friend and fellow social entrepreneur nathaniel whittemore posted a great blog tribute to martin luther king, jr. today on change.org.  he points out that "king was an incredibly astute observer of the application of power throughout history. his commitment to love and nonviolence were as much a strategy for claiming power as a philosophical stance. in his final presidential address to the southern christian leadership conference, he said: "one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites - polar opposites - so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love...what is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."

this is precisely the subject of a fantastic book - "power and love: a theory and practice of social change" - recently released by another friend and colleague, adam kahane of reos partners.  adam is an organizer, designer and facilitator of processes through which business, government and civil society work together to address their most complex challenges.  the following is an excerpt from adam's recent article in the oxford leadership journal:

"to co-create new social realities, we have to work with two distinct fundamental forces that are in tension: power and love. this assertion requires an explanation because the words power and love are defined by so many different people in so many different ways. in this i use two unusual definitions of power love suggested by theologian and philosopher paul tillich. his definitions are ontological: deal with what and why power and love are, rather than what they enable or produce. i use these definitions because they ring true with my experience of what in practice is required to address tough challenges at all levels: individual, group, community, society."

"tillich defines power as “the drive of everything living to realize itself, with increasing intensity and extensity.” so power in this sense is the drive to achieve one’s purpose, to get one’s job done, to grow. He defines love as “the drive towards the unity of the separated.” so love in this sense is the drive to reconnect and make whole that which has become or appears fragmented. these two ways of looking at power and love, rather than the more common ideas of oppressive power and romantic love (represented on the cover by the grenade and the rose), are at the core of this book."

incidentally, mlk wrote his phd dissertation on "a comparison of the conceptions of god in the thinking of paul tillich and henry nelson wieman."

you can subscribe to nathaniel whittemore's monthly newsletter - the "n-list" - by emailing him at globalengagement@gmail.com. you can purchase adam kahane's book - "power and love: a theory and practice of social change" - here at amazon.com.