説教としての"I Have a Dream"演説 : キング牧師と黒人キリスト教信仰の伝統

概要

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The civil rights movement in the United States during the late 1950s and 1960s was the struggle on the part of African Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. On August 28, 1963, approximately 250,000 people gathered at the nation's capital to participate in the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." The high-light of the march was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s address from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, known as the "I Have a Dream" speech, which not only aroused the conscience of the nation at that time but also continues to inspire the people of the nation. The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the important aspects of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. In this paper, starting with the fact that King was first and foremost an African American preacher, it will be shown that how the content and the style of the speech were deeply related with his African American church tradition. Four aspects in particular will be discussed: (1) the two roots of his "dream"; (2) his stress on Christian "justice" as well as Christian "love"; (3) his preaching style such as "call and response," "rhythm," and "repetition"; and finally, (4) the dimension of spirituality of the speech.