“MacArthur’s accusations aren’t only too lightly made,” Giboney added. “They are plainly slanderous.”
“MacArthur may take issue with some of King’s early theological work, which did question Christian doctrine,” Giboney wrote. “However, as Mika Edmondson—himself a pastor and systematic theologian—insightfully explained, ‘King’s early seminary papers don’t reflect his final fully formed theology.’”
“Not unlike Abraham Kuyper and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, King wrestled with theological liberalism but later seemed to ‘shift back toward the faith of his conservative Black Baptist upbringing,’” Giboney continued.
“But let’s be honest: The details of King’s theological journey have never been the principal concern of his detractors,” Giboney argued. “J. Edgar Hoover and Bull Connor didn’t hate King because of his theology or even his indiscretions…They hated that he didn’t know ‘his place’ and was undermining their authority.”
Giboney went on to argue that evangelical leaders reject “King’s righteous indictment of America’s injustices” to their own detriment.
“As for MacArthur, he might genuinely believe he’s defending the faith, but he’s actually defending a false narrative that has weakened the church’s credibility,” Giboney wrote. “People are walking away from the church in part because they can’t reconcile the double-mindedness of this type of evangelicalism.”
Online responses to Giboney’s article were varied. While some lauded Giboney, others doubled down on their criticism of King’s theology—as well as of CT.
“What really bothers CT is that John MacArthur called them ‘Christianity Astray’ at the same time he said that MLK wasn’t a Christian,” wrote Texas pastor Tom Buck. “The fact that CT presents MLK as a Christian when he denied the physical resurrection of Jesus proves that MacArthur was right on BOTH accounts.”
“Justin Giboney is wrong. His ‘later in life’ King was orthodox argument doesn’t square with King’s sermons and rhetoric late in life,” wrote author and podcaster Virgil L. Walker. “I won’t even begin to address his behavior, which was far from Christian.”
Others turned their criticism toward those who continue to question King’s faith.
“The fact that white evangelicals are debating if MLK was a Christian, and declaring him not to be, is beyond ridiculous,” wrote theologian Anthony Bradley. “It’s modern day Pharisaism & bizarre given the fact that their entire tradition is full of slave holders, Jim Crow supporters, and modern day child molesters.”
