It’s typical of the progressive cast of our culture to focus on the forward-looking at the expense of the traditional—or if you prefer, to miss the traditional elements that lie at the heart of a genuinely progressive movement. So it is that in celebrating the accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr., his connection to the thread of the Western moral and philosophical tradition is often neglected.
One person who has not fallen into this trap is Justin Dyer, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri who has penned an illuminating article on the philosophical heritage of King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
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