Between Cross and Crescent

A collaborative effort of Christian scholar Lewis Baldwin and Muslim scholar Amiri Al-Hadid, Between Cross and Crescent details the interconnections between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.: their faith claims, their perspectives on culture, and their visions of the ideal society and world. The authors reject two common tendencies: to reduce Malcolm and Martin to ""misguided, angry Muslim imam"" and ""gentle, harmless Christian preacher"" and to treat the two men as polar opposites. The result is the most comprehensive and detailed work in print about the two leaders and the first to bring together a Muslim and a Christian scholar in dialogue about their relationship to such significant issues. Particularly original are the insights into how Martin and Malcolm viewed each other, family and children, and women (an entire chapter is devoted to the ""character of womanhood""). Of special importance is the skillful delineation of the historical and cultural forces underpinning the two leaders' religious and cultural perspectives - not the least being their common roots in traditions based in the American South. The authors also turn a careful scholar's eye to their perspectives on religion, interfaith dialogue, and the relationship between the African-American struggle and global liberation movements. There is no more detailed resource about the relationship between Martin King and Malcolm X. The depth of scholarship in this volume extends even to the extraordinary amount of information relegated to footnotes, themselves a gold mine of documentation for all readers interested in the interface between faith claims, politics, and social and cultural transformation.

Lewis V. Baldwin is professor of religious studies at Vanderbilt University. His recent publications include Toward the Beloved Community: Martin Luther King, Jr., and South Africa and To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Amirl YaSin Al-Hadid is professor and chair of Africana studies at Tennessee State University. He is also founder of the Great Debate Honor Society.