Dr. Ben Chavis Returns to the Duke Chapel Pulpit—47 Years After His Unjust Imprisonment

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Dr. Ben Chavis—author, theologian, educator, pastor, preacher, and Chair of Spill the Honey—preached from the pulpit of Duke University Chapel, where he now serves as a professor.

The moment carried profound historical weight. Forty-seven years earlier, on MLK Day, Dr. Chavis had preached from that same pulpit while he was a divinity student at Duke Divinity School—and while he was unjustly incarcerated as part of the Wilmington Ten.

In his sermon, Dr. Chavis reflected on Dr. King’s theology of the Beloved Community, a vision rooted in the radical idea that all human beings belong to one another.

“At the center of King’s theological passion and vision was his concept of a universal, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, and intergenerational Beloved Community. We are all created equally in the image of God. We are all part of one human family. In short, we are all sisters and brothers.”

He continued:

“In fact, there is but one race—the human race. Because God is one, humanity is one. Because God is love, human life is meant for community and loving togetherness. Because Christ reconciles, divisiveness should always be overcome by faith and action. The Beloved Community means that no human being exists outside the circle of God’s redemptive concern and love.”

Dr. Chavis reminded the congregation that Dr. King viewed racism and antisemitism as “theological contradictions.” Reflecting on his own life, Chavis recalled his work as a 14-year-old organizer serving as the statewide youth coordinator across North Carolina for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“I saw firsthand how Blacks and Whites worked together, how Blacks and Jews united from an interfaith perspective in the Judeo-Christian tradition to stand up and speak out for freedom, justice, and equality. I remember how the transformative, visionary eloquence of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel resonated throughout the civil rights movement in solidarity with Dr. King.”

In 1963, Rabbi Heschel famously declared:

“Racism is man’s greatest threat to humanity—the maximum of hatred for the minimum of reason.”

Dr. King, too, spoke forcefully against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination. In 1965, he stated:

“Negroes are not the only people who have suffered. The Jews went through the horrors of oppression, and more than any other people, the Jewish people understand the depth of tragic suffering.”

The message echoed clearly through Duke Chapel: a divided world is incompatible with the vision of the Beloved Community—and with our shared humanity.