Dr. King and Martin Luther on Law: Politics, Theology, and Captivity

ABSTRACT This paper places Dr. Martin Luther King and Martin Luther in conversation in order to compare their polyvalent engagements with law in protest speech. Each figure viewed God’s law dialogically and applied this tension to complex censure of unjust human laws, fostering protest that was combative yet constructive. Both insisted on the grounding of human laws in the law of God, and both invoked divine judgment on those in power who misused law to exploit and oppress. Luther marshalled the Apostle Paul to denounce the captivity imposed upon the German people by ecclesiastical authority; King echoed Israel’s prophets (as well as Paul) to threaten the unjust state in the battle for civil rights legislation. Although in drastically different circumstances, the purpose and character of “law” lay at the heart of each movement, particularly because both King and Luther were protesting laws entrenched in putatively Christian nations.