Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man of recent generations who can be considered a modern-day prophet based on a wide variety of criteria. This can be seen in his “I Have a Dream” speech given at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. To start off, in this speech, he pulled illustrations of his points from prophets of the Old Testament. One example of this is his use of Amos 5:24 to describe that the Negros will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream“ Yet another example of this is his use of Isaiah 40:4-5 to describe his dream that the glory of the Lord would be revealed and that “all flesh shall see it togethert” On top of these overt examples, Martin Luther King, Jri also called upon other language that also points people to understand that he is speaking of Negros as exiles in their own lands, just as the prophets spoke of the Jews as exiles in their own lands.
All of these are examples of the fact that Martin Luther King, Jri brought the word of God, in the form of scripture, to the people However, it is not only his use of the Old Testament prophets that points towards his being a prophet, but there are also several other criteria of a prophet that point toward an understanding that Martin Luther King, Jr is a prophet. The first of these is the fact that his decision to speak out against inequality was an event that dramatically affected his life. He was sure to have faced oppression before this decision, but after making this decision to be the face of the civil rights movement and to speak as a prophet, he was sure to be in significantly more danger, including imprisonment and an increase in threats against his life. Throughout the entirety of his speech, it is impossible to miss out on seeing in Martin Luther King, the an attribute that was characteristic of all of the prophets: a concern for social justice.
While he did speak about spiritual freedom, his speech is riddled with a cry for social freedom and equality for everyone, He makes reference multiple times to injustice and cries for justice, using the specific language of justice and injustice eleven times in the course of this speech, This fixation on justice is driven by something that Walter Brueggemann sees as a major trait of the prophets: compassion.‘ He understood and felt the plight of the African Americans, himself being one of them, and out of that shared experience with all of those facing oppression, he acted out of compassion and spoke on behalf of the minority, as the prophets were also known to have done. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s need to remind America of the “fierce urgency of Now” is another part of his speech that points toward his being a prophet: he is speaking about the present, just as it was characteristic of the prophets to speak about the present or the immediate future.
He was not speaking concerning future generations, he was speaking to the generation that was there listening and reminding them that this was to take place in their lifespan. This need to remind America of this fierce urgency also speaks into what Walter Brueggemann understands as one of the tasks of a prophet, which is to pierce the numbness brought on by the royal consciousness} Martin Luther King, Jr. holds to the fact that America Is dominated by the royal consciousness by pointing out that those of affluence, especially noting the governor of Alabama, are benefiting from the oppression of the minorities that stands as a current pillar of the social order. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized the royal consciousness and the numbness it caused in the affluent toward the despair of those being oppressed. The royal consciousness had led those who profited from it to think themselves immortal and he called for this to stop now.
In his attempt to penetrate the numbness of the affluent, Martin Luther King, Jr. had to embrace yet another important task of a prophet: he challenged the established leadership and traditions. He challenged the current tradition of separation between black and white people by proclaiming that he has a dream that, “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” This was something that was unheard of to many of those listening. He also challenged the established leadership by calling out entire states as unjust, but also specifically calling out the governor of Alabama as unjust. Martin Luther King, Jr. saw that the current leadership of individual states and the country overall was unjust and that it needed to change.
Finally, Martin Luther King, Jr. could be described as a prophet in the context of this speech because he ended with a message of hope, in light of all of the despair found throughout the course of the speech, Walter Brueggemann explains this task as energizing Brueggemann explains, “It is the task of the prophetic imagination and ministry to bring people to engage the promise of newness that is at work in our history with God.”3 This is done by penetrating the despair and replacing it with hope Martin Luther King, In spoke of the Emancipation Proclamation as having been hope for millions of slaves, He proclaims that no one “wallow in the valley of despair.” He proclaims that with faith, the people will be able to “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope” He called people to a newness of life by proclaiming freedom all across the nation and providing a multitude of dreams for a new life for everyone to strive for.
To conclude, Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech is a marvelous example of a prophetic voice in recent generations He quoted the prophets as people he wished to imitate in his work, He displayed many characteristics of prophets, including the proclamation of the word of God, a concern with social justice, compassion, speaking of the present and immediate future, piercing the numbness of the royal consciousness, challenging established leadership and traditions, providing a message of hope, and energizing those listening. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a man whose voice should go down in history as a prophetic voice of the civil rights movement.
