The examples of hope that King rolled out came not from the struggles of everyday life but from the pantheon of immortals. He spoke of “Simon of Sand” converted into “Peter of Rock,” of “persecuting Saul into an Apostle Paul,” and of “the lust-infested Augustine into a Saint Augustine.” He quoted Tolstoy’s claim of utter transformation: “‘What was good and bad changed places…The things I used to do, I don’t do them now. The places I used to go, I don’t go there now. The thoughts I used to think, I don’t think them now.’” King referred to legendary sinners who had redirected the torment of
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