Confluence of Thought ─ Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The literature on Gandhi and Martin Luther King is vast, and scholars often speak of the two leaders when discussing theories of non-violence. Yet, no attempt has yet been made to understand the way in which Gandhi and King's socio-political ideas converge in terms of their origins, development and application. In Confluence of Thought, Bidyut Chakrabarty argues that there is a confluence of thought between Gandhi and King's concerns for humanity and advocacy of non-violence, despite their different historical and socio-economic contexts. He says that these two figures are perhaps the best modern historical examples of individuals who combined religion with the political to produce a dynamic social ideology. Gandhi saw service to humanity as the path to'self-actualization' and thus spiritually most fulfilling; similarly, King pursued religion-driven social action. Chakrabarty looks particularly at the way in which each deployed religious and political language to draw the widest possible membership to their social movements. While Chakrabarty points out that neither thinker was able to fulfill his chosen mission, both suffering death by assassination, he positions the two as the premier modern influences on theories of non-violence today"--

Bidyut Chakrabarty is Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi.