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With the deaths of  and the Rev. , the U.S. has lost two civil rights greats who drew upon their faith as they pushed for equality for Black Americans.

Vivian, an early adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died July 17 at the age of 95. News of his death was followed just hours later by that of Lewis, 80, an ordained Baptist minister and towering figure in the civil rights struggle.

That both men were people of the cloth is no coincidence.

From the earliest times in U.S. history, religious leaders have led the struggle for liberation and racial justice for Black Americans. As an , I see a common thread running from Black resistance in the earliest periods of slavery in the antebellum South, through the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s鈥攊n which Lewis and Vivian played important roles鈥攁nd up to today鈥檚 Black Lives Matter movement.

As , a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, : 鈥淭he fight to save your life is a spiritual fight.鈥�

Spiritual calling

Vivian  at the American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee.

For both men, activism was an extension of their faith. Speaking to PBS in 2004, : 鈥淚n my estimation, the civil rights movement was a religious phenomenon. When we鈥檇 go out to sit in or go out to march, I felt, and I really believe, there was a force in front of us and a force behind us, 鈥檆ause sometimes you didn鈥檛 know what to do. You didn鈥檛 know what to say, you didn鈥檛 know how you were going to make it through the day or through the night. But somehow and some way, you believed鈥攜ou had faith鈥攖hat it all was going to be all right.鈥�

Fellow civil rights activists knew Vivian as the 鈥渞esident theologian鈥� in King鈥檚 inner circle because of 鈥渉ow profound he is in both his political and biblical exegesis,鈥� .

Rejecting 鈥榦ther world鈥� theology

Faith traditions inform the civil rights and social justice work of many Black religious leaders. They interpret religious teachings through the prism of the injustice in the here and now.

Speaking of King鈥檚 influence, : 鈥淗e was not concerned about the streets of heaven and the pearly gates and the streets paved with milk and honey. He was more concerned about the streets of Montgomery and the way that Black people and poor people were being treated in Montgomery.鈥�

This focus on real-world struggles as part of the role of spiritual leaders was present in the earliest Black civil rights and anti-slavery leaders. Nat Turner, a leader in the revolt against slavery, for example,  and drew upon biblical texts to inspire his actions. Likewise fellow anti-slavery campaigners  and  rejected the 鈥渙therworld鈥� theology taught to enslaved Africans by their White captors, which sought to deflect attention away from their condition in 鈥渢his world鈥� with promises of a better afterlife.

Incorporating religion into the Black anti-slavery movement sowed the seeds for faith being central to the struggle for racial justice. As the church historian   in 1986, the 鈥渧ery disorientation of their slavery and the persistent impact of systemic racism and other forms of oppression provided the opportunity鈥攊ndeed the necessity鈥攐f a new religious synthesis.鈥�

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The synthesis continued into the 20th century. Religious civil rights leaders such as Lewis and Vivian clearly felt compelled to make the struggle for justice a central part of a spiritual leader鈥檚 role.

In 1965, Vivian was punched in the mouth by  in an incident caught on camera and carried on national news. Vivian later said: 鈥淓verything I am as a minister, as an African American, as a civil rights activist and a struggler for justice for everyone came together in that moment.鈥�

Though their activism was grounded in Christianity, Lewis and Vivian both forged strategic and powerful coalitions with those outside of their faith. In some ways, they transcended theologically informed ideologies with a world view more akin to Archbishop Desmond Tutu鈥檚 interpretation of 鈥溾�濃�攖hat one鈥檚 own humanity is . 

Lewis and Vivian personified this value in their leadership styles.

George Floyd

Racial justice remains integral to Black Christian leadership in the 21st century.

After the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, it was the Rev. Al Sharpton whose words were , calling on White America to 鈥済et your knee off our necks鈥� at Floyd鈥檚 memorial service.

In recent years, the Rev. William J. Barber II has been such a vocal and powerful presence in protests that some Americans consider him to be a.

In an , Barber said: 鈥淭here is not some separation between Jesus and justice; to be Christian is to be concerned with what鈥檚 going on in the world.鈥�

John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian lived those words.

This article was originally published by . It has been published here with permission.