ASU professor: MLK's Nobel remarks key to philosophy of nonviolence

Protests over recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City have offered another opportunity for those involved to quote and scrutinize the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dec. 10 marked fifty years since King accepted his Nobel Peace Prize. King’s address in Oslo is not as often referenced as is his “I Have a Dream” oration, but scholars, including Arizona State University’s Keith Miller, point to the Nobel remarks as key to understanding King’s overall philosophy of nonviolence.

"King's image today is strongly tied to racial equality," said Miller, a professor of English at ASU, in Deseret News National on Dec. 9. “But that's not the whole story. He may have focused on race, but he saw it as related to other issues," – such as global poverty and war, the article quoted Miller as saying.

Miller went on to state that King saw a biblical mandate to address these issues: “The principles of religion applied across the board, not just when you're trying to get yourself saved," he said.

The Department of English is an academic unit in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU.