Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as Pauline epistle

1985/08/01 by Malinda Snow · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #American Political and Social Dynamics #Sermon #Martin luther king #Theology #Protestantism #Philosophy #Art #Classics #History #Literature #Law #Civil rights

paper · doi:10.1080/00335638509383739

openalex publication_date 1985/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an apostolic epistle in the Pauline tradition. Following the conventions of black American Protestantism, King discovered in St. Paul a type for himself and in St. Paul's letters a literary form that he could apply to modern situations. Like the Pauline letters, King's “Letter” depends heavily on scriptual allusions and may be seen as not only a letter but also as a sermon.

Citations

• The public letter as a rhetorical form: Structure, logic, and style in king's “letter from Birmingham jail”
• Language As Symbolic Action

Cited by

• Letter from Birmingham Jail [wikipedia]