Letter To Birmingham Jail Meaning

In the letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr addresses his audience by defining what qualifies an action or law to be just and unjust. He describes a just law as a “code that squares away with the moral law or the law of God” (King). Then he describes the unjust law as being “a code that is out of the harmony with the moral law” (King). Kings definitions compare well with the dictionary definitions because both agree that just laws are based on a moral code. He uses the strategy of examples and counter examples in order to define both of the words and give his audience a clear understanding of their meaning. He starts out his paragraphs with a general definition of the word and then by the end of the paragraph, provides a specific example to back his case. This strategy provides him with a solid foundation for his point

In the Letter to Birmingham Jail, King spends the whole excerpt giving examples of different ways to define just and unjust laws. Providing a great deal of evidence behind a definition of a word gives little wiggle room for an argument against a case. Paul’s strategy for the definition of love in the 1st Corinthians is very similar to King’s. It gives so many definitions that it is impossible for the audience to not agree on at least one of them. These two passages are an example as to the “good” in having definitions. In contrast, having so many definitions can also be a bad thing. For example, in certain situations people can typically be closed minded; if they have a certain definition in mind, it would be hard to get your version of the definition across and accepted by them. As the two passages have taught us, there may be many different definitions of a word floating around, but as long as you back your definition with numerous examples of evidence, you will be able to get your message