Essay On Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr.’s faith could be classified as one of depth because he focuses on the important questions of society at the time and why man has not been aware of these. Tillich said, “The loss of the dimension of depth is caused by the relation of man to his world and to himself in our period, the period in which nature is being subjected scientifically and technically to the control of man.” This same idea shows up in the sermon given by Martin Luther King Jr. when he talks about man focusing on the things that man has built and not the natural world or the world that God had created for man. Martin Luther King Jr. then goes on to say that man is a tool for God and without God man would be nothing. Tillich mimics this idea in his writing saying, “For on his way into space and time, man changes the world he encounters. And the changes made by him change himself. He transforms everything he encounters into a tool; and in doing so, he himself becomes a tool.” So Martin Luther King Jr. is asking the questions of depth and trying to figure out why man has lost its’ way from God and how can we get back on the same ‘page’ as God.

People in society in whatever they are doing whether it is a job, school, etc. they are trying to succeed at what they are doing. This can lead to people using others to get to the top of the chain or success chart rather than focusing on the idea of helping people and using their gifts to help someone. I think in school it is very evident that success is a great example of horizontal dimension. In school people will cheat to get to the top of the class or get the best grade. In reality grades don’t determine what kind of person you are to others or your personality. Grades are just a measure of how successful you are at doing something and they don’t really get into the dimension of