Martin Luther King Jr. and Russell Kirk: A Consensus of First Principles

Acton Vault

In this episode, we’re bringing you a talk from our Acton Lecture Series from January 2023, that was co-sponsored by the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.

In their own time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Russell Kirk occupied different ends of the political spectrum. Their philosophies inspired the two most powerful movements of the age: the Nonviolent Movement (which led the larger Civil Rights Movement) and the modern Conservative Movement. Without King and Kirk modern American Social Justice liberalism and modern American conservatism as we know them would not exist. And yet, for all of their differences, our modern politics suffer because contemporary liberalism and conservatism lack the grounding in virtues, communitarian values and faith in an ordered universe that both Kingian Nonviolence and Kirkian Conservatism held fast to. Is it possible that by reacquainting ourselves with these lost traditions we could summon the better angels of left and right and restore a politics of virtue for the modern age?

John Wood Jr. is a writer, podcaster, and noted public speaker nationally recognized as a leading voice on issues of political and racial reconciliation. He is national ambassador for Braver Angels, America’s largest grassroots, bipartisan organization dedicated to political depolarization.

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