Is the beloved community local, national, global, or universal? What kind of love is required for the beloved community? Is such a community only an ideal, or can it be actualized in the here and now? Tracing the phrase ‘beloved community’ from Josiah Royce through Martin Luther King Jr. to a variety of contemporary usages, this course provides an opportunity to debate answers to these questions. The course also examines arguments concerning the local vs. the universal, the type of love the beloved community calls for, and what it means to conceptualize community. In addition to Blackboard interactions, Zoom meeting will be held during the fifth week of class with guest Brad Elliott Stone. Zoom meeting will be held during the sixth week of class with guest Rev. Philip Kuehnert. .Learners are required to obtain this book: Building Beloved Community in a Wounded World by Jacob L. Goodson, Brad Elliott Stone, and Philip Rudolph Kuehnert This course is eligible for 2.0 CEU.