Abstract
Few persons conversant with history would challenge the statement that Martin Luther King, Jr., envisoned the Beloved Community as being inseparable from the alleviation of economic inequity and the achievement of economic justice. He focused our attention on social welfare (health care, quality education, housing, a guaranteed income); on social justice (challenging racism, materialism, militarism, and classism); and on the world society (speaking for peace and freedom for the whole community). He sought Community but realized that chaos was inevitable, given the neglect and abuse of the poor. The Beloved Community was symbolized by King as the promise land in which there is “economic and cultural stability.”1 Harvey Cox has perceptively observed that King made use of two traditional Biblical themes: the “holiness of the poor” and the “blessed community.”2