The first collection of King’s essential writings for high school students and young people A Time to Break Silence presents Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most important writings and speeches—carefully selected by teachers across a variety of disciplines—in an accessible and user-friendly volume. Now, for the first time, teachers and students will be able to access Dr. King's writings not only electronically but in stand-alone book form. Arranged thematically in five parts, the collection includes nineteen selections and is introduced by award-winning author Walter Dean Myers. Included are some of Dr. King’s most well-known and frequently taught classic works, including “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream,” as well as lesser-known pieces such as “The Sword that Heals” and “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” that speak to issues young people face today.

In A Time to Break Silence, Joseph F. Mali argues that given the complexity of Nigeria as a multiethnic society, and in view of the volatile situation in the country, especially the relentless bloodshed in the northern region, there is an urgent need to amend the current process for selecting Catholic bishops in Nigeria. Presently episcopal appointments are the prerogative of the hierarchy and a few influential players. Nigerian Catholics, Mali maintains, are the best judge of their worsening situation. They deserve a chance to choose church leaders who can effectively tackle their social, political, and religious problems. Hence Mali calls on the Catholic bishops, priests, and laity to expand their views beyond the present method of nominating bishops and pave the way for all the clergy and laity to play a role in the selection process. This, according to Mali, is for the common good of the suffering church of Nigeria. Drawing on the New and the Old Testament, Mali explains the biblical foundation of the election of leaders by the people. Citing the good old saying, vox populi, vox Die (the voice of the people is the voice of God), and referring to Saint Augustine of Hippo, a distinguished African bishop who became a priest and a bishop by the will of the people, Mali concludes that Nigerian Catholics are capable of choosing priests who would make good bishops.

United States peace rhetoric is courageous, diverse, challenging, persuasive, and woefully under-exposed. This collection of landmark speeches in peace gives overdue scholarly notice to key figures on the American peace scene (politicians, athletes, journalists, preachers, movement leaders, scientists, doctors, academics, etc.) who have given vibrant, authentic voice and rhetorical significance to the important peace tradition in the United States from World War I until today.

A weekly review of politics, literature, theology, and art.

This collection of primary source documents and authentic literature helps students develop an eyewitness perspective as they read historical journals, letters, and speeches and examine documents from our nation's history.

The American Foundation Myth in Vietnam deals with how the results of the Vietnam War challenged the long-standing belief in America's role in the world as a unique nation favored by God that carries a global responsibility with it. The author disputes the commonly held belief that America discarded this foundation myth, developed out of John Winthrop's idea of a "city on a hill," following Vietnam. He reexamines the myth in the context of American history to show that the country still firmly attaches itself to the rhetoric of the foundation myth. The analysis divides Americans into one group that believes America's mission cannot be fulfilled without active involvement on the global stage, and one that maintains that its mythic goals are fulfilled most effectively by developing itself as the world's model for freedom and democracy. The tension created between these perspectives creates a dynamic and durable quality that fuels the power of the foundation myth even after a seemingly destructive event such as the Vietnam War.

Religious texts as starting points for dialogue -- Transforming love : holiness and the vocation of justice / Nancy M. Martin -- Disarming retributivism : toward an authentic forgiveness as a basis for peacemaking / Patrick J. Hayes -- The Sermon on the Mount and the creation of peace / Jane E. Linahan -- The complementary perspectives of Muhammad and Jesus : an analysis of moral leadership and discipleship with secular application / Edward J. Grippe -- Islam and Christianity agree on core values : justice as a basis for a universal morality and peace / Ayse Sidika Oktay -- Inspirations from the Bhagavad-Gita for peace-builders / Brian Bloch -- The nature of the ongoing terrorist threats to American cities : some thoughts on the problem of ethical living post 9/11 / Deborah S. Peterson -- Twentieth-century peacemakers -- Non-violence and justice as inseparable principles : a Gandhian perspective / Veena Rani Howard -- Jesus and Gandhi / Terrence Rynne & Michael Duffey -- Mahatma Gandhi and Wahidduddin Khan on non-violence and Jihad / Irfan A. Omar -- The Jesuits as peacemakers : negotiating with Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Sitting Bull / John Patrick Donnelley -- The role of the church in conflict management in Northern Ireland / Hideyuki Koyama -- The vocation of peacemaking in the victorian era : social transformation, bread, and peace / Angela Hurley -- The ecumenical praxis of Patriarch Athenagoras I / Phillip C. Naylor -- Jews of conscience and the rebirth of the prophetic / Marc H. Ellis -- Conflict, mediation, and peacemaking in the pastoral praxis of the Diocese of San Cristøbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico / Michel Andraos -- Peacemaking through educational institutions and ethical business practices -- Teaching peace in a dangerous world / Nathan Tierney -- International trading partners can lead the way to peace / Lee B. Thomas & Paul J. Weber -- Imagining peace : alienation and the consumer / L. George Thompson -- The lies of war : dissecting the "just war" euphemisms and building an ethics of peace / Daniel C. Maguire.

Part One surveys the striking changes (and continuities) in the mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, evangelical/fundamentalist, and black churches, including developments in their public worship and their views of world mission. Due attention is given to the challenges and creative opportunities posed by ecumenical movements, by the rise in women's consciousness and in racial and ethnic awareness, by new attitudes toward Jewish-Christian relations, and by the concerns of Third World peoples and churches. Part Two examines foundational developments in theological education and in the traditional academic disciplines of Bible, systematic theology, Christian ethics, and church history. Also considered at length are the changing strategies in religious education and the complex interplay between religion and science. Part Three offers a probing discussion on the relation between Christianity and contemporary American culture.