The Freedom to Act on Conscience: Lawrence Edward Carter Sr.'s Life of Scholarship, Activism, and Service

Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College in 1979, and it remains the largest and most important religious memorial to the legacy of the civil rights leader. Carter has also served as the chapel's only dean for 42 years. This essay explores his life pilgrimage as an "organic intellectual" or "scholar-activist," with a special focus on how he has combined academic excellence in teaching and scholarship with a vital Christian ethic, social justice activism, and service to humanity. Much attention is also devoted to Carter's intellectual and spiritual sources, especially King, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Daisaku Ikeda, whom Carter views as "moral cosmopolitans." Of particular importance is Carter's own emergence as "a prophetic, moral cosmopolitan voice" that still provokes and challenges on topics ranging from religion to spirituality and health to race, education, pan-religious dialogue, issues of civil and human rights, and the Black social Gospel tradition.