The Broncos’ Voice 4
February 1994
Be a Carolina Tar Heel!
Session I: May 19-June24, 1994
Sessionll: June28-Au9ust2, 1994 t *l r,.»
t,m m ..llej. - *' “* ■"'*
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UMC CH offers durinq two 5 1 /2 week sessions, over 900 courses in 45 disciplines. A typical course load per session is 6 semester hours.
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THE REVEREND KING
By Lesli Sample
In his “Letter From Binniiigh3,iii Jail, Dr. King
delivers one of the most eloquent and moving ser
mens in the traditional southern, Black, Baptist
pulpit oration tradition. Without completing a c ose
reading of the “Letter,” one could easily overlook the
elaborate paraUel structure, glorious repetition, and
moving rhythm, tone, and context that convey a
political and racial implications. -mi.
One of the major characteristics of the ac
pulpit orator is the ability to build a climax ^
series of repetitions or parallel phrases, ng e
ploys this tactic several times in his Le er.
example is King’s contemplation of the eau
southern churches and their apathy. Kmg as .
“What kind of people worship there? oi o«Ptiipv
God? Where were their voices... ? ^ Mv^r^nff’s list
•.. ? Where were their voices... ? ( )•
of “where” questions builds until it c ma
exclamation of his love for the the church and his
concern for its well-being.
Another example is King’s ctnicture
composed of “when” clauses. Paralle
they build to the conclusion that only “when” one has
experienced the humiliation, harassment, degrada
tion, and fear of being Black in the segregated South
mil one “understand why we find it difficult to wait”
(465).
King’s use of figurative and metaphorical language
gives the “Letter” a serious, yet creative and interest
ing tone often characteristic of Black sermons, not to
mention a sing-song or poetic rhythm. Examples in
clude phrases like: “Uve in monologue rather than
dialogue” (463); “injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere” (461); “caught in an inescapable
network of mutuaUty, tied in a singular garment of
destiny” (461); the “cup of endurance” (465); the “abyss
of despair” (465). These phrases are all typical of the
soul stirring language that evokes hand-clapping,
shouting in the aisles Black sermons of southern Bap
tist preachers, a genre to which King truly belonged.
T