Dr. Martin Luther King's Social Gospel
An Interview with Preston N. Williams
Credit: Harvard Divinity School / Steve Gilbert
Preston N. Williams is a renowned scholar who served as the Houghton Professor of Theology and Contemporary Change at Harvard Divinity School since 1971. Williams has taught at four historically black colleges: Johnson C. Smith University, Knoxville College, North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University), and Lincoln University. He has served as associate chaplain at Pennsylvania State University and Protestant chaplain at Brandeis University. Prior to coming to Harvard Divinity School, Williams was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor at Boston University School of Theology.
In his years at Harvard, Williams has served in various capacities beyond his professorial role: He was acting dean of the Divinity School in 1974-1975, and the acting and first director of Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois Institute from 1975-1977. He was president of the American Academy of Religion, 1975-1976, and president of the Society for Christian Ethics, 1974-1975. From 1998-2008 he was the director of the Summer Leadership Institute, a program that brought religious leaders from urban settings to Harvard for two weeks of intensive classes on community development.
Williams is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, A.B. '47, M.A. '48, and a Doctor of Divinity in 2012. He earned his B.D. at Johnson C. Smith University, his S.T.M. at Yale Divinity School in ‘54, and Ph.D. from Harvard in ’67. He was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Tuskegee University (1993), and the Harvard Foundation Medal for Interracial and Race Relations (1994), the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal (2000) from Harvard University and the Harvard Medal in 2021. In addition, Harvard established the Preston N. Williams Black Alumni/ae Award in his honor. Williams is the author of numerous articles and books, with his areas of study and research in Christian ethics, social and economic justice, human rights, and African American experience. He is an ordained Presbyterian USA minister and married to Constance W. Williams.
Terry Edmonds: Dr. Williams. I had the pleasure of taking your course on the ethical and religious teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. where you focused on the social gospel, which encourages religious leaders to step out of the pulpit, to challenge inequality and to place love at the center of protest and civil disobedience. Can you discuss what you mean by social gospel and how it might play a role in addressing some of our nation's current racial divisions? I know that churches are explicitly prohibited from advocating for political candidates, but what should be their role in the current struggle for racial equality?
Preston Williams: Whenever one speaks about the social gospel, one is addressing the question of the responsibility of religion, in this instance, Christianity, to speak about the institution and structures of society and how they enable justice to be present in the larger community. Normally, people think of religion, only in personal terms and the development of their character. The social gospel suggests that there is another dimension. Because Christianity is a community and social religion, it should be concerned with the activity of individuals and social institutions. This development got started in Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in England and Germany in the late 1890s in response to concerns about social conditions created primarily by the new industrial order and workers leaving the churches. In America that movement was initiated by Walter Rauschenbusch and a number of others. They did not include the concerns for African Americans, but African Americans developed that sort of concern, and their understanding of that tradition is best understood by Bishop Reverdy Ransom and Martin Luther King.
Edmonds: Do you think that the social gospel has relevance today in response to some of the issues that we're currently facing?
Williams: The social gospel has a relevance today, and of course it is being used both for positive and negative responses to the social question. We speak often of some Evangelicals, and their support of right-wing causes that I would consider to be a wrong use of social gospel. And then you have the main line churches, the African American churches, and others that have a gospel for the Society. That tradition would be, I think on the right side.
Edmonds: I understand that from 1998-2008 you directed a Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) that brought together religious leaders from urban settings to Harvard for a two-week intensive, deep dive on community development. Can you share some of the major lessons learned from that experience and any significant outcomes?
Williams: Well, we just spoke about the social gospel, and we want to point to the fact that the African American churches had developed a number of activities in their congregations and in their communities to address the social issues. These pastors are working on the problem, and we wanted to supply them with additional help, and we thought that that help could be gathered from some of the faculty at Harvard. So, we put together a group of individuals, including David A. Thomas, who is president now at Morehouse College, Howard Stevenson, and some others from the business school with religious leaders to help churches work on these problems. Using the Harvard Business school model, we created case studies. We studied what was going on at New York’s Abyssinian Baptist church, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, Ebenezer in Atlanta and others. We brought them together with the folks from the Kennedy School of Public Policy, Business School, and Faculty from the Divinity School and gave them a two-week intensive study. We looked at the problems of housing and other issues of that sort in the community.
One thing I learned was that achievers welcome the opportunity to learn from experts and from each other. Lula Ballton, a member of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, had founded a Community Development Corporation and was desirous of providing homes for the homeless. She came to the SLI to further her vision. Her work led to her joining our teaching staff, and in time, completing housing for a thousand persons and helping 500 small businesses to develop. Recently she wrote a book, Extraordinary Ministry in Ordinary Places. Other future leaders were influenced by SLI. Barack Obama attended a conference I directed prior to entering Harvard Law school and politics. And, while pastoring and completing his doctorate, Raphael Warnock attended the SLI. In the eleven years of the SLI about 400 achievers participated in our programs.
Edmonds: Some people might look at the fact that, since America has elected its first Black President, its first Black woman as Vice President, and now we have the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, that we've entered a post racial era. With the emergence of new right-wing and white supremacist groups, and the proliferation of polarizing views on social media, many others feel that America is stuck in the past or moving backwards when it comes to race. What is your view?
Williams: My view has been stated by the new Supreme Court Justice [Ketanji Brown Jackson]. “We now have a seat at the table.” The racial era hasn't disappeared. In some senses, it’s better. In some senses, it’s worse. But we have a seat at the table, and our participation will make a difference.
Edmonds: Dr. King was motivated by the principal of Agape. Like Gandhi before him, he saw no contradiction in the use of peaceful coercion to break the bonds of entrenched inequality. There have always been dissenters to that peaceful approach as evidenced by the Black Power movement of the 1960s and the more militant stance of leaders like Malcolm X. Do you still see the relevance of Agape in the struggle for equality today? And how would you evaluate the street activism of groups like Black Lives Matter in relation to that philosophy?
Williams: Agape is still important, and one wants to point out that King has his own understanding of Agape. Agape, in King's understanding, would include insights from Gandhi, and they would stress the importance of the social dimension of love. Agape is the free-flowing love of God to individuals. King had the feeling that one could respond to that love and carry out significant changes in the social order.
Edmonds: I found one of the most enlightening things about your Martin Luther King class was your insistence on presenting a complete picture of the man, not just his familiar quotes and speeches, but his inner struggles and doubts. As we celebrate what would be Dr. King's 94th birthday, can you share with us some of those little-known aspects of his life, like his kitchen table conversion, or his reaction when, as a child, he was suddenly forbidden to associate with his close white friend?
Williams: The kitchen table conversion comes early in his career, when he's involved in the struggle in Montgomery, and is subject to a lot of negative statements and suggestions about brutality being carried out against him and his family. He has fears because of the threatening calls that he has received. He wonders if he can go on. In the midst of that turmoil and attempt to muster his courage to continue to fight, he has a revelation from God that indicates to him that God is supporting him and will be always on his side. This is significant because it's a supplement to King’s philosophical understanding and theological understanding of non-violence. He has now a personal conviction as well as an intellectual and theological commitment to the effort that he's carrying on and that persists throughout his thirteen-year involvement in civil rights activity.
Edmonds: Yes, and the incident when he was a child that made him question the principle of unconditional love. Can you speak about that incident?
Williams: Well, there are two aspects to it, I think. One is that King has an association with a white boy about his age and they are very friendly until the time that they begin their schooling. When the white boy goes to school, his father told him that could no longer play with Martin. The segregated school system is kicking in, and Martin is upset about that. But this is an illustration of an incident that occurs in the life of almost every African American in the United States – the moment they realize that they are the victims of segregation.
King's parents respond to this cut off of relationship by telling King that he should love the boy and the boy’s parents, and forgive them for their actions. This, King is not able to do. It isn't until later in his life when he has some positive relationships with white college students and people in Connecticut where he goes to work one summer that he is able to overcome this tendency to dislike white people and that he would come to understand the necessity for love and forgiveness that his parents were suggesting unto him.
Edmonds: Dr. Williams, you know I couldn't complete this interview without asking you about the influence that Connie, your wife of 65 years has had on your life and career. Connie has forged her own distinguished career as a scholar and a social activist. I believe you two have even taught an ethics class at Harvard together. You are quite the power couple. Can you tell us how Connie's ideas and support have influenced your professional and personal journey?
Williams: Connie is a social worker and has taught public policy specializing in family at several institutions, including Boston College and Brandeis. She worked in the administration of former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Connie has a more personal relationship to these sorts of problems. She wrote a book on black women's attitudes towards their pregnancies. I would simply say that she gives another dimension to my thought. I try to look at the policies in economic issues, housing issues, relationships in the churches, the congregations, and so forth, and this is a supplement to me because she's concerned with the family and with woman's issues. She also, of course, has interest in the larger issues like housing and the economy, but she's primarily focused on issues of the African American family.
Edmonds: Finally, what do you think that ALI Fellows, as well as people who care about racial justice can do to help further positive conversation and action as we move forward in the twenty-first century?
Williams: Well, I have followed the ALI program and attended some of the sessions in former years, and the first thing I would point to is the fact that the people who are in the program are people of talent who have great gifts to offer to society. They’ve come to an end of one particular career. But, as you know, we're all living longer, and after we step aside so others can replace us and the jobs that we have done for a long period of time, we want to keep busy, giving something to society. And I think that the program gives people the opportunity to reflect and form new ways for supporting the good that nourishes the social order.
Edmonds: Is there anything else that we haven't mentioned that you would like to share with us?
Williams: I would simply point again to the fact that the African American community is a very gifted community that throughout history has supported positive developments in American democracy. At this time of crisis, I think it will be the gift of African Americans to the United States that will once again move us forward.
About the Author:
Terry Edmonds is a Harvard ALI Fellow and a Social Impact Review senior editor. During his more than 40-year career, he has experience in nearly every aspect of communications and public affairs. Most notably, Edmonds served as the chief speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, becoming the first African American to ever hold this title. Edmonds most recently served as chief speechwriter for the New York State Attorney General and previously served in the Obama administration as chief speechwriter for both NASA’s Administrator and the CEO of the Corporation for National & Community Service. He has also written for top executives at IBM, Columbia University, Time Warner, AARP, and the National Urban League. Edmonds is an advocate for increasing diversity in the speechwriting industry and is a founding member of Speechwriters of Color.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.