He was credited by Martin Luther King Jr., a student of his at Boston (as well as Coretta Scott King in later years), as being an important influence in King's pilgrimage to nonviolence as a philosophy of social change. Among his major works are Foundations of the Responsible Society (1959) and Moral Law and Christian Ethics (1966). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1965.
Martin Luther King Jr., who studied under him at Boston (and later with Coretta Scott King), credited him as an influential figure in King's transition to nonviolence as a social change philosophy. Some of his notable works include Foundations of the Responsible Society (1959) and Moral Law and Christian Ethics (1966). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1965.