Legitimating the Other’s Wisdom for Common Cause: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Palm Sunday Sermon on Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mohandas K. Gandhi was influential on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence. This chapter analyzes King’s 1959 “Palm Sunday Sermon on Mohandas K. Gandhi,” where King justified his incorporation of Gandhian nonviolence into his Christian framework. In addressing the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King legitimized the philosophy of nonviolence as a Christian practice that has been embodied by Gandhi and other Indians in their independence movement. King offered a Christian framework for understanding Gandhi’s teachings on love and nonviolence and encouraged his audience to apply Gandhi’s lessons to the Black Freedom Movement in the United States. Through the sermon, King has left a map for future Christians to participate in interreligious dialogue and to co-struggle with others against oppressive systems.