Religious Allusions and Metaphors---Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail, responds forcefully yet courteously to a public statement made by cardinal Alabama clergymen in 1963. He defends his position as an African American and strongly defends racial equality, referencing countless sources and utilizing several literary devices. Most significantly, King uses frequent Biblical allusions and metaphors, not just to relate to the Clergymen and the people of Alabama, but also to display his fretfulness for equality. For instance, when he speaks of just and unsportsmanlike honors, he references the reasoning of nonsuch doubting Thomas Aquinas, ?To put in the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust fairness is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any laws that degrades human personality is unjust?(King 180). King cites the book of Daniel when he discusses Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the disobedience of a law for higher moral principle. King also relates himself to the Apostle Paul and his well-heeled effort to assist the men and women who call for his aid. After oftentimes further research I have gained new sagacity in why King used these metaphors as he did.



Outside sources have helped me analyze the deeper meaning behind the allusions and run into the changes King was hoping to impose on the public and the Clergymen. King?s ideals are supported with his immense knowledge of the Bible, which make his connections highly credible.

King opens his letter by connecting himself with the Apostle Paul in an tackle to better associate with the Clergymen. ?Just as the prophets of the eighth degree Celsius B.C. left their villages and carried their thus saith the Lord far beyond the boundaries of their hearthstone towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his...

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