{"product_id":"the-beloved-community-how-faith-shapes-social-justice-from-the-civil-rights-movement-to-today-9780465044153","title":"The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice  From the Civil Rights Movement to Today","description":"\u003cp\u003eSpeaking to his supporters at the end of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956  Martin Luther King  Jr.- then a young minister only two years out of divinity school - declared that their common goal was not simply the end of segregation as an institution. Rather  the end is reconciliation  the end is redemption  the end is the creation of the beloved community. Kings words reflect the strong religious impetus behind the civil rights movement in the South in its early days. Consciously emphasizing the Judeo-Christian roots of their convictions  civil rights leaders at the time saw their ultimate purpose as building a beloved community on earth. In their quest for social justice  the radical idea of Christian love  specifically through the practice of nonviolence  would transform the social and political realities of twentieth-century America. By the end of the 1960s  that exuberant vision of the beloved community had come apart  lost to disillusionment and secular radicalism. But as noted theologian Charles Marsh shows  the same spiritual vision that animated the civil rights movement remains a vital-and growing-source of moral energy today. In moving prose  Marsh traces the history of this vision over the past four decades  from the racial reconciliation movement in American cities to the intentional communities that church groups have founded. His portraits of faith-based social justice initiatives-including Eugene Rivers Azusa Christian Community in Boston and Koinonia Farm in Georgia-offer a stark contrast to the usual media portrayal of Christian activism. Despite the odds against it  the pursuit of the beloved community continues to foster racial unity and civic responsibility in a divided American culture. With The Beloved Community   Marsh lays out a exuberant new vision for Christian progressivism  and simultaneously reclaims the centrality of faith in the quest for social justice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648174219317,"sku":"ByrdShop_0465044158","price":28.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780465044153.jpg?v=1781711643","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-beloved-community-how-faith-shapes-social-justice-from-the-civil-rights-movement-to-today-9780465044153","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}