The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age by Patrick Parr (PDF)

Description

2019 Washington State Book Awards Finalist in Biography & Memoir Martin Luther King Jr. was a cautious nineteen-year-old rookie preacher when he left Atlanta, Georgia, to attend divinity school up north. At Crozer Theological Seminary, King, or “ML” back then, immediately found himself surrounded by a white staff and white professors. Even his dorm room had once been used by wounded Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. In addition, his fellow seminarians were almost all older; some were soldiers who had fought in World War II, others pacifists who had chosen jail instead of enlisting. ML was facing challenges he’d barely dreamed of. A prankster and a late-night, chain-smoking pool player, ML soon fell in love with a white woman, all the while adjusting to life in an integrated student body and facing discrimination from locals in the surrounding town of Chester,Pennsylvania. In class, ML performed well, though he demonstrated a habit of plagiarizing that continued throughout his academic career. But he was helped by friendships with fellow seminarians and the mentorship of the Reverend J.Pius Barbour. In his three years at Crozer between 1948 and 1951, King delivered dozens of sermons around the Philadelphia area, had a gun pointed at him (twice), played on the basketball team, and eventually became student body president. These experiences shaped him into a man ready to take on even greater challenges. Based on dozens of revealing interviews with the men and women who knew him then, The Seminarian is the first definitive, full-length account of King’s years as a divinity student at Crozer Theological Seminary. Long passed over by biographers and historians, this period in King’s life is vital to understanding the historical figure he soon became.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐It’s difficult to write a neutral story of someone who’s being transformed from a human being into an icon. The current-day version of MLK is his speech and his dream.But something helped to transform MLK from a graduate of Morehouse into the preacher and the prophet, the scholar and the philosopher, the synergizer of protest and change and peace in the context of civil disobedience.Parr goes into great and careful detail about MLK and his time at Crozer to make the case that Crozer was perfectly suited to be that place that transformed MLK. Almost no stone is left unturned, and Parr easily pulls from voluminous resources, from MLK’s own notes to class schedules to personal interviews to books and articles and newspaper clippings, attempting to build out the full life of this man who has so tremendously affected our world.Parr stays with a sympathetic narrator in his review of MLK’s experiences, only occasionally slipping into what appears to be exculpatory reasoning. I highlighted one section where Parr speculated as to why MLK was not more rigorously trained, as a scholar, in proper citation and use of others’ ideas and words. It appeared at first that Parr was attempting to gloss over this jarring detail, but it was a speculation, and Parr was attempting to explain without having much evidence of his explanation–it was, Parr says, his attempt to understand how a school of Crozer’s reputation could let this slide.I found the book to be easy to read and understand. The footnotes were easy to find and use, and illustrations and tables were, for the most part, clear and well-marked or explained. (Some of the photographs were blurry due to having poor originals, but they are still useful to help understand the times and the experiences of King in Chester, PA.)Parr quotes from King’s writings during this time, which is helpful to hear the words of King vs. just the explanations of an historian. I will likely never be in the place to read all of King’s works, so this was a great way to help me see the gradual change of King from a student into a spiritual leader and thinker.Others have pointed out that this is not a complete history of King’s time in Crozer, and I agree that it is perhaps not complete, but for a layman, it has a lot of details that I had not had access to before. Read this and use this in context with other materials to get a fuller understanding.Good work, and one that–again–leads me to regret with great regret how much we lost when an assassin struck King down that day at the Lorraine Motel. We seem to find our heroes after they have died.I give this a “five star review,” not so much because I admire the man who was King, but because the book is fair and full, showing as much the bad and the good. The writing is well done, the organization is good, and the book is consumable by the average reader.

⭐To understand King’s development, it is important to look at his graduate school (seminary) education. Martin Luther King, Jr. came from segregated Atlanta, Georgia and went north to eastern Pennsylvania where liberalism was at home. In a liberal thinking seminary in a more integrated section of PA, King experienced a different America where Blacks were more accepted. It is in this liberal seminary that King not only excelled but developed his thoughts on non-violence and change in the integrated South.This book is extremely well researched. Many interviews were done of former professors, classmates, and members of the community while he was in training. Each of these men and women offered contrasts that helped King to develop his world view that he would not have experienced in a southern seminary. If the reader wants to see a Martin Luther King, Jr. more completely, this biography will offer an understanding of the man who helped change America.

⭐There are certainly aspects of this book that are revelatory and newsworthy – MLK’s (‘ML’ as he was known back then) relationship with a white women, Betty Moitz; the pervasiveness of his plagiarism; etc. – but the real beauty of this book is the small details. It literally feels as if you are transported back in time to 1948 – 1951 Crozer Theology Seminary with ML. You are reviewing the course catalog with him, you are in the pool halls and basketball court with him, and you in the dorm room rehearsing speeches and sermons with him. The quantity and quality of original research is astounding. The number of first account interviews; the exhaustive review of his classes, courses, professor interactions; the details on everything from his dress attire to his basketball game; create a truly human depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. Best of all, the writing and telling of the ML story at Crozer is addictingly easy to read. I did not want to put the book down and I could imagine a movie made about this time in his life at some point in the future.

⭐(I recently purchased this book.). The best non-fiction is fact-based, relevant, and covers previously unexplored territory. This book more than fits the bill. An excellently written and thoroughly insightful work based on solid research, it brings out crucial elements of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life which have been largely untouched by biographers until now. For example, King’s youthful relationship with a young white woman (as is well-known, interracial romances were commonly perceived as scandalous at the time) adds a crucial personal dimension to his dream of a color-blind society. This is deep stuff nobody has really tackled before. Whether you’re doing research on King’s central place in the civil rights movement, have a keen personal interest in the man himself, or just want a really interesting book to enjoy, The Seminarian is very well worth it.

⭐This is simply a wonderful look at the young man preparing for a short lifetime of civil rights activism and ministry. From the first page Parr draws the reader into the story. Information and details about his seminary years were so interesting to me. Parr balances the shortcomings with the brilliance of King. As I read I began to see how this balance shaped and informed his preaching and his work. The depth of research Parr did is so very evident. As the book ended, I wanted to know more! My sense is that Parr will gift us with another book. I hope so. His writing is delightful and accessible; yet, the scholarship shines through. Thank you for all the effort you put into this tome. Well done!!

⭐Es acerca de la juventud de Martin Luther King y sus años de seminarista.El seminario de Crozer, donde estudió, es descrito como un pedazo de Cielo por la integración que existía. Se hacía realidad lo que el apóstol Pablo escribió en Gálatas 3:28: “Ya no hay judío ni gentil, esclavo ni libre, hombre ni mujer, porque todos ustedes son uno en Cristo Jesús.”King quería cambiar a la #sociedad de su tiempo convirtiéndose en pastor cristiano. Nuestra sociedad ahora ve con malos ojos el que los ministros cristianos se involucren en la vida pública y que incluso expresen su opinión acerca de asuntos sociales. ¿Que diría King si viera eso?Excelente libro que documenta las clases, libros y profesores que formaron a King y sus ideas cristianas.

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