. Holmes uses the term “public mystics” in a similar fashion (152-168).
Segundo Galilea calls these leaders “contemplatives in action” (25). Complementary themes are
discussed in Dorothee Soelle’s study of mysticism and resistance, The Silent Cry.
11
Carmody, Mysticism, 10
12
McGinn, The Foundation of Mysticism, xvi
13
Ibid., xvii
14
Holt, Thirsty for God, 70
15
Nouwen, Thomas Merton, 42.
16
Dennis, Golden, and Wright, Oscar Romero, 19-20.
17
Baldwin, “Malcolm and Martin,” 276.
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