The Growing Edges of Beloved Community: From Royce to Thurman and King

Abstract

Howard Thurman acknowledged a certain indebtedness to Josiah Royce, especially to his conception of the beloved community and philosophy of loyalty. Royce also exercised an influence, directly or indirectly, through Thurman and others, on the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. The African American experience altered significantly if not decisively the socioethical trajectory of this trope – “the beloved community” – within the history of philosophy and theology in America. Beyond the “legal aspect of integration,” which involves changes in policies and regulations, Howard Thurman emphasized in 1966 a “second meaning of integration that has to do with the quality of human relations.” Although the genius of Thurman or King cannot be reduced to the ideas of their predecessors, whether Royce and Du Bois, whether intellectual or cultural, this essay demonstrates that something valuable is gained by revisiting the philosophical history as well as the pragmatic meaning of this trope from Royce to Thurman and King.