The Howard Thurman Podcast

The Meaning of the Religious Experience, Part 1, 1976 July 23

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:10:00 +0000

In this first sermon, Thurman sets out to explore the meaning of religious experience, and the religious experience of Jesus specifically. For Thurman, religious experience is a private and intimate experience, and yet it also seems to involve everything that is. Religious experience is not static, but rather a dynamic experiencing that our minds cannot capture totally. Nevertheless, the mind tries to freeze it into doctrine, dogma, and theology – the language of rationality. But Thurman says religious experience cannot be reduced to the practical and empirical. Ultimately, religious experience is our awareness of the presence of God, and nothing we do gives us control over that presence. For it is God that gives of Godself freely and lovingly.

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of the Religious Experience (1976, [Disciples of Christ Retreat], Santa Barbara, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Santa Barbara, CA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of the Religious Experience, Part 1, 1976 July 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1283.

Readings from the Inward Journey - 1 Corinthians 13, 1970 Jan 10

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:09:00 +0000

In this first installment of Readings From Deep is the Hunger, Howard Thurman uses Matthew 5 as a framework to discuss the sufficiency of God as we wrestle with the concepts of kindness, mercy, and humility. Thurman goes on to discuss the need for God as we navigate challenges internally and externally with the world around us.

Part of the Collection, Featured Thurman Recordings

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Description by Unknown

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from the Inward Journey - 1 Corinthians 13, 1970 Jan 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1276.

For the Quiet Time, 1974 July 18

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:08:00 +0000

Ideals and Goals (1964-02-14)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:07:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series, Thurman draws upon the novel "The Choir Invisible" by James Lane Allen, to reflect upon God's relationship to humanity. Thurman deeply leans into the mystery that is associated with humanity's actualized potential. He notes that our arrival to our actualized potential is inevitable; however, we shall not know the time or place of this arrival. Rather than giving quick answers, Thurman encourages us to look to the horizon for the next goal, trusting that the same God who cares for the birds of the air is the same God that cares for humanity, and is moving humanity towards a shared goal.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: actualized potential, gate, goal, horizon, love, tension, youth

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Ideals and Goals (1964-02-14),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1272.

Always the Open Hand (1964-02-21)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:06:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads a poem sent to him from a friend. This poem speaks from the perspective of Phillip, one of Jesus' disciples. The content of this poem wrestles with the demands of the people upon Jesus, and Jesus' willingness to pour himself out to benefit those who are in need. In the author's engagement with Jesus' life, work, death, and resurrection, we are asked to ponder the human quest of making sense of God's open, relational, and creative nature.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: christology, communion, disciples, Feeding of the Five Thousand, healing, Incarnation, Jesus, kenosis, Last Supper, miracles, Phillip, poem, Spirit of Love

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Always the Open Hand (1964-02-21),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1271.

Readings from Quaker Poetry (1963-11-29)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:05:00 +0000

In a message reflecting on his visit to Quaker meetings, Thurman reads from Quaker poetry about the emphasis on silence, inner reflection, meditation, and seeing God's presence in the world around us. He also reads an excerpt about practicing faith for oneself instead of as a demonstration to others.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: meditation, quiet, silence

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Quaker Poetry (1963-11-29),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1270.

Selections for Memorial Day (1964-05-29)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:04:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads three poems written by various authors speaking to subjects of war, conscientious objection, aggression, and violence. Each of these poems are read as a reflection upon the Memorial Day holiday. The first poem, by John Drinkwater, deals with aggression as it is related to war. The second poem, by Badget Clark, deals with a young man's decision to fight in the Civil War. The third, and final poem, by Edna St. Vincent Millay, speaks to conscientious objection while hiding a black child from people of power. Each of these poems emphasize Thurman's commitment to an anti-war ethic, pacifism, and the religion of Jesus.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, aggression, America, anti-violence, anti-war, Badger Clark, citizenship, civil war, consciousness, death, Edna St. Vincent Millay, evil, Herman Hagedorn, holidays, John Drinkwater, poem, prayer, soul, war

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Selections for Memorial Day (1964-05-29),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1269.

A Salutation to Christmas (1961-12-22)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:03:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads two reflections on the Christmas season. The first is from "McCall's Magazine," and reflects upon the implications Christmas day has in relation to the Christian life. Though Christmas day is filled with generosity and affection, Thurman asks the question if those celebrating Christmas could take five minutes to protect the weak, feed the hungry, love thy neighbor, etc. The second excerpt is written by Thurman, himself. In it, Thurman works with the tension between gratitude and critique during the Christmas season. He asks the question of how one can both show gratitude while also resisting materialism and hyper-industrialism.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: angels, Christmas, contagion, creativity, crown, ethics, gifts, Golden Rule, holidays, Jesus ethic, materialism, potential, Relatedness, values

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Salutation to Christmas (1961-12-22),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1268.

Joy is of Many Kinds (1963-04-12)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:02:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman discusses the different types of joy and its nature. He also suggests where we can find joy in life, how we can give it to others, and how it can be found even in moments of suffering and pain. Thurman uses some examples to illustrate his points. In one example, Moses and elders return from the presence of God to take on regular tasks like eating with additional joy. In another example, a friend of Thurman's uses the loss of his legs to demonstrate that "there is a creative power that enables him to not only to endure what he has gone through, but to find how to use this thing as an updraft." [Note: this recording was originally broadcast on March 15, 1963 and then re-aired on April 12]

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

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Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Joy is of Many Kinds (1963-04-12),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1267.

Christmas Meditation, 1975 February 13

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:01:00 +0000

Thurman explains the mood, quality, and symbol of Christmas. This contrasts with viewing Christmas as merely a day on the calendar, or a commemoration of an event. He uses sharp imagery to describe each of these features. For example, the mood of Christmas is “an iridescent of sheer delight that bathed one's whole being with something more wonderful than words can ever tell.” The quality is “the calm purple of grapes.” The symbol is “the promise of tomorrow at the close of every day” and “that good is more permanent than evil.”

Part of the Collection, Religious & National Holidays

Tags: Christmas, mood, quality, symbol

Description by Erik Mattson

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Christmas Meditation, 1975 February 13,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1266.

Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1964-02-07)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:00:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for black bodies in America, pledges his allegiance to the union, and likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1964-02-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1265.

Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1960-02-05)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:59:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for America, likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War, and attempts to find spiritual grounding in the midst of unrest and war.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1960-02-05),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1262.

Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1963-02-08)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:58:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for America, likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War, and attempts to find spiritual grounding in the midst of isolation and civil unrest.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, discernment, God's will, Isolation, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1963-02-08),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1261.

Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1962-02-09)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:57:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1962-02-09),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1260.

Sing Your Own Song (1964-03-06); The Right Thing This Day (1958-05-23)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:56:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman speaks to what it means to live a life that is truly one's own. Drawing from Catherine Coblentz' "Blue Cat of Castle Town," and a story of a dog who has lost its bark, Thurman challenges the listener to discern what their true voice is, how one comes to singing their own song. Thurman agrees that the process of finding one's own song is difficult; however, Thurman maintains that finding your own song is one of the most integrous journeys that one can take. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reflects upon an excerpt from his own writing, Deep is the Hunger. He reads a story of sailors and a chaplain stumbling upon the dead body of an enemy, and collectively discerning what they are to do with the said body. Drawing from this story, Thurman invites the listener to discern what is at stake when considering what it means to live a good life, which is followed by the discovery of what Thurman calls a "basis for action." Thurman explains that this form of discernment is something that is at the center of our being, and is worth deep exploration.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: actualized potential, blue kitten, circle of meaning, core, deep is the hunger, discernment, dog, identity, individualism, integrity, purpose, river, song, voice

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Sing Your Own Song (1964-03-06); The Right Thing This Day (1958-05-23),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1259.

The Moment of Truth (1963-04-19); Pearl without Price (1971-12-4)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:55:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads from a letter that his friend from Canada sends him. Within the letter, the listener hears of a young boy who makes the decision to participate in a blood transfusion for his sister. In agreeing to participate in the transfusion, the boy misunderstood, and assumed that he would have to die in order to save his younger sister's life. Thurman sees this boy's misunderstanding as a "moment of truth." The moment of truth speaks to one's sense of courage, responsibility, creativity, and sacrifice. Embedded into this moment of truth is a reaction that comes from the tension between one's personal and public life. Thurman invites the listener to discern what their "moment of truth" is and challenges the listen to what their "moment of truth" is calling them to do. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads from his book, "Meditations of the Heart." In this reflection, Thurman reflects upon what it means to look at life critically. When things are going well, the difficult and the not-difficult aspects of life blend together; however, when one is in desperation, one is able to critique and names the parts of life that are difficult. This conversation speaks to Thurman's wider work concerning the tension goodness and innocence.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: commitment, decision, dichotomy, encounter, experience, goodness, innocence, Lloyd George, meditations of the heart, moment of truth, pearl, responsibility, sacrifice, solitary, spiral, St. Francis, test, truth

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Moment of Truth (1963-04-19); Pearl without Price (1971-12-4),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1258.

The Blind Man (1958-10-03); Heaven, Heaven (1958-11-21)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:54:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the spiritual, "The Blind Man Sat By the Way," which he calls a "sorrow song." When holding this song in tension with the biblical narrative of Jesus healing the blind man, Thurman comes to the conclusion that the blind man in the sorrow song was never healed. Drawing from the experience of people who were enslaved in America, Thurman reveals that there is no mentioning of the blind man being healed in the song because there was no healing upon the horizon for those who were singing the song. He continues by reflecting upon numerous stories from his life in order to further ask the question, "What do we do with frustrations when there is no freedom in sight?" In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon and attempts to reclaim the old spiritual song, "Heaven, Heaven." Thurman critiques popular conceptions of the song, stating that it overlooks the reality that every person has to navigate societal expectations with a level of compromise. The question he asks in light of compromise, however, is "At what point is the line drawn?" Here, Thurman considers the deeper question of compromise being a means of deception, and that the ethical dimension of compromise is housed in the tension between deception as a means of survival and deception as a means of ethics.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: aspirations, compromise, cuttlefish, deception, desire, discovery, healing, Hounds of Hell, Huckleberry Bush, hypocrisy, New Testament, Old Testament, preparing, rattlesnake, Rock Street Cemetery, self-respect, shedding, sight, sorrow songs, spirituals, St Gauden

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Blind Man (1958-10-03); Heaven, Heaven (1958-11-21),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1257.

Balm in Gilead, Part 1 (1958-10-10); Balm in Gilead, Part 2 (1958-10-17)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:53:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon the negro spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead." Rather than echoing the moan of the prophet Jeremiah, this song provides an answer to the prophet's cries. Rather than asking," Is there a balm in Gilead," Thurman notes that the early singers of this spiritual are affirming that there is indeed a balm in Gilead. From Thurman's perspective, this balm is the moral law which rests within all of humanity. Moral law is the restraint one has in themselves to take the raw material of pessimism and transform it into optimism. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman builds upon his previous reflection upon the negro spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead." Here, he echoes the words from his professor and mentor, George Cross, when he remarks, "The contradictions in life are not final and ultimate." Here, Thurman is asserting that when one conceptualizes life as static, one is imprisoning oneself; however, when one conceptualizes life as dynamic, one is pursuing a life of freedom and fullness. Thurman explains to the listener that in this dynamistic perspective, one finds the energy and strength that is associated with optimism; thus, one is able to find tools to heal.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, actualization, contradictions, dynamic, energy, experience, fluidity, George Cross, healing, Jeremiah, moral law, optimism, pessimism, Pope Pius XII, privilege, Psalm 23, raw material, restraint, Satan, spirituals, strength, There is a Balm in Gilead

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Balm in Gilead, Part 1 (1958-10-10); Balm in Gilead, Part 2 (1958-10-17),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1256.

The Light In One's Path: Parts 1 and 2 (1971-12-3),

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:52:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman draws from a quotation written by Kabir, who is a Hindu Mystic. The line Thurman repeats from the Kabir quotation throughout this reading is, "I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty," which is utilized as a way of speaking to our deepest longings resting within ourselves. Thurman notes that if one is seeking truth destructively, it will disintegrate one's inner life, and eventually, collapse one's outer life. While seeking the truth, Thurman challenges the listener to seek their own truth within themselves, as there is no other source of truth. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reads from his text, Meditations of the Heart. In this recording, he reflects upon the ways in which humanity makes meaning of existence and evil. He problematizes notions of one singular account of evil, noting that when the "evilness of evil is removed, then the total character is totally altered." He continues, that it is only in the following of one's own truth, that one can distinguish the raw materials to which the Kingdom of God can be built.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Acts of the Apostles, Ahab, disintegrate, evil, evilness, Herman Melville, inner life, Kabil, light, Macbeth, meditations of the heart, Moby Dick, musk deer, My Brother's Face, painting, Paradise Lost, personality, Peter, religious man, search, seeking, thirsty, transcendence, truth

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Light In One's Path: Parts 1 and 2 (1971-12-3),,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1254.

The Integrity of the Word (1964-01-31); Man's Equity in Life (1971-12-3)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:51:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, Meditations of the Heart, which reflects on Matthew 21:29 and asks: "What does it mean to be a person of your word?" He responds to this question by discerning the function of language, and how language creates meaning. This deep reflection on the nature of linguistics makes the listener ask, what is it about our words that dictate whether or not one is integrous? In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon what it means when those on the journey of life believe that they "did it." He continues, noting that any sense of achieving knowledge is false, as knowledge is dynamic in nature, rendering language as a mere symbol to make sense of knowledge. Rather than framing the pursuit of life as the pursuit of knowledge, Thurman suggests that equity is the actual pursuit that humanity should participate in.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: body, denial, identity, inner-being, integrity, Jesus, journey, linguistics, Matthew 21:29-31, meditations of the heart, money, origin, Parables, pedantic, pilgrim's progress, residue, self, symbol, womb

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Integrity of the Word (1964-01-31); Man's Equity in Life (1971-12-3),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1253.

Boundaries of the Self (1961-11-24); Confidence in God (1958-06-13)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:50:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from James Cane Allen's "The Choir Invisible," in order to reflect upon the ways in which one can come to understand community. He notes that in one's own quest for identity, that relationships can become utilitarian, only being aware of community "at points of relevancy to our purposes." What Thurman is insisting in this recording, is that when one pushes past the superficial boundaries of separateness, that one can find the "deep, hidden springs of magic" which informs one's understanding of the divine. In this recording within the We Believe series: Howard Thurman reflects upon a passage from the prophet Jeremiah. From the reading, Thurman ponders what it means to have complete confidence in God. He notes that there are longings of the heart that are much deeper than any desire for material possessions. For Thurman, it is in the places of "the deepest needs of the spirit," that one discovers what it can mean for one to understand these needs of the spirit.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: community, curse, ecology, ego, existentialism, experience, heart, interconnectivity, James Cane Allen, Jeremiah, magic, materiality, National Geographic, oasis, parthenon, permanence, redemption, responsibility, Sahara Desert, sphinx, temporality, The Choir Invisible

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Boundaries of the Self (1961-11-24); Confidence in God (1958-06-13),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1252.

"How Precious Are Thy Thoughts..." (1961-01-13); Try Me and Know My Thoughts (1961-03-17)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:49:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon the line "How precious are thy thoughts, O God," found within Psalm 139. Thurman uses this verse in order to poetically wax the miracle that is having a mind. In this recording, Thurman suggests that because the mind orders the body, that it is significant to discern what the mind of God consists of. It is in the discerning of God's mind that one finds the content of devotional posturing: wisdom, tenderness, and love. In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from a Gaelic Blessing, and the concluding stanza in Psalm 139, attempting to make sense of the content of a faithful human existence. He uses these reflections in order to emphasize his understanding of the interrelatedness of life, and the ways in which action and reaction are essential to both human flourishing and human suffering. Here, Thurman places great emphasis on responsibility, indicating that to live a life is to participate in a responsible act.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: action, birth, Conrad, ecology, egg, experience, fact of life, Faust, freedom, germ, imagination, interconnectivity, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, judgement, memory, mind, myth, new life, Psalm 139, psychiatrist, reaction, responsibility, salvation, Tennyson, Ulysses, wind

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “"How Precious Are Thy Thoughts..." (1961-01-13); Try Me and Know My Thoughts (1961-03-17),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1251.

Prayers (1962-06-01); When I Awake (1961-03-03)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:48:00 +0000

This recording has two parts. In "Prayers," Thurman reads two prayers. The first is about responsibilities, needs, and our desire to help others without knowing how. The second is Psalm 139. In "When I Awake," he discusses the relatedness of all humans to other humans, past and present. He suggests that we are never alone because of these connections and because we are all part of God.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Prayers (1962-06-01); When I Awake (1961-03-03),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1250.

If I Ascend Up to Heaven (1961-01-06); The Patience of Unanswered Prayer (1958-04-11)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:47:24 +0000

This recording has two parts. In "If I Ascend Up to Heaven," Thurman explores the idea that God is present in the joys of life and the darkest of times. He also dwells on the idea that we often feel isolated from others, but that no one is isolated from God. In "The Patience of Unanswered Prayer," Thurman explores the value of learning the patience of unanswered prayer. He suggests that this patience can lead away from a focus on the hunger for something that has not come to pass. Instead, we can focus on what it can mean to deal with that hunger and how it can help us understand ourselves. He then offers a number of ways in which we can help answer the question, “What do you do with the frustrations of your own life?”

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “If I Ascend Up to Heaven (1961-01-06); The Patience of Unanswered Prayer (1958-04-11),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1249.

The Function of Stillness (1962-12-14); Miracle of Prayer (1964-01-10)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:46:00 +0000

This recording has two parts. In "The Function of Stillness", Thurman describes the importance of rest, of taking time for renewal and restoration, in whatever form that takes. In "Miracle of Prayer", he suggests that prayer takes many forms and purposes, but its true value is in the ability for the human spirit to be in the presence of God.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Function of Stillness (1962-12-14); Miracle of Prayer (1964-01-10),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1248.

The Varieties of Peace (1962-01-12); "I Hate Them With Perfect Hate " (1961-03-10)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:45:00 +0000

This recording has two parts. In the first message, Howard Thurman describes human desire to "be relieved of the pressure of anxiety that comes from finding no escape from the things that make life hard." Quiet times of meditation can give us the space to take a long look at our own situation and "give wings to our longings." The peace we can experience during crisis is contained within the crisis itself, which means it must end, without us knowing whether the situation will be better or worse than before. But we leave that worry in the peace of God, the peace that "invades the spirit." In the second message, Thurman discusses a strange section of Psalm 139 in which the author talks about hating with "perfect hate." Thurman suggests that hate is sometimes used positively, to shield our tender selves from the world or to offer a foundation upon which to stand. Yet hatred is always destructive and vengeance destroys both hated and hater.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Descriptions by Liz Miller and Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Varieties of Peace (1962-01-12); "I Hate Them With Perfect Hate " (1961-03-10),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1247.

Joy Beyond Pain (1961-10-06); Protection From Our Weaknesses (1962-10-12)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:44:41 +0000

This recording has two parts. In "Joy Beyond Pain," Thurman discusses the physical experience of feeling unable to continue but then feeling a surge of unexplained energy. He suggests that there is a parallel experience in the spirit, in which we can access additional spiritual resources that allow us to continue in moments of weariness or exhaustion. In "Protection from Our Weaknesses," he discusses human weaknesses, how they are exploited or used as excuses, and that we often are protected from knowing our own weaknesses. He also explores the idea of experiences resulting from cause and effect or else from things in which we had no part.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Joy Beyond Pain (1961-10-06); Protection From Our Weaknesses (1962-10-12),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1246.

Resistance to the Social Order (1962-04-20); Self Realization and Acceptance (1963-11-08)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:43:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon Olive Schreiner's "From Man to Man," and his time spent with Gandhi. Each of these reflections speak to Thurman's conception of truth, namely, what happens when one is forced to reject truth. For Thurman, justice, resistance, prosperity, etc. all find themselves hubbed in a longing for the truth to be manifested. In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads and reflects from his work, "The Inward Journey." He notes that all of humanity is on a journey towards God, and that on this journey one cannot travel alone. He notes that one can never abide when experiencing isolation. It is through one another that one finds themselves and God, and vice-a-versa.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Bardoli, death, development, From Man to Man, Gandhi, George Cross, heart, Hinduism, inclusivism, India, individuality, Isolation, justice, life, mysticism, odyssey, Olive Schreiner, oppression, personalism, prayer, process, prosperity, protest, reality, resistance, satyagraha, spirituals, Telemachus, The Inward Journey, truth, universalism, Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Resistance to the Social Order (1962-04-20); Self Realization and Acceptance (1963-11-08),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1245.

Intentional Living (1961-06-23); Man's Relation to Social Order (1963-10-04)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:42:00 +0000

In both of these recordings within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "Meditations of the Heart." In them, we hear Thurman reflecting upon citizenship and right action. Thurman's central question throughout these reflections is: What does it me to be a full, free, and responsible citizen? He claims that by having a moral praxis that rejects hatred in every way it manifests itself, one is able to resist means that contradict the end they are seeking.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: action, citizenship, Co-Laboring, decision, democracy, egg, evil, freedom, government, intention, John Donne, justice, meditations of the heart, morality, No Man is and Island, non-violent resistance, responsibility, Roman Empire, T.R. Glover, voting, working paper

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Intentional Living (1961-06-23); Man's Relation to Social Order (1963-10-04),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1244.

The Idiom of Brotherhood (1963-11-15); The Big Dream, the Little Act (1959-05-29)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:41:39 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from his text Meditations of the Heart. He tells a story of a 69-year-old woman who had come to realize that she did not know much about the black community and decided to go to the library to educate herself on black history. After her time in the library, she was committed to telling the "facts" about black people while she was on the bus and around town. Thurman reflects upon the role that responsibility plays in relation to one's citizenship to humanity. In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads a meditation that speaks of two men who were once enemies sharing the same prison cell. From this meditation, he asks the question of what it means to overcome evil, and anticipate the Kingdom of God? He continues that it is in the disruption of barriers of hatred that humanity builds against itself that one can begin to anticipate the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. He continues, when we put our lives at the disposal of "that in which we stand," no matter how big or small, one is pursuing the greater good of humanity.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: awareness, calling, citizenship, creativity, evil, facts, George Cross, Herman Hagedorn, holiday, identity, meditation, meditations of the heart, prison, prisoners, race, reconciliation, solidarity, testimony, truth

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Idiom of Brotherhood (1963-11-15); The Big Dream, the Little Act (1959-05-29),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1243.

The Meaning of Love (1958-03-07); A Sense of What is Vital (1959-01-30)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:40:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon a passage from 1 Corinthians to elaborate on his understanding of love. He defines love as "the experience of being dealt with at a point in oneself that is beyond all the good and beyond all the evil. He notes that the love of God functions as the exemplary love to which humanity should strive towards. Thurman's conception of love is not possessive nor transactional, rather, it is interdependent and comes from the heart. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon the Apostle Paul's phrase, "a sense of what is vital." Thurman continues by developing his understanding of wisdom, and how wisdom points one towards awareness of vitality. Because you can only know of vitality by means of signs, Thurman suggests that it takes wisdom to discern which symbols actually point towards vitality.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: 1 Corinthians, A sense of what is vital, affection, community, confidence, Dillinger, discernment, dog, experience, interconnectivity, love, meaning, Moffatt, mortician, mortuary, Olive Schreiner, ownership, Paul, requitment, San Francisco, satisfaction, security, symbolism, trust, understanding, vitality, wisdom

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Love (1958-03-07); A Sense of What is Vital (1959-01-30),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1242.

Supportive Order Inherent in Life (1963-05-17); For Love's Sake (1958-05-30)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:39:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "The Inward Journey." Thurman's reading speaks to the intricate ways in which human life and experience is ordered in a synchronistic fashion. It is in one's understanding of creation's interrelatedness, Thurman suggests, that one can come to understand that the entirety of one's existence belongs. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon a poem from Eugene V. Debs, speaking to notions of solidarity and love. He notes that notions of love and disease both have a contagious characteristic, and that there is great responsibility in one's choosing of love or disease. To share one's heart, thus one's love, is to invite fellowship and community. To share one's disease, is to invite isolation and individualism.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: belonging, contagion, creation, creativity, ecology, Eugene V. Debs, experience, fellowship, harmony, healing, heart, interconnectivity, inward journey, love, order, organism, Paul, Philippians, poetry, relationship, security, society, synchronization, synthesis, tentacles of time, unity, vulnerability, wholeness, will

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Supportive Order Inherent in Life (1963-05-17); For Love's Sake (1958-05-30),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1241.

Life Under the Scrutiny of God (1963-01-04); Order in the Totality of Life (1962-05-25)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:38:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "Meditations of the Heart," to speak about wisdom and the ways in which one becomes wise. In his reading, Thurman notes that when contemplating what it means to age, one discovers that in the span of a single year one grows tremendously: relationally, in one's awareness of self, sensitivity, etc. He continues, it is when one makes meaning of an event, rather than merely objectively describing an event, that one can begin to make sense of life. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "The Inward Journey," reflecting upon what it means to be fully integrated. It is in holistic integration, Thurman suggests, that one finds solitude and interdependency.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: aging, anxiety, darkness, dependability, dynamism, embodiment, event, friendship, harmony, illness, integration, inward journey, life, light, magic, meaning, meditations of the heart, order, psalmist, quiet, rebirth, reconciliation, relationship, restoration, Russia, solitude, tension, United States, urgency, vitality, wisdom, year

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Life Under the Scrutiny of God (1963-01-04); Order in the Totality of Life (1962-05-25),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1240.

Creative Order in Life (1963-09-27); The Great Exposure (1963-02-15)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:37:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from Jane Steger's "Leaves from a Secret Journal." He attempts makes sense of the makeup of one's own life through the lens of ecology and biology. Using examples such as trees and DNA, Thurman explores the depths of the "order" of human existence. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text "Meditations of the Heart." His reading reflects upon the impact of trauma, and how it effects the development of the individual. He develops his ideas based off of personal experience and his own psychological findings. In this recording, Thurman suggests that it is in the exposure to the reality of existence that one can begin to mature.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: angels, balance, biology, chaos, childhood, coding, completion, confidence, consequence, constitution, creativity, death, development, ecology, epistemology, experience, Jane Steger, journey, leaves from a secret journal, life, maturity, meditations of the heart, moral structure, North Carolina, personality, pigs, Sargasso Sea, seasons, snakes, trauma, tree, urge of life, Virginia

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Creative Order in Life (1963-09-27); The Great Exposure (1963-02-15),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1239.

Thanksgiving and the Nature of Life (1963-11-22); Waiting Creatively (1959-06-12)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:36:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the Thanksgiving season. He lists a litany of feelings, emotions, materials, and states of being that he is thankful for: air to breath, food to eat, shelter, love, etc. He then discerns the way in which humanity may overlook many of the things that humanity should be grateful for, and suggests that Thanksgiving should be approached as a sacrament which points one towards humility and gratitude. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the meaning of "waiting." He defines waiting as the "interval between moments, experience, events, that are filled with activity." Waiting is dynamic in nature, and requires a true decision from the one who is participating: creatively participating in one's own life as it is manifested today, or longing for the life they will never have.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: activity, ancestors, care, contentment, courage, creativity, crossroad, darkness, disaster, examine, Francis Thompson, gratitude, holidays, hope, humility, litany, love, magic, nostalgia, solitude, spirit, temptation, thanksgiving, unrest, waiting, will

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thanksgiving and the Nature of Life (1963-11-22); Waiting Creatively (1959-06-12),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1238.

Supporting Rhythm of Life (1962-04-13); Thank God for the Fall of the Year (1971-11-23)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:35:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman reflects upon wisdom, and the ways in which wisdom is grounded upon "the reflection of a person gazing deep into the heart of their own experience." This personal experience, Thurman explains, can be understood in both theological and ecological terms; relating human experience to the movement of the seasons, and the life of Jesus of Galilee. This recording within the We Believe Series marks a transitional point in Thurman's career as the Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University: a two-year leave to participate in what he calls his "wider ministry." He draws upon ecological themes of seasons in order to articulate the way in which life transitions without one's consent. He notes that the "Fall of the Year" provides an opportunity for "recollection and reflection," and uses this recording as an opportunity to do so.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: becoming, Boston University, creativity, day view, Easter, ecology, energy, experience, fall, Galilee, George Cross, growing edge, harvest, holidays, Ibadan, Jesus, Muslim, New Year, Nigeria, night view, potentiality, rain, recollection, reflections, rhythm, seasons, spring, Sue Bailey Thurman, symbol, transition, unity, wider ministry, winter, wisdom

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Supporting Rhythm of Life (1962-04-13); Thank God for the Fall of the Year (1971-11-23),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1237.

Quality of Life (1960-10-07); Religion and Life (1964-04-03)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:34:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman reflects upon the way in which American culture makes sense of love. He notes that typically, the "flow of love is chocked beneath the deep recesses of the heart." This is the product of quantitative love rather than qualitative love. He reminds the listener, that qualitative love is more significant than any price tag or number of accoutrements one acquires. Qualitative love speaks to the depths of the human experience. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman reflects upon writing from Max Herman and Petrarch to ask the question: To what depth does one's religion have a bearing on one's life? He continues by probing the political and ecclesiological elements of the religious inner life intersecting with the secular outer life, and the ways in which religion impacts one's praxis and location in the world.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: bears, Cabot, Christmas, decision, ecclesiology, God, Harvard, heart, interconnectivity, Letters of Old Age, limitations, love, Max Herman, meditations of the heart, National Conference of Social Work, need, Paul, Petrarch, poem, quality, quality of life, quantity, religion, responsibility, testimony, Tycho Brahe, voice of the genuine, witness

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quality of Life (1960-10-07); Religion and Life (1964-04-03),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1236.

Psychology and Religion (1963-10-25); Qualitative Living (1960-10-07)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:33:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman reads from his text, "Meditations of the Heart," discerning the implications psychology has on the religious identity. He emphasizes that there is great danger in wishing one's life away. He emphasizes that it is in the responsibility that one finds in a religious identity that finds what it means to honor their own existence. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman reflects upon the way in which American culture makes sense of love. He notes that typically, the "flow of love is chocked beneath the deep recesses of the heart." This is the product of quantitative love rather than qualitative love. He reminds the listener, that qualitative love is more significant than any price tag or number of accoutrements one acquires. Qualitative love speaks to the depths of the human experience.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: bears, behavior, Cabot, candidacy, character, Christmas, circumstances, consciousness, discipline, God, Harvard, heart, longing, love, martyrdom, meditations of the heart, National Conference of Social Work, need, psychology, quality, quality of life, quantity, responsibility, self-actualization, truth, Tycho Brahe

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Psychology and Religion (1963-10-25); Qualitative Living (1960-10-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1235.

Our Little Lives, Our Big Problems (1963-01-25); Periodic Rest (1963-03-22)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:32:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "Meditations of the Heart," working with the tension between factuality and intention. In this tension, one must accept their "self-fact" in order to navigate a faithful deed or image. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "The Inward Journey," reflecting upon the significance of rest and restoration. He uses philosophical and ecological imagery to portray the significance of daydreaming, making sense of the cosmos, and finding integration in one's own life.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: aliveness, altar, communion, creativity, daydreaming, detachment, discipline, fact, fairyland, image, individuality, intention, interconnectivity, meditations of the heart, mind, pacing, raw materials, reality, rest, rhythm, solitude, spirit, Stephen Hawking, sugarplum, waiting, withdraw

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Our Little Lives, Our Big Problems (1963-01-25); Periodic Rest (1963-03-22),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1234.

Long Live Life! (1963-12-27); My Life Is Not My Own (1961-10-20)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:31:00 +0000

This recording has two parts. In "Long Live Life!" Thurman reflects on the passing of a year and reminds his audience to carefully consider their past experiences as moments in "which you learned something, those experiences that taught you something fresh and new about yourself, those experiences without which you would not be as sensitive as you are now to values, those experiences that made you aware of yourself, your purposes, your world." He concludes by focusing on the importance of walking straight ahead into the future, not letting the past shape us against it. In "My Life is Not My Own," Thurman reads from Inward Journey and discusses the idea that we are uniquely our own selves but also that our lives are not our own. We often find strength and confidence in our singleness within. However, our thoughts and actions are part of the heritage of humankind, and our lives are not for us alone. "Every person's life is involved profoundly and intimately in the life of all the other people in all the other ages who have ever lived." Yet in our inner solitude, we encounter God and make the great decisions in life.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Long Live Life! (1963-12-27); My Life Is Not My Own (1961-10-20),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1233.

The Intentional Life (1962-05-18); Life is a River (1961-03-24)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:30:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses his text, "The Inward Journey," to discern what it means to live a life of intentionality. He holds up the orderly life and the life of crisis as the two ways one may live their life. He continues that regardless of one's life orientation, that one must wrestle with the reality of failure being embedded into the human experience. Thurman notes that life is a pattern that is continually unfolding, revealing a wider pattern, and that one's recognition of this pattern comes from an intentionally lived life. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses Langston Hughes' poem, "Rivers," to speak to human experience. Thurman discusses the analogy of human life as a river flowing, flooding, and resting.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, agony, Augustine, Congo, contemplation, death, design, essence, experience, flood, goal, goals, integrity, inward journey, journey, Langston Hughes, life, meaning of life, Mississippi River, New Orleans, order, pattern, pilgrim's progress, responsibility, Rivers, soul, storm, tension, Thomas a Kempis, turbulence

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Intentional Life (1962-05-18); Life is a River (1961-03-24),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1232.

The Image of Perfection (1963-04-26); Angelos of God (1961-09-29)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:29:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon his writing within, "The Inward Journey," reflecting upon what it means to obtain perfection. He critiques narratives of linearity being the means of perfection, naming such notions as harmful and unhelpful. Thurman leans into the dynamic nature of life, naming perfection as an individual journey which unfolds on its own, personal terms. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon his writing within, "The Inward Journey," reflecting upon the ways in which imagination influences the spiritual life.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: authenticity, Columbia, contextuality personality, dynamism, experience, fulfillment, imagination, individualism, inward journey, perfection, philosophy of a fool, projection, psychology, relationship, sculptor, sociologist, synchronicity, wholeness

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Image of Perfection (1963-04-26); Angelos of God (1961-09-29),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1231.

Growing Apprehension in Life (1963-09-13); Human Life in Perspective (1964-05-22)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:28:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon Jane Steger's "Leaves From A Secret Journal," to reflect upon the significance of personal experience. He reflects upon a dog, from Jane Steger's writing, who is blind but slowly is able to see light, to which Thurman asks the question, "Did you ever dream that this universe of light was waiting for you?" From this question, Thurman dives into the significance of human experience, revering relationship as the driver for shifting one's own perspective which allows a new light to shine upon one's understanding of life. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon a meditation from his text, "The Inward Journey," and an anonymous quotation from a personal letter sent to Thurman. His reflection wrestles with the tension between the "time and place" of one's life, and the "meaning and significance" of one's life.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: blind puppy, childhood, cities, clouds, darkness, desert, destruction, Earth, experience, George Washington, God, inward journey, Jane Steger, learning, leaves from a secret journal, light, meaning, New York, opener of the way, Pawling, permanence, potentiality, relationship, rhythm, scent, smell, twilight, universe, vision, womb

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Growing Apprehension in Life (1963-09-13); Human Life in Perspective (1964-05-22),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1230.

Grace of Man and God (1964-04-24); The Great Moment (1962-12-07)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:27:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "The Growing Edge." In his reading, he relates human life to a seed that is in the wind. He notes that a person "without God is a seed in the wind," which suggests that God is the source of grounding and life. He then speaks to the dynamic nature in life, and how though life is filled with both devastation and joy, that one should rejoice in the gift that is life. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon Matthew 22:11-14. In his reflection, Thurman notes of the ways in which humanity longs for a climactic moment, a moment in which life is fulfilled. He notes, "We stand in our moment unaware. Happy is the one who knows that their moment is the great moment." For Thurman, fulfillment is possible now, and reorienting one's posturing towards the potential that one holds today is the key for synthesis and actualization.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Grace of Man and God (1964-04-24); The Great Moment (1962-12-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1229.

The Country of the Heart (1963-09-20); Death - A Part of Life (1961-05-12)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:26:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reads from Jane Steger's "Leaves from a Secret Journal." He attempts makes sense of the makeup of one's own life through the lens of ecology and biology. Using examples such as trees and DNA, Thurman explores the depths of the "order" of human existence. In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman draws upon a parable of two leaves at the end of the Fall season. The two leaves are in conversation with one another, pondering questions of why they must die and who will take their place when they die. After reading this parable, Thurman reflects upon the ways in which all of creation's lived experience participates in death; rendering death as an event that happens in one's life, not something that happens to oneself.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: A Song of Living, angels, biology, chaos, coding, common experience, completion, confidence, constitution, creativity, ecology, epistemology, experience, Jane Steger, journey, leaves, leaves from a secret journal, life, North Carolina, Oak Tree, parable, peace, personality, pigs, Sargasso Sea, seasons, snakes, transcendence, tree, urge of life, Virginia, working paper

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Country of the Heart (1963-09-20); Death - A Part of Life (1961-05-12),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1228.

Jesus, His Contribution (1963-03-01); The Triumphant Entry (1964-03-20)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:25:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon his writing within "The Inward Journey," to speak to the impact Jesus has upon one's experience of life. Thurman notes that it is in one's seeking of God that they find Jesus, and when one finds Jesus, one has the resources to find synthesis, wholeness, and unity. In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects upon his writing within "The Inward Journey." In this reflection, he gives a narration of the passage of scripture that is commonly referred to as "Jesus' Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem," and provides a series of questions and perspectives from the perspective of Jesus and those who were with Jesus in this narrative.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: christology, donkey, experience, fact, family, flowers, heart, historical Jesus, holiday, hope, ideal, inward journey, Jesus of Nazareth, kingdom, lent, longing, love, ministry, palms, prayer, process, prophet, quest, reflections, sanctification, spirit, story, synthesis, Triumphant Entry

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus, His Contribution (1963-03-01); The Triumphant Entry (1964-03-20),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1227.

"The Crucifixion" (1959-03-27); Good Friday (1964-03-27)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:24:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses Oswald W.S. McCall's "Hand of God" to reflect upon Good Friday. Thurman utilizes a historical interpretation to makes sense of the life and death of Jesus, stating that "the event of his death cannot be separated from the logic of his life." In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman uses Oscar Wilde's "De Profundis" to make sense of Good Friday. He again dwells upon the historical Jesus, the implications that following Jesus would have upon one who was living in the first century, and the significance of Jesus' death.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: agony, crucifixion, De Profundis, death, experience, God, Good Friday, Hand of God, historical Jesus, holiday, Holy Week, human spirit, interpretation, Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, Jordan Valley, legion, logic, oppression, Oscar Wilde, Oswald W.S. McCall, participation, Passover, personality, reverence, sovereignty, suffering, theodicy, transcendence

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “"The Crucifixion" (1959-03-27); Good Friday (1964-03-27),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1226.

The Child and Religious Meaning (1964-01-24); Our Children Are Not Our Things (1963-11-01)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:23:00 +0000

n this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman utilizes Frederick J. Moffitt's "Thus A Child Learns," as a point of departure for his liturgy for the devotion of a child. Thurman notes that it is the "birthright" of every child to be given the tools "define for them what it is that they are seeking and where they may find it." In this recording within the We Believe Series; Howard Thurman reflects from his text, "Meditations of the Heart," to "think about children and our relationship to them." Throughout this meditation, Thurman explores the ways in which adults should listen to, teach, and learn from children.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: behavior, belonging, children, community, creativity, curiosity, dedication, dependability, development, developmental psychology, divan, experience, faith, family, Frederick J. Moffitt, furniture, genuine, goodness, habits, home, imagination, influence, intention, learning, life, love, meditations of the heart, moonlight, prayer, relationship, responsibility, self-control, teaching, Thus a Child Learns, tone, tradition, vitality

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Child and Religious Meaning (1964-01-24); Our Children Are Not Our Things (1963-11-01),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1225.

Salute to the New Year (1962-01-05); The Strength to be Free (1960-07-01)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:22:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman draws from his work "Meditations of the Heart" to reflect upon the meaning of a new year. He suggests that each passing year is a "year that has fulfilled itself and passed on," and is filled with change, fresh starts, grace, and hard lessons. In the passing of the previous year, Thurman suggests, there is an "opportunity to love life more wisely," noting that both the past and the future are "Golden Ages." In this recording within the We Believe Series; Thurman draws from his work "Meditations of the Heart," to reflect upon the content of freedom, as the July 4th holiday approaches him and the original audience. He waxes over the variety of expressions of freedom: freedom as release from a current moment, freedom as a wide-open road, freedom as responsibility which leads to growth in wisdom. While discerning these forms of freedom, Thurman returns to a mantra, "Give me the strength to be free and to endure the burden of freedom and loneliness of those without change."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: angels, beginnings, birds, change, child, completion, conformity, death, Fourth of July, freedom, friendship, future, God, gratitude, holiday, innocent, life, maturity, movement, new start, New Years Day, organism, re-ordering, responsibility, seasons, soul, strength, time, tomorrow, understanding, unity, wisdom

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Salute to the New Year (1962-01-05); The Strength to be Free (1960-07-01),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1224.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 4, 1971 July 25

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:14:00 +0000

In this fourth lecture from the Disciples of Christ Retreat, Thurman focuses in on two themes of the inner life. Firstly, one must keep open the door of thy heart, even if other people close their hearts to you. Thurman says that this is our ultimate responsibility, for love can bypass all hate and resistance, and it is impossible to prevent another from loving you. The experience of love is energizing and transformative. Lastly, Thurman loops back to the theme of this collection, "All that a [person] has is [their] life." Thurman says that life is all that a person has to give, and that commitment is to give our lives to life itself, which involves giving our live to others – this act of self-giving from our very center is called love.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 4, 1971 July 25,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1221.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 3 (continued), 1971 July 24

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:13:00 +0000

This is the final few minutes of the third lecture in this collection. Thurman says that commitment must be fed by the "living stuff of my living days," by outer life experiences and encounters, as opposed to solely quiet prayer and meditation. Furthermore, Thurman says that one can fail again and again in their commitments and still find renewal if the commitment is felt to be genuine and of God.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 3 (continued), 1971 July 24,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1220.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 3, 1971 July 24

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:12:07 +0000

In this third lecture from the Disciples of Christ Retreat, Thurman discusses the conflict and strife that arises in the dynamics of commitment. To yield our inner authority to God is to give up initiative over our own lives; we belong to God, and not simply our own interests and urges. However, Thurman says, that deep down we know that God might lead us into places we did not plan, and perhaps would not have preferred. Thus, religious experience involves both a yielding of our lives to God, as well as snatching our lives back. Surrendering to God is not a singular event, but a never-ending process. Thurman says that prayer and meditation is not enough to keep the commitment, but rather it must be lived out in the traffic of life.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 3, 1971 July 24,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1219.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 2 (continued), 1971 July 24

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:11:00 +0000

This is a continuation of the second lecture in the Disciples of Christ Retreat collection. Here, Thurman discusses the possibility of self-deception in religious experience. Even in the private world of the inner life, one must seek out validation. With faith and commitment comes a measure of risk, and thus the mind does not want to be mistaken. Thurman says that pride and arrogance are especially perilous in terms of the movement of the living God. Humility is the proper response to God's movement in our lives, rather than certainty and rigidity. Thurman ends saying that our responsibility is not the results of our commitment, but rather the working at, regardless of result. Our responsibility is the unity of heart and mind dedicated to the purposes of God.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 2 (continued), 1971 July 24,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1218.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 2, 1971 July 24

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:10:00 +0000

Thurman continues his discussion on the dynamics of commitment in this second lecture of the Disciples of Christ Retreat collection. Thurman begins with a number of readings that allude to the ways in which we often find our hearts and minds divided, and how commitment at our very center might bring unity and wholeness to our lives. In resonance with the first lecture, Thurman says that there can be no sense of self if we cannot experience our minds as our own minds. We must have confidence in the integrity of our own thoughts. Surrender and commitment to God is process by which one gives a yes in one's deepest place – a decision that cannot belong to anyone else. By giving ourselves to God in this way our lives are returned to us and reclaimed from the self-alienation that we once suffered.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 2, 1971 July 24,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1217.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 1 (continued), 1971 July 23

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:09:00 +0000

In this brief continuation of the first lecture, Thurman continues to talk about a sense of self through a story of his encounter with a crying boy. Investigating to see what was wrong with the boy, Thurman found that the boy was chewing his big toe and was crying because it hurt. He did know it was his own toe. Thurman says that we must grow into awareness and ownership over our bodies, and commitment of one's life is the highest expression of this. And commitment in turn brings meaning and purpose to our lives, meaning that is from God.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 1 (continued), 1971 July 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1216.

Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 1, 1971 July 23

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:08:00 +0000

In this first lecture of the Disciples of Christ Retreat collection, Thurman discusses the dynamics of commitment. We are given life, but what is it that we shall give our lives to? Thurman insists that this is a question we all must eventually answer. What we stake our lives on determines the quality of our lives. Thurman says that it takes a great challenge to lift us up from the monotonous ruts we find ourselves in. Commitment to a single end energizes our lives and sparks growth in us. Such dedication can bring freedom and empowerment to our inner lives even as our external circumstances remain stagnant. It is through great commitment that we reclaim our bodies as our own, and fulfill our senses of self.

Part of the Collection, Disciples of Christ Retreat (1971, Santa Barbara, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Disciples of Christ Retreat, Santa Barbara, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciples of Christ Retreat, Lecture 1, 1971 July 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1215.

We are All Indebted! The Story of Stranger Paying for Trunk (1965-03-26)

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:07:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman reflects on the ways in which our needs are so often met by people we do not know and how we are indebted to those unknown benefactors. In turn, we must try to be generous with others even when there is no possibility of merit or recognition.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “We are All Indebted! The Story of Stranger Paying for Trunk (1965-03-26),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1179.

The Mood of Christmas, 1978 December 24

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:06:00 +0000

Thurman begins by comparing Hanukkah and Christmas. They are both crucial moments that “gather into themselves the essence of all striving and the meaning of all hope.” Hanukkah remembers “preservation of the eternal light.” Christmas “announces . . . a light that lightest every man that cometh into the world.” He then shares two touching Christmas stories. The first of a man who celebrated Christmas with his towns impoverished children. The second of Thurman viewing the sunrise over Mt. Everest. He concludes by sharing the meaning of Christmas, “light is the enemy of the darkness. And the light does not have to shine all the time.”

Part of the Collection, Religious & National Holidays

Tags: Christmas, Hanukkah, light

Description by Erik Mattson

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Mood of Christmas, 1978 December 24,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1175.

Mysticism and Social Action, Part 2 (Panel discussion with Howard Thurman, continued), 1978 October 14

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:05:11 +0000

In this final installment of Mysticism and Social Change, Thurman gives a final word to the relationship between the inner life and social action in response to a questioner who wonders if mysticism is a luxury for the comfortable and the elite. Thurman begins by saying that he has little hope for institutions to change the social order of things, rather each person must choose where they stand and live out their dream for the world they want to live in. Thurman says that he chose the church to be the place where he decided to live out his dream, which came with its own set of tensions: the structures of the church could not give Thurman the hope he needed, but the message of Jesus did, and thus Thurman needed to parse the two apart in his personal and primary experience. Furthermore, Thurman says that institutions do not deal with people personally. While large-scale operations are important, Thurman says that one must "feed a hungry person in a manner that the hungry person knows that he is being addressed, not merely his hunger." Thurman thus sees himself, and the mystic insight, as bearing witness to this need, seeing that the victimized person feels cared for at their center, not merely superficially helped.

Part of the Collection, Mysticism and Social Change (1978, Berkeley, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Mysticism and Social Action, Part 2 (Panel discussion with Howard Thurman, continued), 1978 October 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1135.

Mysticism and Social Action, Part 1 (Panel discussion with Howard Thurman, continued), 1978 October 14

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:04:00 +0000

This recording is a continuation of the Q&A discussion on Mysticism and Social Action. Thurman begins by fielding a question about the relationship between innocence and knowledge, and the tension that one feels between inner reality and outer reality. Thurman also gives his thoughts on death as an experience of life, saying that death is not the final extinguishment of life, but rather an event that is a part of life. Thurman insists that there is a life-continuity rhythm just as there is a life-death rhythm. Lastly, Thurman speaks to the experience of religion, and the experience of God beyond an idea in the mind. Thurman says that the personal aspect of God, for him, is a sense of presence beyond definition and category, felt in the body rather than known through mental processes. The recording ends with a pointed question about the relationship between mysticism and the alleviation of suffering and injustice in the world, which is picked up in the next section.

Part of the Collection, Mysticism and Social Change (1978, Berkeley, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Mysticism and Social Action, Part 1 (Panel discussion with Howard Thurman, continued), 1978 October 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1134.

Mysticism and Social Action, Part 1 (Panel discussion with Howard Thurman), 1978 October 14

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:03:00 +0000

This section of the Mysticism and Social Action collection contains a brief talk by Thurman followed by Q&A discussion. Thurman grounds the discussion in the paradox of religion: How does one keep their inner life uncluttered whilst not using the inner life as an escape from involvement in the world? Thurman insists that these two rhythms are actually part of one pulse beat. One questioner asks Thurman about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and how this might reflect the dynamics of withdrawal and return in religious life. Another questioner asks about the discipline of centering, in which Thurman offers his thoughts on what it means to be a "chosen" people.

Part of the Collection, Mysticism and Social Change (1978, Berkeley, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Mysticism and Social Action, Part 1 (Panel discussion with Howard Thurman), 1978 October 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1133.

Mysticism and Social Change (continued; Lawrence Lecture), 1978 October 13

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:02:01 +0000

This continuation of Thurman's talk on mysticism and social action finds him illustrating the ultimate principles of the mystic. For the mystic, social action is not an end in itself, but rather is the process by which the mystics removes obstacles blocking the altar in their own heart. The mystic is one who has undergone a journey of self into their central core where God dwells, where the forgiveness of God is found. But what the mystic discovers is not just for themselves, but for all people. The mystic's social action is motivated by the dream of awakening people to that presence within themselves. It is in this work that the mystic redeems their own soul, even in the face of ultimate sacrifice, by remaining loyal to the mystical insight that life is one, and God's love is available to all.

Part of the Collection, Mysticism and Social Change (1978, Berkeley, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Mysticism and Social Change (continued; Lawrence Lecture), 1978 October 13,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1132.

Mysticism and Social Change (Lawrence Lecture), 1978 October 13

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:01:59 +0000

This first part of Thurman’s sermon on mysticism addresses different definitions and experiences of mysticism and how they relate to social change. He begins by talking about his place in a radically depersonalizing Western society, and how refusal to accept assigned categories in that society results in lifelong struggle. He elaborates on his first experiences with mysticism, being alone on a Florida beach as a child and feeling the vast rhythm of life as he looked up at the sky. It is the sentiment of this image that characterizes Thurman’s view of mysticism: a highly personal practice of quiet reflection where the obstacles that muddle the awareness of God are removed. And it appears that it is through this removal of those obstacles that social change arises.

Part of the Collection, Mysticism and Social Change (1978, Berkeley, CA)

Tags:

Description by Anthony Fiddes

Recorded in Unitarian Church, Berkeley, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Mysticism and Social Change (Lawrence Lecture), 1978 October 13,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1131.

The Chance to Be New, 1978 October 8

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Everyone should be given the chance to be born again, Thurman says. We live in a dynamic universe that is not standing still, nor anything in it. Life is always bursting forth from life, renewing itself again and again. And yet, human beings crave stability and certainty, for this is where we find our security. Thurman briefly meditates on the Book of Revelation, and the image of a new Heaven and a new Earth: "Heaven is a place where God dwells. And this daring, lonely dreamer on the island said, there shall come a time when the old Heaven cannot hold God, and there has to be a new Heaven." Thurman suggests that perhaps even ultimates can grow. We must resist the urge to put ceilings over God, others, and ourselves, for this is to imprison them in the categories of our minds, taking away their chance to be new. Thurman says life is not finished with any of us, even if we may be finished with life – because God is a part of life, and as long as life is alive, life cannot die.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Chance to Be New, 1978 October 8,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1130.

Albert Schweitzer (9), 1962 Jan 14

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:56:00 +0000

This sermon is the ninth of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, it appears that Howard Thurman intended to speak of Albert Schweitzer's work in relation to mysticism and religious experience; however, what we find in this sermon is Thurman reflecting upon the call of the religious leader in a time of societal unrest. He notes that there are two major events happening at this time: smallpox infesting Pakistan, and the murder of numerous Muslim men and children. He uses Albert Schweitzer and Olive Schreiner to reveal the significance of the religious practitioner giving their own life on behalf of those whom are suffering in place of a sermon that was expected (by the original audience) to be about identity, mysticism, and religious experience.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: Africa, Albert Schweitzer, Anglican Church, avalanche, Bishop Colenso, bushbacks, Christianity, cognitive dissonance, contextuality, creativity, current events, ecology, experience, incarceration, Jesus, kenosis, life, meditation, monkeys, murder, Olive Schreiner, On the Edge of the Primeval Forrest, ox, Pakistan, reverence, smallpox, the great decision, tobacco, vitality, William Blake, Zulu

Described by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Albert Schweitzer (9), 1962 Jan 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1081.

St. Augustine, part 1 (7); St. Augustine, part 2 (8), 1961 Dec 3, 10, Side B

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:55:00 +0000

This sermon is the eighth of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman explores St. Augustine's texts "Confessions," and "City of God." He uses each of these texts to navigate St. Augustine's theological posturing towards salvation, original sin, free will, and conversion. The climax of this sermon critiques Augustine's claim that the church is the place to which humanity finds salvation, which is held in juxtaposition to Augustine's emphasis upon God's grace being the vehicle to which salvation and religious are actualized.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: Anthony, Augustine, burn, church, City of God, Confessions, conversion, creation narrative, creativity, discipline, empire, evil, experience, fall of humanity, free will, grace, Incarnation, intention, mind, original sin, Pelagius, realization, rebirth, redemption, religious experience, reorder, salvation, Tolle Legge, tremble

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “St. Augustine, part 1 (7); St. Augustine, part 2 (8), 1961 Dec 3, 10, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1078.

St. Augustine, part 1 (7); St. Augustine, part 2 (8), 1961 Dec 3, 10

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:54:00 +0000

This sermon is the seventh of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman explores St. Augustine's biography, specifically speaking to the influence of Manichean Philosophy on Augustine prior to his conversion to Christianity. Thurman notes of the dualistic nature of this philosophy, and the ways in which redemption for both the body and the mind are non-existent in this train of thought. Thurman continues by noting the significance of redemption in Augustine's theological imagination, and appropriates Augustine's construction of redemption towards the political landscape of Germany post World War I.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: America, asceticism, be still my soul, biography, body, Carthage, creative energy, discernment, dualism, Germany, interconnectivity, libertinism, Manichean Philosophy, mind, North Africa, prayer, redemption, Roman Empire, sovereignty, World War I

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “St. Augustine, part 1 (7); St. Augustine, part 2 (8), 1961 Dec 3, 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1077.

St. Francis of Assisi (5); Plotinus (6), 1961 Nov 12, 26, Side B

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:53:00 +0000

This sermon is the sixth of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman explores biographical and theological elements of Plotinus, the 3rd century philosopher. The pinnacle of this sermon rests at a moment where Thurman explains that Plotinus' thought tells the listener that the entirety of creation is a creative expression of God. Thurman continues that it is in a movement of faithful pursuit of the said creative expression, one may come to know God.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: Antioch, children, cosmos, Emerson, Enneads, George Cross, God centered, infancy, meditation, Moby Dick, pagan, panentheism, Persian War, plague, Plotinus, prayer, Rome, silence, sovereignty, teacher, Tennyson, Woodworth

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “St. Francis of Assisi (5); Plotinus (6), 1961 Nov 12, 26, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1076.

St. Francis of Assisi (5); Plotinus (6), 1961 Nov 12, 26

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:52:00 +0000

This sermon is the fifth of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman moves through the entirety of St. Francis of Assisi's biography. Starting with Francis' conversion, to his deep connection to creation, then to his love ethic, then concluding with the implications of his experience with mysticism and contemplation. Here, Thurman is holding up the life of St. Francis of Assisi as an exemplar for the ideal religious life - a life of love, a life of service, a life of responsibility.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: abstraction, biography, birds, Children of God, contemplation, creativity, ecology, Francis of Assisi, insects, kenosis, legend, leprosy, Lord's Prayer, love, marriage, Peruvian War, poetry, prayer, seraphim, simplicity, Surrender

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “St. Francis of Assisi (5); Plotinus (6), 1961 Nov 12, 26,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1075.

Meister Eckhart (3); The Inner Light (4), 1961 Oct 15, 22, Side B

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:51:00 +0000

This sermon is the fourth of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." Utilizing the intersections between Jane Steger, Jacob Boehme, and Meister Eckhart, Thurman explores what Steger calls "the inner light." He notes that the inner light within humanity is first, the "ground of God that is present in humanity," and second, a phenomenon that is "imposed upon the personality" without consent. He holds this definition in juxtaposition with a religious experience he once had, illustrating the intimate, yet universal, nature of the religious experience.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: autonomy, beggars grass, Charles River, choir, deception, fluid center, freedom, geese, Geiger counter, George Fox, Germantown, grace, identity, Incarnation, inner life, Jacob Boehme, Jane Steger, John Wycliffe, John's gospel, leaves from a secret journal, light, logos theology, Lord's Prayer, Meister Eckhart, Milwaukee, nostalgia, personality, Philadelphia, recall, self, skywriters, Society of Friends

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Meister Eckhart (3); The Inner Light (4), 1961 Oct 15, 22, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1072.

Meister Eckhart (3); The Inner Light (4), 1961 Oct 15, 22

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:50:00 +0000

This sermon is the third of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman reflects upon Meister Eckhart's description of the Godhead. In his dissection of Eckhart's Godhead, Thurman wrestles with the tension between the external Godhead that exists in the world, and the internal Godhead that wrestles within the self, noting "The Godhead is trying to break through to the Godhead that is within me." Considering this sermon series' emphasis on mysticism and discovering the spirituality that is innate within human existence, Thurman uses the Godhead concept as a means to describe the indescribable nature of God, and God's relationship to the human experience.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: Autumn, Black Death, conflict, contemplation, creatureliness, Dominican, ecology, existentialism, geese, Germany, Godhead, grace, Haveford College, heart, Hegel, holiness, in-breaking, Incarnation, language, longing, love, manifestations of life, Matthew Arnold, Meister Eckhart, mysticism, panentheism, patterns, prayer, purification, Quakers, Rufus Jones, self-consciousness, Socrates, unknowingness, wholeness

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Meister Eckhart (3); The Inner Light (4), 1961 Oct 15, 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1071.

The Innward Journey (1); Jacob Boehme: The Mystic Will (2), 1961 Oct 1, 8, Side B

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:49:00 +0000

This sermon is the second of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman reflects upon Jacob Boehme's philosophical text "The Mystic Will." Thurman uses this text to make sense of the order that is embedded in the natural world. He notes that it is a natural inclination for humans to make sense of the order of their life by means of external resources; however, with the help of Boehme's writing, Thurman emphasizes that one must also utilize internal resources to make sense of the order of one's life.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: creativity, external world, German, Incarnation, intention, Jacob Boehme, mysticism, order, personality, philosophy, pigeon, poetry, prayer, questions of the human spirit, religious experience, revelation, sparrow, spirit, The Mystic Will

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Innward Journey (1); Jacob Boehme: The Mystic Will (2), 1961 Oct 1, 8, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1070.

The Innward Journey (1); Jacob Boehme: The Mystic Will (2), 1961 Oct 1, 8

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:48:00 +0000

This sermon is the first of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman questions the ways in which one is seeking fullness, freedom, and responsibility. Though it is tempting to seek these ideals of the human spirit in the external world, Thurman notes that it is within the internal spirit, the voice of the genuine that is within all, that one may actualize one's potential for fullness, freedom, and responsibility. It is in the act of "centering down," that one gives themselves the opportunity to find the voice of the genuine within themselves, thus actualize the potential that rests within oneself.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: center down, Dhan Gopal Mukerji, division, Genesis, Halley's Comet, Hitler, immunity, Incarnation, inward journey, Kingdom of God, Marsh Chapel, metaphysical purpose, Mr. Conrad, musk deer, Mussolini, Noah, order, pills, prayer, preaching, preliminaries, remnant, seedbed, sermon, sound of the genuine, temporality, traffic, violence

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Innward Journey (1); Jacob Boehme: The Mystic Will (2), 1961 Oct 1, 8,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1069.

Community and Prophet's Dream II, 1961 May 21

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:47:00 +0000

In this final sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman finishes with the prophet's dream of lion and lamb lying down together. Thurman says that those who dream of utopia and community often make them on the basis of discrimination – there are insiders and there are outsiders who stand as threat to community. For this reason, Thurman says that the dream of community must extend to all living things, a dream in which no manifestation of life will be a threat. In this sermon, Thurman offers one of his main theses: meaningful experiences of unity are more compelling than the things that divide. It is these experiences that will undermine the barriers that separate, and bring the prophet's dream into frutition.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Community and Prophet's Dream II, 1961 May 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1067.

Community and Prophet's Dream I, 1961 May 14

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:46:00 +0000

In this sixth sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman explores the ideas that influence our search for community. There is the idea that the meaning of human life is to be found beyond humanity, in the God that both moves in history and transcends history. Thurman says that this idea inspires our belief in universal order and the infinite worth of human beings. This is the foundation of democracy and our dreams of utopia, but Thurman says that this belief is disintegrating in society. Thurman says that without this fundamental belief, there can be no sense of community, and thus a society cannot support itself, for the prophets say that the knowledge of God will cover the Earth, bringing people of all sorts and circumstances to know their absolute worth before God.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Community and Prophet's Dream I, 1961 May 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1066.

Community of Fear, 1961 May 7

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:45:00 +0000

In this fifth sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman reads from several pieces, each pertaining to the realities of war and the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Thurman says that, for the first time in human history, a single man could extinguish the entire human race, even accidentally. Religious tradition has always kept alive the possibility that, even with great destruction, some human remnant would pick up the pieces and continue the redemptive work of God. But if there are no human beings left, then that redemptive possibility is nothing. Thurman ends says that no one is exempt from responsibility: We each must creatively seek a way for human life to still have chance in the world, to participate in the will of God.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Community of Fear, 1961 May 7,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1065.

Community and the Self, 1961 April 16

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:44:00 +0000

In this fourth sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman talks about the notion of the Self. At some point in our development, we begin to discriminate between ourselves and the rest of the world. When we build the bounds of Self, we also meet the social community in which our Self is embedded. We have a deep, original need for the fulfillment of community. To develop the Self in community is to reclaim this sense of inner wholeness in which we find ourselves as a part of the whole of life. In this, our personalities are brought into focus and all our activities are renewed with purpose and tranquility.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Community and the Self, 1961 April 16,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1064.

Community and Creatureliness, 1961 April 9

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:43:00 +0000

In this third sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman illustrates what it means to be a living creature. According to Thurman, life is always unfolding towards the fulfillment of community. Looking at human beings, Thurman sees that there is an organic harmony in our bodies, each organ working towards biological community. The mind, however, has been separated from this harmony, and must learn again how to be at home in the body. By this, both mind and body together can fulfill the intent of life, which is the very will of God.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Community and Creatureliness, 1961 April 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1063.

Innocence and Goodness, 1961 March 5

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:42:00 +0000

In this second sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman delves deeper into innocence. We are born innocent, with a sense of inner wholeness; however we eventually lose this innocence and find ourselves between our highest ideals and the reality of our lives. This tension between who we are and who we strive to be creates an inner need for balance. Thurman says that this is the nature and fate of human beings: to seek the redemption of wholeness after this loss of innocence. In this search for community and wholeness, we seek what God seeks.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Innocence and Goodness, 1961 March 5,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1062.

Community and Innocence, 1961 February 26

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:54:00 +0000

In this first sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman describes community as a structure and a goal that is inherent in life. Everything is striving to fulfill itself in community. This movement towards harmony is what binds and interconnects the lives and actions of living beings. With this intertwining comes the reality of personal responsibility. To know that we are connected to others in this way is to lose a degree of innocence. Drawing on the story of the Garden of Eden, Thurman says that human beings are trying to work their way back to the garden, not as innocents who are ignorant to the world, but as people consciously dedicated to the work of harmony.

Part of the Collection, Community and the Will of God

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Community and Innocence, 1961 February 26,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1061.

Freedom and Suffering, Part 4, 1959 November 29

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:53:00 +0000

In the fourth and final sermon of the Freedom and Suffering series, Thurman takes his exploration of suffering a step further. Thurman suggests that we must learn to be worthy of our suffering. We should not seek out suffering, but when it comes to us, we must search for the meaning and dignity in it. Thurman also considers that human beings can only suffer because we are capable of loving. To love is to identify with another's suffering, to enter into it and yet remain as ourselves. Religion, he says, is our wrestling with the pain and helplessness of love. Thurman ends on the doctrine of incarnation, in which God learns how to suffer with human beings, so as to teach us how to move into another's suffering.

Part of the Collection, Freedom and Suffering (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston, MA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Freedom and Suffering, Part 4, 1959 November 29,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1054.

Freedom and Suffering, Part 3, 1959 November 22

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:52:00 +0000

In this third sermon in the Freedom and Suffering series, Thurman focuses in on the suffering aspect. Suffering is the common experience of human beings, and perhaps all living beings. Thurman says that the Christian tradition itself was born out of pain and suffering, and represents the human project of squeezing optimism from pessimism. Thurman adds that we are always trying to deduce the logic of our suffering, but even still there are times when the balance of reaping and sowing does not add up. In these moments we may feel like a victim in the world, but Thurman insists that we have the freedom to work with our fate creatively, revealing the meaning, worth, and dignity of our lives.

Part of the Collection, Freedom and Suffering (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston, MA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Freedom and Suffering, Part 3, 1959 November 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1053.

Freedom and Suffering, Part 2: Freedom and Grace, 1959 November 15

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:51:00 +0000

In this second sermon in the Freedom and Suffering series, Thurman adds grace into his discussion on freedom and failure. Human beings have the freedom to fail again and again, however we never fail totally and absolutely. In this there is grace. For Thurman, grace is our experience of something dealing with us beyond balance and beyond merit; it is an unexplainable outpouring that sustains, redeems, and reassures us. Grace is found in God who does not give up on us, who sees us beyond the surface for our infinite worth. Even amongst failure, grace tips the balance scale in our favor.

Part of the Collection, Freedom and Suffering (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston, MA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Freedom and Suffering, Part 2: Freedom and Grace, 1959 November 15,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1052.

Freedom and Suffering, Part 1: Freedom and Failure, 1959 November 8

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:50:00 +0000

In Part 1 of this sermon series, Thurman claims that freedom and failure are twins. The gift of life is also the gift of failure, which is also the gift of freedom. Without the ability to choose, there can be no failure. Thus, human beings are free and fallible creatures. The ultimate and inevitable failure for a living organism is death. Thurman says that the human spirit must confront death and failure. From this confrontation arises a new perspective on life, a renewed understanding of freedom and life.

Part of the Collection, Freedom and Suffering (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston, MA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Freedom and Suffering, Part 1: Freedom and Failure, 1959 November 8,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1051.

The Third Component; Harvest of the Heart, 1958 Oct 26, Nov 27

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:49:00 +0000

What Shall I Do with My Life, Part 3: The Experience of Community, 1971 March 21

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:48:00 +0000

In this third installment of “What Shall I do With My Life”, Thurman addressed the experience of community from the fluidity of consciousness. The line of delineation between life and death, love and hate, war and forgiveness are all discussed with regards to our own self-consciousness. Our experience of community is one with the unity of life and the aliveness of life. Still, it is the desire of man to stabilize those things that we need to guarantee our physical existence. Since the impersonal, social, and economic, and natural forces that impact our lives can not be controlled, we must choose freedom to accept the responsibility of our reaction to these things.

Part of the Collection, What Shall I Do With My Life? (1971, New York Community Church, New York, NY)

Tags: community, consciousness

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in New York Community Church, New York City, New York

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “What Shall I Do with My Life, Part 3: The Experience of Community, 1971 March 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1002.

Moment of Crisis, Part 6, 1958 March 16

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:47:00 +0000

In this final installment of Moment of Crisis, Thurman is discussing the response of religious communities to the marginalized in society. The salvation of foreigners in Isaiah 56 is discussed as the unnamed prophet referenced in this text was compelled to take a position against those other prophets and devout believers, who insisted on the utter exclusiveness, cultural exclusiveness, religious exclusiveness, of the Judites. This critical moment points out one of the central paradoxes of the religious experience, man-made categories that define who has the right to worship God where. Thurman believes that exclusivity in religious institutions and communities is against life and therefore against God.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Crisis (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: community, duality, religious experience

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Moment of Crisis, Part 6, 1958 March 16,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1000.

Moment of Crisis, Part 5, 1958 March 9

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:46:00 +0000

In Part 5 of this lecture series on crisis, Thurman examines the tension between the private life and the transcendent experience. We have boundless freedom and responsibility over our own lives, but we may come to a point where we identify, not just with our individual destiny, but the destiny of humankind as a whole. Thurman suggests that it is through this expanded sense that the spirit of the living God can operate. On one side, we are drawn into transcendent goals bigger than ourselves; on the other, we are lulled into the peace of our little lives.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Crisis (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Moment of Crisis, Part 5, 1958 March 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/999.

Moment of Crisis, Part 4, 1958 March 2

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:45:00 +0000

This installment of Moment of Crisis focuses on Abraham Lincoln. Thurman shares an excerpt from President Lincoln’s memoir that speaks to the personal crisis he faced as he grappled with whether slaves should be freed in the interest of saving the Union. Lincoln, heavily influenced by the founding fathers, believed that slavery was a violation of the mind, spirit, and will of the founding fathers. Still, those who embraced slavery and those in opposition of slavery understood that lives would be lost should the country go to war. The implications if emancipation as it relates to the Confederacy are woven into this lecture as well.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Crisis (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: America, choice, crisis, slavery

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Moment of Crisis, Part 4, 1958 March 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/998.

Thurman on Thurman (continued), 1959

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:12:00 +0000

In Part Two of the "Thurman on Thurman" recording, Howard Thurman speaks about the story of the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospels. Thurman says that this story means a great deal to him because, for him, it is a clue into the inclusiveness of the faith. For Thurman, seeking out God's inclusivity is a responsibility to his own religious experience. Thurman says that the Syrophoenician woman's ultimate message to Jesus and to us is that the world is one, and that Jesus could not do for Israel without doing for others. Thurman finishes saying that this i the only kind of God that he can worship: A God that speaks to this deep need for inclusivity, for "I could not be happy in heaven if my brother's in hell."

Part of the Collection, NA

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thurman on Thurman (continued), 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/994.

Thurman on Thurman, 1959

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:11:00 +0000

In Part One of this two part recording, Howard Thurman shares a series of readings and stories that have been significant to him throughout his life. Put alongside one another, one can get a sense of Thurman's concerns and interests, ranging from God's mysterious hand in the working of history, the dynamics of life and death, to the insistent search for truth against all other temptations. Ultimately, this recording offers us a window into Thurman's thought and reflection by way of those things that Thurman himself claims to be in conversation with.

Part of the Collection, NA

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thurman on Thurman, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/993.

Your Life's Working Paper, 1954 October 10

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:10:00 +0000

In this 1954 sermon, Thurman takes on the topic of commitment. Every expression of life is ordered around some structure or design, and Thurman reasons that human life is no different. To be committed is to put the demands of one purpose above all else, which in turns put all the resources of the universe at the disposal of the individual. Thurman says that the universe is in fact so life-giving and dynamic that even evil commitments are nourished, but they are not ultimately sustained. Thurman ends saying that we must organize our lives around some hard core of purpose, for this will set our lives in order and give meaning to the otherwise random and impersonal events of life.

Part of the Collection, NA

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Your Life's Working Paper, 1954 October 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/969.

A Thanksgiving Service: Let Us Give Thanks, 1953 November 22

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:09:00 +0000

In this Thanksgiving sermon, Thurman reads from Oswald McCall's The Hand of God, followed by discussions of what it means to be thankful for all the lives that sustain our own lives. He also explores the "vast feeling continuum" from which all our feelings flow and how we should be faithful in our feelings and words, for our lives are not our own.

Part of the Collection, Religious & National Holidays

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Description by Unknown

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Thanksgiving Service: Let Us Give Thanks, 1953 November 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/958.

Men Who've Walked With God: The Light That Is Darkness, 1953 July 26

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:08:00 +0000

In this final sermon on "The Men Who've Walked With God," Thurman talks about the dynamics of human values. We are each born with a fundamental sense of values, however our values might be put towards destructive ends. It is easy to lie and mislabel our values, whether it be by ignorance or for the sake of convenience. Thurman says that power and knowledge tends to have a particular corrosive effect on our sense of values and responsibility. The answer to this is humility – measuring ourselves not by others' achievements, but "by the dream that stirred our hearts."

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: The Light That Is Darkness, 1953 July 26,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/953.

Men Who've Walked With God: Thomas à Kempis, 1953 July 17

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:07:00 +0000

Thurman's 13th sermon on "The Men Who've Walked With God" examines "The Imitations of Christ" written by Thomas à Kempis. Thurman says that there is a part of our personalities that wants to give over control; we want to relate to something ultimate and reliable in which we can find stability and guidance. This authority, Thurman says, must be found deep within; therein lies our freedom, for without this inner authority, we will bow to the symbols of authority in our lives. Uncovering this authority requires the spiritual discipline of keeping track of ourselves, and the plans we have for our lives.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Thomas à Kempis, 1953 July 17,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/952.

Men Who've Walked With God: Jacob Böhme, 1953 July 12

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:06:00 +0000

In this 12th sermon on "The Men Who've Walked With God," Thurman talks about our outer and inner lives through Jacob Böhme, a Lutheran of the 16th century. Böhme felt that understanding the world entails more than simply experiencing it, but also relating to it from a center point. In dealing with the world, we need to bring a "double view" to all things. We must see one another in the reality of our circumstances, but also in our completeness as manifestations of life. For Böhme, this double view is what it means to practice love, and this is the love that each person hungers for.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Jacob Böhme, 1953 July 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/951.

Men Who've Walked With God: Fra Angelico, 1953 June 28

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:05:00 +0000

In this tenth sermon on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman explores painter, Fra Angelico. Angelico's life shows us what is possible when we dedicate our skills and disciplines totally to God. Angelico, painting out of the ultimate loyalty of his heart, did not worry about judgments or critics or making money; for him, painting was the way in which the living God was projected. Thurman says that Angelico made his life into a tool for God to reveal God's glory. When our lives are dedicated to God, our whole lives taken on new meaning, and the commonplace becomes sacramental.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Fra Angelico, 1953 June 28,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/950.

Men Who've Walked With God: Gandhi, 1953 June 7

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:04:00 +0000

In this seventh lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman examines Gandhi. For Thurman, Gandhi illustrates what it looks like to bring mystical insight into politics and the traffic of life. In the work of Gandhi, one sees that "it is possible to achieve effective, worldly ends by the use of... techniques that are, themselves, unworldly." By shining the light of spiritual truth onto the conflicts and frustrations of life, new creative synthesis is made possible. For Thurman, Gandhi is a mystic who did not withdraw from the world, but rather brought his religious integrity into human relations.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Gandhi, 1953 June 7,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/949.

Men Who've Walked With God: Plotinus, 1953 May 10

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:03:00 +0000

In this fifth lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman speaks on the Greek philosopher Plotinus. For Thurman, Plotinus's insight is the "double search" of mystical experience – the idea that as we seek out God, God also searches for us. Through this journey, one comes to share in the divine mind, or as Thurman says, "thinking God's thoughts after Him." However, Thurman is describing a thinking process, but rather an experience of ecstasy that expands beyond our sense of personality. This is the result of God spilling over into the mind and finally communing with the soul God has sought out.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Plotinus, 1953 May 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/948.

Men Who've Walked With God: Brahman Mystics, 1953 April 26

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:02:00 +0000

In this third lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman examines mysticism through the Brahmanic mystics and the development of Hinduism. The insight of the mystics was that one's soul was identical with the world-soul. However, this presented an issue. If dying means that one will merge back into the world-soul, does life have any meaning? Thurman explains how the Doctrine of Reincarnation was made to answer this. What we do in this world has an effect on our souls; living makes a difference. Out of this insight, the mystics crafted a respect for personality out of respect for the living God.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Brahman Mystics, 1953 April 26,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/947.

Men Who've Walked With God, Part 2, 1953 April 19

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:01:00 +0000

In this second lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman summarizes his teachings on mysticism and supplements it with a conversation on Laozi and the Dao. Laozi affirmed the Dao to be the creator of life that has no name or category. The Dao manifests itself in all of life. Thurman explains that experiencing the Dao requires detachment – not withdrawal from life, but rather finding the center of your being, a discipline we rarely make time for. Thurman says that we must parse through the noise of our lives to hear the God who lives at our center.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God, Part 2, 1953 April 19,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/946.

The Divine Encounter, Part 4, 1953 March 30

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

This final section in Thurman's series on the Divine Encounter examines the encounter with God in human need. Throughout this series, Thurman has spoken to dealing with crisis, not just on the surface, but at deeper levels. By relating to the person, rather than the person's sickness, we are able to restore them at the level of personality. This is a difficult task because we often deal with only aspects of each other, and not the whole. Nevertheless, when we deal with each other in whole, the God in us is administering to the needs of God in the other.

Part of the Collection, The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Divine Encounter, Part 4, 1953 March 30,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/943.

The Divine Encounter, Part 3, 1953 March 23

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:59:00 +0000

In Part 3 of this series on the Divine Encounter, Thurman remarks that "life is more than any experience of life." No single event, circumstance, or experience is capable of totally defining our lives. Any event that convinces us otherwise becomes God in our lives, which is why worry and anxiety are so despairing. For Thurman, remaining connected to the inexhaustible quality of our personalities gives our lives meaning and resilience. With this connection maintained, even death becomes nothing more than an event of life, incapable of exhausting the whole of us.

Part of the Collection, The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Divine Encounter, Part 3, 1953 March 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/942.

The Divine Encounter, Part 2, 1953 March 16

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:58:00 +0000

In Part 2 of this series on the Divine Encounter, Thurman continues to claim that all of life is supported by God's order, including life's crises. Thurman asserts that it is better to experience crisis than to have no crisis at all, for it is crisis that summons up the depth of the human spirit. For Thurman, all the universe shares the rationality of God with the human mind, and thus the mind is capable of finding revelation and understanding in any circumstance. By this connection, Thurman says that we should expect "highest revelation," even in our "littlest places."

Part of the Collection, The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: suffering

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Divine Encounter, Part 2, 1953 March 16,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/941.

The Divine Encounter, Part 1, 1953 March 9

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:57:00 +0000

In the first lecture of this series, Thurman discusses the Divine Encounter in the context of crisis. All living beings experience crisis in some form. These crises force us out of familiarity and comfort. Thurman suggests that, in the face of crisis, we have the option to retreat or move towards this challenge. Using examples ranging from biblical Jacob to Beethoven, Thurman offers that, even in seeming chaos and disorder, there is an "orderliness of rationality of God." Ultimately, Thurman invites us to demand revelation from crisis, as there is no crisis that is outside of God.

Part of the Collection, The Divine Encounter (1953, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: suffering

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Divine Encounter, Part 1, 1953 March 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/940.

A Faith to Live By, Part 6: Democracy, 1952 October 19

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:56:00 +0000

Do you “believe in democracy?” Thurman poignantly begins his sermon by asking the congregation to give serious thought to their commitments to the democratic process. Democracy, he claims, rests on a fundamentally metaphysical presupposition that the world is “grounded in creativity.” Human thought experiments with the raw material of life and of living that exist all around us, which is “shaped and reshaped” in accordance with “great aspiring and great hoping and great dreaming.” Human imagination is the fundamental pillar upon which the hope of democracy rests. More than the individual working alone, “collective imagining,” he says, yields wisdom and insight in their highest manifestations. Building consensus, however, takes time. People often feel that they do not have the time. In the fall of 1952, Thurman believed the proverbial clock was ticking. While the American experiment in democracy remained imperfect, Thurman was sure this “laboratory” for the democratic process could be instructive for societies across the globe. He calls upon the nation to resist dominating the world and rather, shed light on the divine path toward a more united human race.

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: America, creativity, democracy, democratic process, Great Depression, option, Reinhold Neibuhr

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 6: Democracy, 1952 October 19,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/935.

A Faith to Live By, Part 5: Man (continued), 1952 October 12

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:55:00 +0000

In the fifth sermon of this series, Thurman invites us into a reexamination of what it means to be human beings. "What am I? What are you?" he asks. Thurman suggests three answers to the question: 1.) We are dreamers, and our vitality is sustained by our dreaming. 2.) We are builders of worlds, and though our building never fulfills its blueprint, the greatness of our plans feed our dreams and hopes, and 3.) We are children of God, beings of infinite worth. Thurman ends saying that a culture, civilization, or institution that recognizes this dimension of humanity can survive – but one which refuses to do so is already bound towards death.

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 5: Man (continued), 1952 October 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/934.

A Faith to Live By, Part 4: Man, 1952 October 5

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:54:00 +0000

In the first of two sermons entitled “Man,” Thurman considers what it means for the human to be a spirit-possessing being. The spirit is fundamental to understanding all things that a person thinks and feels. It is what enables the human to respond to one's experiences. Thurman imagines spiritual consciousness as an elevated level of awareness, whereby a person resists being imprisoned within moments and events so that possibilities beyond immediate experience become visible. Here, one can speak back to whatever is “total” in life and thus respond to life “totally.” Such acts are evidence, Thurman says, of what the psalmist means when declaring that humans have been made a “little lower than God.” He ends this message by asking all to consider what he or she will do with the inspiration of the spirit. Divine presence within the body, he avers, is what has the power to turn “the destiny of the race.”

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: alternative, freedom, harmony, imagination, man, order, spirit

Description by Unknown

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 4: Man, 1952 October 5,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/933.

A Faith to Live By, Part 3: Jesus Christ, 1952 September 28

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:53:00 +0000

In the third sermon of this series, Thurman offers commentary on Jesus as a resource for faithful living into the fact of God. Thurman says that Jesus offered to his disciples a vision of God – not a metaphysic, not a theology, not a dogma – but an embodied vision of God. This vision revealed that God is near, and God is love, two principles that cannot be separated. No degradation, no waywardness can rub out God's signature on us. We are redeemed, not by our own individual character, but by God's loving character. In the story of "adulterous woman," Jesus lives into this reality of God that sees us in the tragic state that we are, and yet believes us into greater possibility.

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 3: Jesus Christ, 1952 September 28,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/932.

A Faith to Live By, Part 2: God, 1952 September 21

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:52:00 +0000

In the second sermon of this series, Thurman extends his commentary on God as a centering force in human experience. For Thurman, the awareness of God always arises out of some present stirring, passion, concern, or, anxiety. The religious spirit, he says, emerges to “focus on the ultimate destiny” of the human race whenever there is “moral confusion” in the world. In these instances, God is the reference point enabling creative and dynamic faith. One must turn to the altar of the divine to spark the reflective process and confront evil and the tragedies of life.

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: aloneness, creator, devil, God, spiritual values, weariness

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 2: God, 1952 September 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/931.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Jeremiah, Part 2, 1952 July 28

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:51:00 +0000

In this seventh sermon on the prophets, Thurman highlights two points found in the prophet Jeremiah. Firstly, Jeremiah presents us with the problem of history and responsibility. Often we think our actions as our own, set into motion by our own agency, but in truth we act as a result of processes unfathomable to us. What then is the place of responsibility when it seems we have no control? Thurman does not answer this question, but simply ponders. Secondly, Thurman says that Jeremiah spiritualizes religion in a groundbreaking way for his time. In Jeremiah we find that religion is not confined to a holy place, or people, or ritual – rather God is in the heart. God is found in the force that sustains our lives at the root, speaking to us through the voice of our own hearts, and the wisdom of our own bodies.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Jeremiah, Part 2, 1952 July 28,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/930.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Jeremiah, Part 1, 1952 July 20

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:50:00 +0000

In this sixth sermon on the prophets, Thurman turns to Jeremiah and the topic of mysticism. Some see mysticism as retreat from the world, whereas ethics and morality seeks to make a way in the traffic of life. Thurman rejects this binary. The life of ethics has to be supported by something. Thurman suggests that outer battles are not won in the events, but deep in the transformations of human spirit. Our ethical struggles and moral difficulties will overwhelm us if we do not find a way to keep the outside chaos from penetrating our inner world. Mysticism is a necessity, for we each must make a way in our lives for renewal and rebuilding of our spirits.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Jeremiah, Part 1, 1952 July 20,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/929.

Declaration of Independence: Pursuit of Happiness, 1951 August 26

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:48:00 +0000

"Thurman examines the pursuit of happiness. Life is both existence as well as the outreach of our human spirit and values and meanings. This outreach is so important that, in some cases, we may sacrifice our own existence to protect others. Happiness is something everybody wants. Thurman examines the wording of "pursuit of happiness." Note: the recording ends abruptly. " Description from Expanding Common Ground, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University

Part of the Collection, Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Unknown

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Declaration of Independence: Pursuit of Happiness, 1951 August 26,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/928.

Declaration of Independence: Liberty, 1951 August 19

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:47:00 +0000

"Thurman examines the Declaration of Independence and the significance of Locke's thinking that government is linked to all people being free and equal. This spiritual equality and liberty help government exist. Freedom means having a sense of alternative to the options in one's life. " Description from Expanding Common Ground, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University

Part of the Collection, Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Unknown

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Declaration of Independence: Liberty, 1951 August 19,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/927.

Declaration of Independence: Life, 1951 August 12

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:46:00 +0000

"For Thurman, life, as a natural and universal right, is a combination of the mind and spirit balanced together in the body. He discusses protecting life thru self-defense and the rationalizing that occurs in times of war. He states that the sacrifice of one's own life, done to aid wrongs and help others, ensures spirit and life continue to the next generation. As long as that spirit continues, the soul continues to exist even though physical life ends." Description from Expanding Common Ground, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University

Part of the Collection, Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Unknown

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Declaration of Independence: Life, 1951 August 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/926.

Declaration of Independence: Created Equal, 1951 July 29

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:45:00 +0000

"Thurman roots the idea of American equality in the historical and religious teaching of old Israel. He examines the temple tax as a symbolic tribute to all men being equal in the eyes of God before returning to the Declaration of Independence. He discusses how equality is weighted by each individual based on their understanding of their own worth." Description from Expanding Common Ground, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University

Part of the Collection, Declaration of Independence (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Unknown

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Declaration of Independence: Created Equal, 1951 July 29,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/925.

The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 6: Deutero-Isaiah II, 1951 June 10

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:44:00 +0000

Thurman finishes his lectures on loyalty using Deutero-Isaiah to explore the relationship between privilege and responsibility. The privilege of being exposed to God instills one with a sense of ultimate responsibility. Equality of moral character is founded on equal responsibility to God. To finish, Thurman ponders the role of America which enjoys great privileges. Thurman asserts that we must relate our privileges to our responsibilities, for we are under the judgement of God and history "to make our days for mankind." Our loyalty is measured in self-conscious commitment to the well-being of all life.

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of Loyalty (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 6: Deutero-Isaiah II, 1951 June 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/924.

The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 5: Deutero-Isaiah, 1951 June 3

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:43:00 +0000

In this fifth lecture on The Meaning of Loyalty, Thurman delves into Deutero-Isaiah. Isaiah, as prophet is dedicated to the restoration of Israel and Israel's ultimate destiny in God's plan. However, according to Thurman, Isaiah is disappointed by the people who do not seem to be sensitive to their divine duty. Thurman explains that through this disappointment, Isaiah comes to a great spiritual discovery: the significance of Israel is not measured in power or status, but rather "in humility of spirit and of mind."

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of Loyalty (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 5: Deutero-Isaiah, 1951 June 3,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/923.

The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 4: Job's Dilemma, 1951 May 27

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:42:00 +0000

In this fourth lecture on loyalty, Thurman explores the story of Job. He wonders: How do we reconcile the logic of our minds and the loyalty of our hearts when it comes to God? The logic of the mind believes in order and justice – God being the arbiter of perfect reward and perfect punishment. However, we also find that the good and undeserving unnecessarily suffer, and thus God appears unjust. For Thurman, Job's answer to this dilemma is that Job's integrity to God and humanity remained firm, even when God's integrity to him seemed to fail.

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of Loyalty (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: suffering

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 4: Job's Dilemma, 1951 May 27,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/922.

The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 1, 1951 May 6

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:41:00 +0000

In this first lecture on The Meaning of Loyalty, Thurman speaks to the ways in which individuals are involved in their social context. Loyalty represents the fusion of a person's inner will and an outside cause. This is not simply a social matter for Thurman, but also a fundamental structure of the universe. Loyal commitment brings all the disparate parts of the personality into a single whole. Thurman ends by describing what it means to be loyal to a person. "The thing that is primary is my devotion to the tie that unites me and you."

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of Loyalty (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 1, 1951 May 6,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/921.

The Meaning of Commitment: Sons of God, 1951 February 4

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:40:00 +0000

Thurman focuses on one of the central affirmations of Fellowship Church: "I affirm my need of a growing understanding of all men as sons of God." A growing understanding is one in which there is no total answer, but rather it is a response that is creative and in process. It is a present state that contains the potential of the future. Thurman says that the "sons of God" contains two meanings. On one hand, we are children of life deeply involved in our own self-preservation, which leads us into conflict, competition, and the destruction of other lives. But at the same time we are children of God who are capable of transcending this urge in order to meet purposes beyond physical survival. Thurman describes this as the moral dimension in our lives. Returning to the affirmation, Thurman suggests that we become more aware of our relations as human beings. We are always living and relating as children of life, and yet we are always capable of transcendence as children of God, committed to values and goals that go beyond our little lives.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Commitment: Sons of God, 1951 February 4,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/918.

The Meaning of Commitment: Spiritual Awareness, 1951 January 28

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:39:00 +0000

In this sermon on commitment, Thurman suggests that the destiny of an individual is built upon one central assumption: either life is open and dynamic, or life is closed off and finished with no sense of choice and alternatives. Commitment, at its core, is about choice. It is one's capacity to give over their self-conscious will to something. Thurman describes this self-giving as a response to something that grips us. In commitment we experience a "singleness of mind" that synthesize our usually scattered intentions. Our commitments come to guide the morality of our actions. Thurman ends saying that all are capable of such commitment, and that it need not be a grand vision. Rather, one must simply reach out for what is most near and capable of inspiring.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Commitment: Spiritual Awareness, 1951 January 28,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/917.

The Meaning of Commitment: Spiritual Awareness, 1951 January 28

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:38:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, NA

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Parables of Jesus, Part 6: Commitment, 1951 October 21

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:37:00 +0000

In Part 6 of the Parables of Jesus sermon series, Thurman explores the topic of commitment through the Parables of the Tower Builder and the Warring King. For Thurman, to be a disciple is to be committed to the religious experience that "dominated, electrified, and sustained the life of Jesus." This sort of commitment is not just commitment of the mind, but rather it must be done with the totality of one's being, or else the commitment will not last. To commit in such a way is to experience wholeness, to be redeemed, and to set order to our lives.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 6: Commitment, 1951 October 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/915.

Parables of Jesus, Part 5: The Good Samaritan, 1951 October 7

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:36:00 +0000

In Part 5 of the Parables of Jesus, Thurman examines the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We are called to love our neighbor, but how do we determine who is our neighbor? Thurman suggests that the parable is inviting us beyond the distinctions that determine who we care for and who we do not. Love takes place beyond the worthiness or unworthiness of the beloved. This is the love that God has for human life, and is thus how we should love one another as well.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 5: The Good Samaritan, 1951 October 7,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/914.

Parables of Jesus, Part 4: Forgiveness, 1951 September 30

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:35:00 +0000

In Part 4 of the Parables of Jesus sermon, Thurman interprets the Parables of the Two Debtors and the Unforgiving Servant. When we feel a deep need of forgiveness, we are more likely to be forgiving towards others. For Thurman, this is summed up in the thinking of Jesus: We can only seek forgiveness from God if we are willing to forgive people for what they have done to us. None of us can escape this need because none of us are without guilt. Thus, forgiving others and begging mercy for ourselves are bound together in one posture.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 4: Forgiveness, 1951 September 30,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/913.

Parables of Jesus, Part 3: Prodigal Son, 1951 September 23

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:34:00 +0000

In Part 3 on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman explores the Parable of the Prodigal Son. For Thurman, God is like the story's father, and the brothers represent the ways in which we can fall out of relationship with God. In his interpretation of the younger brother, Thurman comes to two insights. Firstly, there is a relationship between the internal and external: the outside famine that the son suffered through was also an internal famine. Secondly, the son's story shows that the door to God must be opened deep within ourselves. For Thurman, when we come to ourselves, we come to God.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 3: Prodigal Son, 1951 September 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/912.

Parables of Jesus, Part 2: Salvation: What is God Like, 1951 September 16

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:33:00 +0000

In this second sermon on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman uses the Parable of the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Lost Sheep to speak about salvation and the nature of God. Thurman says that both parables describe the redeeming process of God. As human beings we fall into being lost and isolated, often due to forces beyond our control. However, God works towards our salvation, restoring the isolated to a sense of belonging and relationship. For Thurman, community restores meaning and value to life.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 2: Salvation: What is God Like, 1951 September 16,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/911.

Parables of Jesus, Part 1: Growth and the Kingdom of God, 1951 September 2

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:32:00 +0000

Howard Thurman uses the parables of the sower (Matt. 13:1-23) and the fig tree in the vineyard (Luke 13:6-9) to explore the growth of the kingdom of God. He claims these parables illustrate that “the kingdom of God comes independent of human effort aside from the initial act.” This initial act is the choosing and planting of the seed and after that, “there isn’t any more than can be done.” Then, once the time to reap the crop has come, we must be able to discern between the wheat and the tares. Thurman likens tares to the presence of evil and though it is difficult to know how to remove the tares now, the harvest is inevitable as Jesus promises.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: growth, Kingdom of God, Parables

Description by Erik Mattson

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 1: Growth and the Kingdom of God, 1951 September 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/910.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Isaiah, Part 2, 1952 June 22

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:31:00 +0000

God acts in the process of history. This is the primary theme in Thurman's fourth sermon on prophets. Returning to Isaiah, Thurman says that history is more than the logic of cause and effect. History is more dynamic than this. Every event is an overflowing unseen with potential. When we limit ourselves to the surface-value of events, we undermine our own hope and security. In Isaiah, Thurman sees the prophet relating to God rather than the events of the world. Even in misfortune, God is in charge. Isaiah ends with the idea that God is invested in the human project, and will never give up; there will always be a remnant of God's people that begin a new age, and continue to urge human destiny towards the good.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Isaiah, Part 2, 1952 June 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/909.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Isaiah, Part 1, 1952 June 15

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:30:00 +0000

In the third sermon on the prophets, Thurman explores the visions of Isaiah. Thurman describes Isaiah's first vision as encompassing "the total meaning of human existence." It is an experience of both illumination and vocation. The vision says something about the world and what he must do in it. The second vision is a utopian vision, seeing into a time when the world will be whole. Thurman describes this as a time without fear. In our current world, human creativity is the source of our fear. But in Isaiah's vision, humans no longer study war and instead use their creativity for nourishing life. Do we believe that a time like this will come? And if so, how do we live into it today?

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Isaiah, Part 1, 1952 June 15,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/908.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Amos, 1952 May 25

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:29:45 +0000

Thurman begins with Amos in this sermon series on the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. The theme of responsibility rings throughout this sermon. Through Amos, Thurman suggests that if all nations are under the judgment of God, then Israel is uniquely under the judgment of God, simply because they have been made aware of God. Knowledge and opportunity is equated to responsibility. In the light of such knowledge, we should not think of ourselves as favored and thus better, but rather we should take up our responsibility before God. Thurman says that heavier judgment will come to those who seem to be favored because they cannot claim ignorance or lack of opportunity.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Amos, 1952 May 25,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/907.

Inner Life, Part 4, 1952 February 8

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:29:00 +0000

In this fourth lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman explores the relationship between the inner and outer life. Though our culture tends to draw a sharp distinction between the two sides of life, Thurman says that there is an integrated flowing between them. There is no either/or choice between inner and outer, rather the inner life is where our outer life is restored. Furthermore, centering in our spirits allows us to make genuine contact with others. Seeking harmony between inner and outer helps us to recognize the meaning and dignity of our lives and others.

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 4, 1952 February 8,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/903.

Inner Life, Part 3, 1952 February 1

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:28:00 +0000

In this excerpt from the third lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman says that it is rational and necessary to have a goal in life. To be without a goal is to undermine the self-respect of one's own being. Life is dynamic and responds to our commitment. When we hold a goal or purpose at our center, life energy rallies to support our efforts. This goal need not be extravagant, but can be as simple as making something beautiful from our lives. With a goal in our hearts, we are linked with God as a source of wholeness and renewal.

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 3, 1952 February 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/902.

Inner Life, Part 2, 1951 January 25

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:27:00 +0000

In this second lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman says that one must keep a dream in their heart, for dreams are nourishment for the human spirit. The dream is our inward consent to life and what we hope to do with it. We must ask ourselves what we are after, and what we are for. That which our inner authority says yes to becomes our link with the Eternal, and feeds our lives with significance. It becomes, as Thurman says, the "the will of the only God you can worship."

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III,

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 2, 1951 January 25,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/901.

Deep Calls Unto Deep, Part 3: Fruits of the Religious Experience, 1980 February 6

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:26:34 +0000

In the third installment of Deep Calls Unto Deep Thurman speaks to the intimacy of deeper relationship with God as it relates to a religious experience. As we come to our self in God, God comes to himself in us. Thurman also speaks to the system of ethics and morality that has been created out of the religious experience which begs the question whether it is our relationship with the Lord or our religious experience that we expect to carry us and bring about transformation in the world. Can our sectarian religious experience at work in the church of the 1980s truly provide the depth needed to support and sustain the demands of universal morality?

Part of the Collection, Deep Calls Unto Deep (1980, San Mateo, CA)

Tags: ethics, morality, religious experience

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in San Mateo, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Deep Calls Unto Deep, Part 3: Fruits of the Religious Experience, 1980 February 6,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/877.

Deep Calls Unto Deep, Part 2: The Demands of Religious Experience, 1980 January 30

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:25:00 +0000

In the second installment of Deep Calls Unto Deep, Howard Thurman speaks to the idea of total surrender to God. This includes the need to surrender our private burdens and concerns as well as our spiritual being. The process of surrender is continuous as there will always be opportunities to discover areas that are not yet surrendered. Yet, it is not perfection that the Master requires, only that we work at it. We must continue to surrender in or out of season for we are never alone and with God, nothing will be withheld from us.

Part of the Collection, Deep Calls Unto Deep (1980, San Mateo, CA)

Tags: religious experience, Surrender

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in San Mateo, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Deep Calls Unto Deep, Part 2: The Demands of Religious Experience, 1980 January 30,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/876.

Deep Calls Unto Deep, Part 1: The Meaning of Religious Experience, 1980 January 23

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:24:00 +0000

In this first lecture of the Deep Calls Unto Deep series, Howard Thurman is lecturing on the meaning of the religious experience. The greatest possible experience that can be had is an encounter with the living God as man-made ideologies and will eventually pass away. However, it is through God the creator that all particular expressions of life arise. Therefore, the meaning of the religious experience is an expression, a manifestation, of the givenness of God in His creation. Thurman goes on to talk about the fluidity of religious experience and its inability to be controlled by doctrine or dogma for the religious experience at its core is the awareness of the givenness of God in us and His creation.

Part of the Collection, Deep Calls Unto Deep (1980, San Mateo, CA)

Tags: religious experience

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in San Mateo, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Deep Calls Unto Deep, Part 1: The Meaning of Religious Experience, 1980 January 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/875.

The Sound of the Genuine (Baccalaureate ceremony) (Spelman College), 1980 May 4

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:23:00 +0000

Thurman delves into the profound understanding of the human soul’s intrinsic value. Drawing on biblical passages, Thurman emphasizes the omnipresence of God and the importance of recognizing the "sound of the genuine" within oneself. He recounts the story of a man possessed by demons, highlighting the man's inability to identify his true self. Thurman urges us to find our unique identity and the genuine sound within, warning that without this self-awareness, one may live life as if controlled by external forces. This internal discovery, he asserts, is vital for personal fulfillment and authentic living.

Part of the Collection, Featured Thurman Recordings

Tags:

Description by Duncan Hamra

Recorded in Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Sound of the Genuine (Baccalaureate ceremony) (Spelman College), 1980 May 4,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/838.

Men Who've Walked With God: Meister Eckhart, 1953 July 5

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:22:17 +0000

In the 11th sermon from the series "The Men Who've Walked With God," Thurman explains the complex theology of Meister Eckhart. Eckhart believes that there is the Godhead, the ground of all things. This Godhead element is a part of a person's soul, and is always yearning to spill over. For Thurman, spiritual discipline is about giving more of one's life to this core. With Eckhart's Godhead insight, we can no longer deny the infinite worth of any human being; furthermore, our responsibility is to honor the Godhead in others above all else so that we may connect with one another core to core. Thurman says that when this takes place, the kingdom of God is manifested.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Meister Eckhart, 1953 July 5,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/603.

Men Who've Walked With God: Jane Steger, 1953 June 21

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:21:00 +0000

In this ninth lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman explores insights from Jane Steger's Leaves From a Secret Journal. Jane Steger suffered from illness at a young age and, in her illness, became familiar with the mystics. In Steger's journal, we find that she felt creation itself was alive with the Spirit of God, and that our very lives participate in the divine image. Drawing from Steger's writing, Thurman concludes that the door separating us from the divine is very thin, and that this door is in the human heart.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Jane Steger, 1953 June 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/602.

Men Who've Walked With God: St. Augustine, 1953 May 24

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:20:00 +0000

In this sixth lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman examines St. Augustine as a source of mystical insight. Thurman describes Augustine's search for God through the senses, the mind, the feelings, until finally finding "that which is" inside the soul. Thurman says that this is a union with God that is beyond thought, analysis, and spelled-out feelings. This mystical experience releases energy for the undertakings of life in which we might deal with our various difficulties and burdens. Thurman ends with a quote from Augustine: "Our souls are restless until they find their rest in thee."

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: St. Augustine, 1953 May 24,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/600.

A Faith to Live By, Part 7: Democracy (continued), 1952 October 26

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:55:00 +0000

In this final sermon of the series, Thurman binds together faith and the dream of democratic living. Drawing upon the language of covenant, Thurman says that we are morally bound to God as God is morally bound to us. Furthermore, this covenant relationship brings us into unique relationship with others who share the same covenant, the same religion, the same culture, etc. But this binding-together risks exclusion and conflict with others outside those bounds. Thurman says that the true challenge of democracy is the constant expansion of boundaries, to include more and more diversity and difference. Without this, democratic faith becomes nothing more than arrogance and superiority. Thurman urges that we must keep alive the faith that finds infinite worth in every human being, for this is the only faith that can keep alive the dream of democracy.

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 7: Democracy (continued), 1952 October 26,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/595.

A Faith To Live By, Part 1, 1952 September 14

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:53:00 +0000

In the introductory sermon to “A Faith to Live By,” Thurman reflects on the sense of instability humans experience when confronting the fact of their finiteness within the expansive universe. He argues, that when an existential awakening occurs, what anchors the religious believer is becoming conscious of God as a "categorical fact" that exists at the center of all reality. It is the fact of the divine and its relation to the human spirit that allows one to be lifted from the despair of isolation and minuteness. God must be the focal point of any quest for self-respect and meaning for our living to “stand up against all this vastness,” Thurman says. Standing beneath the gaze of the divine strips men and women of all their phony devices – their strivings for self-validation – so that "a vitality of mind" might be achieved in which all may participate.

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: aloneness, Atlantic Charter, communism, democracy, despair, faith, religious faith, WWI, WWII

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith To Live By, Part 1, 1952 September 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/594.

The Religion of the Prophets: Conclusion, 1952 September 7

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:52:00 +0000

In this concluding sermon on the Religion of the Prophets, Thurman highlights some key themes in the prophets. For Thurman, the genius of the prophets were founded upon the idea of the sovereignty of God. God is both fact and act, working in the unfolding of history. God has been expressed through creation, through Abraham's faith, through Moses' exodus, and ultimately through the redemption of the universe. The prophets called their people again and again to be in covenantal relationship with this God, and some spoke to make this relationship open to all of humanity. In the prophets, we hear the promise that God is our salvation, and that God might be working salvation out through us in our little senses of responsibility.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Religion of the Prophets: Conclusion, 1952 September 7,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/593.

The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 3: The State, 1951 May 20

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:51:00 +0000

In this third lecture on loyalty, Thurman discusses the conflict between the individual and the state. For Thurman, loyalty to something supremely worthy is the ultimate basis for self-respect and significance. Thurman's word for this ultimate cause is God. Thurman posits that the state can either make itself a vehicle of this human striving, or it can become a competitor to it; the state can attempt to move into the space that only God should occupy. At best, political expression is a vehicle for proving one's loyalty to God, the ultimate basis of personhood.

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of Loyalty (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 3: The State, 1951 May 20,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/589.

The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 2, 1951 May 13

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:50:20 +0000

In this second lecture on The Meaning of Loyalty, Thurman discusses the problem of conflicting loyalties. We live complex lives with a hierarchy of causes that cannot be reduced to one. How do we resolve loyalty to our ideals in conflict with our loyalty to self-preservation? There is no simple answer, but Thurman poses that we become loyal to the experience of loyalty itself. This principle may be brought into any situation, and serves to ensure the integrity of the person.

Part of the Collection, The Meaning of Loyalty (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Loyalty, Part 2, 1951 May 13,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/588.

Inner Life, Part 7, 1952 March 15

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:50:00 +0000

In this final lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman illustrates the infinite value of the human spirit. Here, Thurman ponders what it is that makes human beings "a little lower than God." There is an aspect of the human spirit that is limitless. The deepest things in us are always emerging against all obstacles. Once we become aware of this truth, all experiences become our teachers, helping to liberate our depths and bring us towards fulfillment. Our task is to honor this mystery of the human soul, for this potential is indeed what makes us children of God.

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 7, 1952 March 15,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/575.

Inner Life, Part 6, 1952 March 8

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:49:00 +0000

In this sixth lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman explores ethical awareness. For the religious person, any sin against another is a sin against God. The person must always connect their acts to their ultimate relationship with life. We are all personally responsible for our ethical lives. Thurman says that we often fall into the trap of pushing people outside of our moral responsibility, but he insists that Christian ethics proclaim that no person can ever be defined as being out of bounds. Anything less is anti-humanity, which is anti-God, which is to be set against the logic of life itself.

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 6, 1952 March 8,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/574.

Inner Life, Part 5, 1952 February 22

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:48:00 +0000

In this fifth lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman proposes that we cannot live without approval. We hunger for approval, and approval guides who we become. We dance in a world of approvals, from larger society to our more intimate communities. The security we get from belonging affects how we live and make decisions. Thurman says that we must come to a point where we settle for nothing less than ultimate approval, that is, approval from God, from the deepest part of our being. With this, we go beyond all secondary approval into the divinely sanctioned fullness of our personalities.

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 5, 1952 February 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/573.

Inner Life, Part 1, 1951 January 18

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:47:15 +0000

On this first sermon on the Inner Life, Thurman speaks to the varying levels of the inner life. Thurman walks us through the thinking mind and our ability to nourish it. Next, he examines the "vast continuum" of the unconscious, and how we might relate to it. And finally, Thurman says that there is an even deeper level, "the group soul," that Thurman refers to as God. Thurman urges that we must tunnel all the way down to this "eternal residue," like the great Sahara trees that bathe their roots in deep waters to survive the pressures of the environment.

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Life, Part 1, 1951 January 18,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/572.

The Gospel According to Mark, Part 2, 1979 October 21

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:46:01 +0000

Thurman reads the Gospel of Mark from Mark 14:35 to 16:19 (Moffatt, New Translation Version)

Part of the Collection, The Gospel According to Mark

Tags:

Description by NA

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Gospel According to Mark, Part 2, 1979 October 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/510.

The Gospel According to Mark, Part 1 (continued), 1979 October 21

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:44:00 +0000

Thurman reads the Gospel of Mark from Mark 7:31 to 14:34 (Moffatt, New Translation Version)

Part of the Collection, The Gospel According to Mark

Tags:

Description by NA

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Gospel According to Mark, Part 1 (continued), 1979 October 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/509.

The Gospel According to Mark, Part 1, 1979 October 21

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:43:00 +0000

Thurman reads the Gospel of Mark from Mark 1:1 to 7:30 (Moffatt, New Translation Version)

Part of the Collection, The Gospel According to Mark

Tags: baptism, children's crumbs, crowds, demon possession, dogs, Galilee, ghost, gospel reading, healing, hemorrhage, holy spirit, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Jordan River, legion, literal reading, native place, nazareth, parable, repent, repentance, sabbath, sheep without a shepherd, sower, swine, synagogue, unclean spirit

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Gospel According to Mark, Part 1, 1979 October 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/508.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 9 and 10, Side B

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:40:24 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Thurman explores what it means to participate on a spiritual journey in a pluralistic world, noting that "religious experience is a carbon copy of the way by which the individual must find a way to stand out in their own anonymity." Here, Thurman is framing spirituality and mission as a means of locating the depth and breadth of spirituality both within the individual, and in the context of the wider world.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: Atlanta, burden of obligation, church, debt, developmental psychology, dichotomy, doors, ego, experience, German reader, gratitude, ground of being, idiom of life, imagination, Incarnation, India, Jesus, Kropotkin, Lord's Prayer, Nancy Ambrose, Old Lady Wright, personality, pilgrimage, plurality of truth, prayer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, relationship, responsibility, seminary, singing, spiritual journey, tent of clues

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 9 and 10, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/303.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 7 and 8, Side B

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:39:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Thurman explores what it means to live one's life with a robust sense of responsibility and freedom. He notes that there is a crucial decision to be made when considering responsibility and freedom: saying yes or no to the life that rests within oneself. Following these sentiments, Thurman provides space for students to ask questions, to which they asked questions of was it means to "follow the scent of the spiritual life," "why the savior of all world religions must die," and predestination.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: autonomy, awareness, blame, center, consciousness, consent, creative encounter, decision, ecology, education, fate, freedom, grace, hope, Hunchback of Notre Dame, hunger, integrity, Jesus Christ, judgement, karma, kill your savior, older sister, original sin, predestination, quest, religious experience, responsibility, river, Robin, savior, scent, sentimentality, sing your own song, spring, time bound, veto, Victor Hugo, vitality, vulnerability, world religions

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 7 and 8, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/302.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 5 and 6, Side B

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:38:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Thurman warns those learning with him of the dangers of setting a distinction between the outer life and the inner life, the profane and the sacred. Drawing upon his experience in India, and tales of his daughter becoming literate, Thurman explains that the outer life influences the inner, and vice-a-versa, designating one's life as synchronous rather than disintegrated.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: arrogance, behavior patters, Calcutta, California, Carmel Valley, conditioning, conformity, Doug Steele, duality, dynamism, ethics, fluid area of consent, heart, hell, India, inner life, Jesus, Lincoln Milton, manifestations of life, mystery, outer life, Paradise Lost, psychology, sacred, San Francisco, secret, secular, soul, speech, spiritual intimacies, Toronto

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 5 and 6, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/301.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 5 and 6, Side A

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:36:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." This recording opens with one student's reflection on the inner life, which is followed by a discussion on dualism, in relation to the inner life, from Thurman. Thurman explores the tension between the outer life and the inner life, religion and superstition, and the practical and the theoretical. Speaking to these examples of dualism, Thurman notes that dualism as "a padding, a shield, to keep us from the naked exposure to the spirit of God."

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: A Chorus Line, authority, cleric, coffee, confidence, darkness, dualism, evolution, fluid area of purpose, inner guidance, inner life, inward journey, Jesus, Kentucky, Martin Luther King Jr., Nature of God, nerve center of consent, New Haven, New Jersey, non-dual, Passaic, praxis, psalmist, reflection, Shekhinah, symbolism, teachers, temptation, test, textile strike, turning, ultimate truth, validation

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 5 and 6, Side A,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/300.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 3 and 4, Side B

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:35:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Thurman reflects upon the significance of a robust inner life, noting, "The deeper I go into me, the more I come in a primary, naked, raw exposure to the very ground of life and existence." This teaching moment is followed by what appears to be journal entries from those who are in conversation with Thurman in this class, reflecting upon a variety of his works and lectures.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: absolute purity, aliveness, aliveness of life, angel of agony, companion, contemplation, darkness, Disciplines of the Spirit, Dream of Gerontius, fishing, ground of existence, hound of heaven, hound of hell, inner life, inward journey, John Henry Newman, love, mysticism, Psalm 139, sea, silence, silent, soul, storm

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 3 and 4, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/299.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 1 and 2, Side B

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:34:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Howard Thurman reflects with the participants what it means to live into one's calling as an offering of Thanksgiving to God. At the center of navigating his sense of calling, Thurman indicates that life feeds off of itself, and that it is in one's recognition of life's innate interwovenness, that the only response one's mind can have is making sense of one's lived reality.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: Albert Schweitzer, Brooklyn, calling, conversation, Cornell University, creative encounter, doctrine, dynamism, historical Jesus, John R. Mott, journey, life feeding upon life, light, meaning making, meaning of life, meditation, Meister Eckhart, mind, mysticism, Oak Tree, oyster bed, Quakers, religious experience, Rufus Jones, San Francisco, swamp, tape recorder

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 1 and 2, Side B,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/298.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 1 and 2, Side A

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:33:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." Thurman's introductory remarks in this recording mention the tension that rests between isolation and solitude, noting that the "spiritual root" of breaking out of isolation is the "great built-in desire of being understood." These preliminary remarks set the foundation for the group of students who were sharing who they were, where they were from, and what their story was, to Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: aliveness, Anglican Church, being seen, Browne Barr, calling, choice, commitment, community, creative encounter, creativity, ecology, experience, Fellowship Church, Howard University, identity, imago dei, inner self, integrity of life, Isolation, Kansas, knowing, League of Women Voters, love, Love Boat, Minneapolis, New Mexico, Oak Tree, Olive Schreiner, oneness, order, passkey, religious experience, room with no doors, San Francisco Seminary, scent on one's trail, self-actualization, South Africa, South Dakota, Sue Bailey Thurman, teaching, vitality, Yale Divinity School

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, September 1980, Parts 1 and 2, Side A,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/297.

What Shall I Do with My Life?, 1980 March 2

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:32:00 +0000

In this sermon, Thurman explores the temptations of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. He urges listeners to think about the responsibility they have over their individual lives. Thurman says that Jesus went into the wilderness to wrestle the question: "What shall I do with my life?" How shall we live true to our conscience, even as we are caught in the demands of forces we cannot control? What is worthy of our ultimate commitment? It is our decisive choices, for and against, that make up the meaning in our lives – and none of us escape the responsibility of choice.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Church of the Advent, Episcopal Diocese, Los Angeles

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “What Shall I Do with My Life?, 1980 March 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/282.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 4 (continued), 1971 February 12

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:47:00 +0000

In the final lecture, Thurman transitions from his meditations on inwardness to a more technical discourse regarding the uses of language by the religious professional. Recognizing the limits of language, he discusses the transcendent meaning of the Gospels whose wisdom must be communicated with the least amount of interference from the speaker. The minister’s speech must then participate in what Thurman calls the “community [or “continuum”] of meaning.” As a beacon of the collective experience of God, the religious professional sees the road ahead for humanity and thus becomes an agent of redemption.

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: experience, Hester Lecture, imagination, intimacy, minister, speech

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 4 (continued), 1971 February 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/249.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 4, 1971 February 12

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:46:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: experience, Hester Lecture, imagination, intimacy, minister, speech

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 4, 1971 February 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/248.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 3 (continued), 1971 February 11

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:45:00 +0000

The third installment of Thurman’s lectures concerns the religious professional’s prayer life. Thurman emphasizes that the act of praying must be more than a demonstration of professional skill, it is a practice, rather, of “cultivating the soul.” Thurman illuminates the dangers of limiting devotion to oratorical instrumentation or reducing the related practice of love to a technique. He encourages the religious professional to devote time to the private life and to employ meditation as a method of locating God within oneself and the ethics of the Gospel in everyday life.

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: discipline of prayer, habit, Hester Lecture, inner life, inner light, love ethic, meditation, prayer, public and private prayer, silence, silent worship

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 3 (continued), 1971 February 11,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/259.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 3, 1971 February 11

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:44:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: discipline of prayer, habit, Hester Lecture, inner life, inner light, love ethic, meditation, prayer, public and private prayer, silence, silent worship

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 3, 1971 February 11,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/258.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 2 (continued), 1971 February 10

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:43:00 +0000

In this lecture, Thurman considers the challenges facing those who must simultaneously be religious experts and persons involved in the experience of leading a religious life. The dilemma of incessantly performing priestly duties, he shows, demands that public demonstrations of spiritual competence be exhibited in the service of “needy humanity” even as the professional works out one’s private formation. Thurman emphasizes, however, that intimacy with communities must not come at the expense of inward encounters with the divine but through the inward spiritual life that inspires “yearning and outreach” for human connection.

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: dilemma, discipline, Hester Lecture, mysterium in society, public and private prayer, religious authority, religious experience, religious leadership, religious living, spiritual consumer, the priestly role

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 2 (continued), 1971 February 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/257.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 2, 1971 February 10

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:42:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: calling, dilemma, discipline, Hester Lecture, minister, mission, mysterium in society, public and private prayer, religious authority, religious experience, religious leadership, religious living, religious professional, spiritual authenticity, spiritual consumer, the priestly role

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 2, 1971 February 10,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/256.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 1 (continued), 1971 February 9

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:41:00 +0000

In the first lecture of this series, Thurman discusses the meaning of being a professional in society and the distinctiveness of the religious professional. For the religious professional, one’s calling is unique not only because he or she is chosen but because God has chosen that person. While divine calling distinguishes this individual, Thurman shows special election does not leave one exempt from the contingencies and challenges of human experience. Divine calling should not make the minister arrogant but more devoted to the mission of urging others to embrace the love of God.

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: calling, Hester Lecture, minister, mission, religious experience, religious professional, spiritual authenticity

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 1 (continued), 1971 February 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/255.

Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 1, 1971 February 9

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:40:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, Dilemmas of the Religious Professional, Hester Lecture Series (1971, Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, CA)

Tags: calling, Hester Lecture, minister, mission, religious experience, religious professional, spiritual authenticity

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Golden Gate Seminary, Strawberry, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Dilemmas of Religious Professional, Part 1, 1971 February 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/254.

McCall's Hand of God, Part 5 (1964-10-02)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:31:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon Oswald W.S. McCall's "Hand of God." Here, Thurman ponders the centrality of hope in the life of faith, and the ways in which hope is grounded in a myriad of contradictions. He continues by defining hope, noting that hope is deeply experiential and the central marker of making sense of the Hand of God.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: experience, fear, Hand of God, hope, interconnectivity, journey, liminality, mind, Nature of God, Oswald McCall, rhythm, salvation, seeking, solitary, spirit, The Brothers of Karamazov, trust, voice

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “McCall's Hand of God, Part 5 (1964-10-02),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/215.

If I Ascend up into Heaven (1961-01-06)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:30:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon the implications that Psalm 139 has upon one's understanding of God. His understanding of God is relational and is directly tied to one's own experience. For Thurman, heaven reflects God's goodness, being filled with ecstasy and delight. For Thurman, the opposite of this ecstasy and delight is the product of sin, selfishness, and "stupidity."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: eschatology, heart, Isolation, Psalm 139, responsibility, salvation, solitude

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “If I Ascend up into Heaven (1961-01-06),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/213.

Thou Knowest it Altogether, 1960

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:29:00 +0000

In this presentation, Thurman discusses the integrity of human speech. Words embody meanings communities attribute to them and become the basis of the verbal articulation of thought. While words inadequately convey the vastness of all that a person is capable of feeling, human speech must strive for honesty so that what we say reveals rather than conceals who we are.

Part of the Collection, Featured Thurman Recordings

Tags: integrity, language, speech, words

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thou Knowest it Altogether, 1960,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/211.

Thou Hast Searched Me (1960-10-28)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:28:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman explores the idea of order and logic in life through the lens of Psalm 139 and a prose poem based on the phrase, "Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off." Thurman suggests that evidence of God having searched and known us is found in the details of our lives that demonstrate order and logic in our actions and experiences. Thurman concludes, "the whole context of my life has been lived under the scrutiny of God, and nothing that happens to me is a part of something that is really irrelevant to the order of my life."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thou Hast Searched Me (1960-10-28),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/209.

The Witness of God (conclusion/excerpt) (St. John's Cathedral), 1959 Dec 6

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:27:00 +0000

In his conclusion to “The Witness of God,” Thurman discusses how deep faith is experienced at the moment that one chooses to accept the faith that God gives. Such faith is brought to life by a penetrating sense of confidence in God’s will. In the candid words of Thurman’s mother who soberly said to him during a moment of disquiet, “God will take care of us,” she echoes, he believes, the ultimate expression of all that humanity could offer regarding the meaning of life and death.

Part of the Collection, Featured Thurman Recordings

Tags: death, faith, Halley’s Comet, life, Spirit of Man

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Cathedral of St. John, New York City, New York

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Witness of God (conclusion/excerpt) (St. John's Cathedral), 1959 Dec 6,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/199.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, Part 2, 1980

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:26:10 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." The majority of this recording is a group of young people working through the nature of temptation, and Jesus' understanding of his sense of self as it pertains to Luke 4:1-13. Towards the end of the recording, the group brings their ponderings on the scripture, to which Thurman responds with ambiguity, "The only thing I know is how the tempter works with me. And that is sometimes just in my imagination, sometimes there's somebody who poses something."

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: attachment, Buddha, Chicago, conflict, construct, devil, eisegesis, exegesis, hermeneutic, identity, imagination, interpretation, Jesus, legion, Luke 4:1-13, mystical experience, New Testament, painting, point of departure, psychoanalysis, Revised Standard Version, temptation, temptation of Jesus, universal

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, Part 2, 1980,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/185.

Conversations with Howard Thurman, Part 1, 1980

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:25:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." This recording consists of preliminary introductions from various participants in the conversation, responding to questions such as where one is studying, what has led one to a life of ministry, and who has journeyed alongside these persons in their discernment of a life in ministry.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: calling, Chicago, experience, fulfillment, Harvard Divinity School, history, Howard University, ideals, introductions, Judaism, laughter, Lincoln University, love, lure, Mercedes, ministry, mission sharecroppers, Morehouse College, mysticism, push, religion of Jesus, Sam Williams, St. Joseph Abbey, understanding, Union Theological Seminary, vocation

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Conversations with Howard Thurman, Part 1, 1980,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/184.

"My Need — Your Need" (1958-03-14)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:24:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reads from his text, Deep is the Hunger, speaking to his understanding of love. He defines love as "the experience of being dealt with at a point in one's self that is beyond all good and evil." Embedded in this definition are notions of trust and forgiveness. He indicates that love is the antithesis of isolation, with isolation being the very essence of having a lack of access to another person.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: 1 Corinthians, Bay State Road, community, deep is the hunger, dog, experience, forgiveness, Great Hunger, Isolation, Johan Bojer, kindness, Kropotkin, love, relationship, trust, withdraw

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “"My Need — Your Need" (1958-03-14),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/181.

Death a Part of Life (1961-05-12)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:23:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman draws upon a parable of two leaves at the end of the Fall season. The two leaves are in conversation with one another, pondering questions of why they must die and who will take their place when they die. After reading this parable, Thurman reflects upon the ways in which all of creation's lived experience participates in death; rendering death as an event that happens in one's life, not something that happens to oneself.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: A Song of Living, common experience, death, experience, leaves, life, Oak Tree, parable, peace, transcendence, working paper

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Death a Part of Life (1961-05-12),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/179.

Canal, Reservoir, Swamp? (1958-05-02)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:23:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman asks whether our lives are canals, reservoirs, or swamps. Lives like canals connect people, movements, and purposes. Reservoirs have inlets and outlets in order to store up resources and provide them to others when needed. Swamps are without outlet, only taking in and becoming stagnant and rotted. Thurman asks what form our lives take, and suggests that we become reservoirs, finding ways to replenish our resources "so that there will be an outgoing from us to irrigate many parched places so that all who know us will find in us a benediction breathing peace."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Canal, Reservoir, Swamp? (1958-05-02),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/180.

Inner Peace (1960-05-06)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:21:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman explores the varieties of peace we can find in life, from innocent peace as children to the peace of exhaustion when we've overwhelmed our resources and can do nothing more. Finally, there is the peace resulting from triumph over adversity, when we are able to "distill goodness out of that which is not good" and "learned how to winnow beauty out of ugliness."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Inner Peace (1960-05-06),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/175.

Ministry of the Living Spirit (1959-03-06)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:20:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman discusses the quiet ministry of the living spirit, which feeds our deepest spiritual needs and remains a source of strength when all other dependencies fall away.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Ministry of the Living Spirit (1959-03-06),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/174.

Timeless and Timebound (1959-02-27)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:19:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman discusses how timetables and schedules can affect us in negative and positive ways. Timetables can sometimes be oppressive, and so "we become busy." In other cases, they allow us to become more efficient and thus find more time to cultivate our inward part. Thurman ends by focusing on the importance of cultivating habits that "steel us within" so that we might find inner tranquility among the turmoil of life.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Timeless and Timebound (1959-02-27),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/173.

The Meaning of Love (1958-03-07)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:18:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: 1 Corinthians, affection, community, confidence, dog, experience, interconnectivity, love, Moffatt, Olive Schreiner, ownership, requitment, satisfaction, security, trust

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Meaning of Love (1958-03-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/171.

The Big Dream; the Little Act (1959-05-29)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:17:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads a meditation that speaks of two men who were once enemies sharing the same prison cell. From this meditation, he asks the question of what it means to overcome evil, and anticipate the Kingdom of God? He continues that it is in the disruption of barriers of hatred that humanity builds against itself that one can begin to anticipate the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. He continues, when we put our lives at the disposal of "that in which we stand," no matter how big or small, one is pursuing the greater good of humanity.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: awareness, decoration day, evil, George Cross, Herman Hagedorn, holiday, meditation, prison, prisoners, solidarity, truth

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Big Dream; the Little Act (1959-05-29),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/170.

Integrity of the Act (1959-05-08)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:16:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman first cautions us to think twice before we move our neighbor's landmarks. This means to be aware that we are never able to fully understand another person's perspective and path through life. "To know a man is to know concerning his landmarks, for these are his points of referral that stand out beyond and above all the traffic of his life, advising and tutoring him in his journey through life and beyond." Thurman then explores the difficult yet important task of taking responsibility for our actions and our reactions to the impersonal forces that affect us each day. "The quality of my response begins to create within me a climate out of which all of my deeds and all of my thinking and all of my living emerge."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Integrity of the Act (1959-05-08),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/169.

Prayers (1962-06-01)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:15:00 +0000

In "Prayers," Thurman reads two prayers. The first is about responsibilities, needs, and our desire to help others without knowing how. The second is Psalm 139.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Prayers (1962-06-01),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/168.

Love Suffereth Long (1959-11-13)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:14:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman discusses the experiences of suffering and joy in human life. He explores an interpretation of the phrase "love suffereth long" in which our love is expressed through actions that make us vulnerable in our desperate attempt to care for another person.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Love Suffereth Long (1959-11-13),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/166.

Love and Self-Confidence (1959-11-06)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:13:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman unpacks his understanding of love, the experience of love, and the nature of love. Thurman describes love at its best to be an involvement with the "innermost center of the beloved." Thurman describes the experience of love as being "totally dealt with," noting that trust, responsibility, and consent all point to the creative moment that composes one's understanding of "love." Love is shared, love is transcendent, and love speaks to the most profound truth that one can find at the center of one's existence.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: center, creative moment, dog, experience, fluid center, love, Peter Kropotkin, spirit, trust, urgency, wholeness

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Love and Self-Confidence (1959-11-06),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/165.

[Past and Present], 1953

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:12:00 +0000

Thurman references colorful allegories and metaphors in this recording to remind us that focusing on the past can prevent one’s self from achieving fulfillment and helping those yet-to-come. His most powerful reference is to the “new and old wood” of an apple tree. He states clearly that fruit is only born on the new wood, and that the function of old wood is to bear that new wood. He connects this metaphor to the book of Hebrew to explain that without the past, the present has no meaning, and without the present, the past remains unfulfilled.

Part of the Collection, NBC Broadcasts (1952-1954)

Tags:

Description by Anthony Fiddes

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “[Past and Present], 1953,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/161.

Contradictions of Life, 1953

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:11:02 +0000

Thurman addresses the manifestations of the principle of alternation in life, ranging from the experiences of the individual to changes that affect the world. This alternation requires a “fallow period” from man, as life wanes, and a period of quiet restoration before it prepares to wax again. Thurman explains that this anxiety-inducing ebb is part of a natural, contradictory cycle, and that when man understands that the flow will come again, they can be at peace knowing that the contradictions in life are not final.

Part of the Collection, NBC Broadcasts (1952-1954)

Tags:

Description by Anthony Fiddes

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Contradictions of Life, 1953,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/160.

Life is a River (1961-03-24)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:10:00 +0000

This message was broadcast as part of the "We Believe" television series on March 24, 1961. In the meditation, Thurman discusses the analogy of life as a river, as it flows, and floods, and returns to calm.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Life is a River (1961-03-24),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/159.

Deep River, My Home is Over Jordan (1958-01-31)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:09:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman places the Negro Spiritual "Deep is the River, My Home is Over Jordan," and Langston Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" in conversation with one another. He likens the life of a river to the movement of human existence: the river begins as a mere stream, then becomes a river wearing down the riverbanks, then disperses itself into a wider ocean. As the river shifts and bends, Thurman claims, the human life also bends and shifts, participating in a process of changing, growing, giving, and moving through time.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abe Lincoln, creative, Deep River, Deep River My Home is Over Jordan, erosion, Langston Hughes, life, Negro Spirituals, present, process, soul, spirituals, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, vital energy

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Deep River, My Home is Over Jordan (1958-01-31),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/158.

Thankful for What? (1964-11-20)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:08:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the Thanksgiving season, asking the question: "What is the nature of your own gratitude?" He calls the listener to discern whether or not they have paused to look at their life in the present moment and identifies the present moment as a gift. When considering the task of understanding the present moment as a gift, mercy and gratitude function as the means to allow oneself to be present in the moment. Thurman claims that our mercy and gratitude is also God's mercy and gratitude, thus accepting the gift that is the present moment is to accept the gift of God's sovereign providence.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: breath, God residue, grace, graciousness, gratitude, holidays, nature, panentheism, thanksgiving, vessel

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thankful for What? (1964-11-20),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/157.

A Thanksgiving Meditation (1958-11-14)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:07:43 +0000

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: ancestors, care, crossroad, darkness, examine, gratitude, holidays, litany, love, magic, nostalgia, temptation, thanksgiving

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Thanksgiving Meditation (1958-11-14),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/156.

The Blind Man (1958-10-03)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:06:00 +0000

In this message about how we deal with frustrations in life, Thurman discusses the song of the blind man and the Biblical story on which it was based. He points out that there are three ways of dealing with frustration. First, we might strike out against everything around us in bitterness, injuring ourselves and others. Second, we might withdraw and detach ourselves from life, losing our vitality and burning out. But Thurman encourages us to take the third option, "to take the raw materials of our environment and bring to bear upon them the kind of creative vitality, and power, hope, dream, aspiration, yearning, yield, even spiritual conviction so that we can reduce our environment and the things that frustrate us to manageable units of control."

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

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Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Blind Man (1958-10-03),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/153.

DEEP RIVER; NATURE OF LIFE (1958-09-26)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:05:00 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the "sorrow songs" of those who were enslaved in America. His remarks speak specifically to the songs that reflect upon the self in relation to a river, such as, "My soul has gone deep like the rivers." The voices of these singers relate their lives to that of a river from a place of deep experientiality. Thurman continues, by relating the unfolding of life to that of a river: a simplistic origin which grows into a complex system, which eventually returns to a wider body, one is able to understand the ways in which humanity is intertwined and shares a common trajectory.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, creativity, Deep River, evolution, experience, interconnectivity, Jordan River, process, river, slavery, spirituals

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Deep River; Nature of Life (1958-09-26),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 15, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/152.

John Brown's Body (1960-02-09)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:04:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “John Brown's Body (1960-02-09),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/151.

John Brown's Body (1960-02-05)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:03:16 +0000

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for America, likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War, and attempts to find spiritual grounding in the midst of unrest and war.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, Isolation, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “John Brown's Body (1960-02-05),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/150.

Jacob's Ladder (1958-11-07)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:02:00 +0000

In this message, Thurman discusses the song "Jacob's Ladder" and how it has been taken to represent human experience as a journey. He also describes a Gothic principle in which human life is Earth-bound, but also involves a sense of the beyond that provides opportunity for alternatives and choices in every aspect of life.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jacob's Ladder (1958-11-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/149.

The Moment of Truth, Part 2, 1958 January 19

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:01:00 +0000

Here Thurman speaks to the moment of truth as it relates to God’s purpose for our lives. Discovering the authentic meaning of our lives helps us to uncover the bearing our experiences have on that meaning. It is the experience by which the mind and the spirit and yes, the soul of man gets a confirmation that enables him to live into the meaning of his life not only with a sense of responsibility but with dignity and power.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Truth (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: meaning, mind, responsibility, soul, spirit

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Moment of Truth, Part 2, 1958 January 19,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/148.

The Moment of Truth, Part 1, 1958 January 12

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:00:00 +0000

In this first installment, Thurman speaks about the solitary nature of the moment of truth. These moments that illuminate our lives and change the course of our realities are moments that must be experienced in solitude through our own eyes. Experiencing firsthand the light that shines into our darkness has the power to do what external pressure and punishment cannot. Ever-present in our moments of truth is revelation, conviction, and decision that guides our responses.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Truth (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: conviction, decision, revelation

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Moment of Truth, Part 1, 1958 January 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/147.

The Moment of Crisis, Part 3: Jesus, 1958 February 23

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:59:00 +0000

In this third installment of The Moment of Crisis, Thurman brings the life of Jesus into the conversation. The crisis is still being discussed as the moment in time when one senses he is being pulled in two different directions. One direction is interpreted as that which would move him to new territories physically and mentally. The other direction seeks to conserve and hold the line against all change. When Paul was met with a moment of crisis, his resolution came through breaking with the tradition of his fathers. When Jesus was met with a crisis, he refused to break with the tradition of his fathers. This decision to remain a Jew and stay the course ultimately ended at the cross. It is often in our moments of crisis where we have the power to make decisions that bring forth confirmation and hold our lives in balance.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Crisis (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: balance, Christ, crisis

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Moment of Crisis, Part 3: Jesus, 1958 February 23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/146.

The Moment of Crisis, Part 2: Paul, 1958 February 9

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:58:00 +0000

In this second installment of The Moment of Crisis, Thurman considers the significance of the experience of crisis in the life of the Apostle Paul. In this lecture, the moment of crisis is defined as the experience through which an individual passes when he is caught in the grip of two forces moving in opposite directions, one force seeking always to maintain the balance, that is the familiar experience, to maintain the status quo, to conserve, to hold the line, to dig in, and the other to go forward, to take a step that has not been taken before, to move into an unexplored area, to change. This was evidenced in the life of Paul who functioned as a member of the Jewish community, yet still had the privileges of a Roman citizen. Similarly, it was on the road to Damascus where the duality of Paul’s identity would come into direct opposition, thus freeing him from his unbelief in Christ. Through his self-sacrifice and devotion, Paul gives additional significance to the cross in the Christian movement.

Part of the Collection, Moment of Crisis (1958, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: balance, Christ, crisis, Paul

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Moment of Crisis, Part 2: Paul, 1958 February 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/145.

The Inner Life, Part 3 (Alternate Version), 1952 February 1

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:56:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, Inner Life (1951-52, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Inner Life, Part 3 (Alternate Version), 1952 February 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/136.

Lincoln's Birthday; Reading from Stephen Benet's "John Brown's Body" (1964-02-07)

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:55:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Lincoln's Birthday; Reading from Stephen Benet's "John Brown's Body" (1964-02-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/113.

Men Who've Walked With God: St. Francis of Assisi, 1953 June 14

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 11:35:11 +0000

In this eighth lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman illustrates the mystical life of St. Francis of Assisi. Thurman describes St. Francis as an "uncomplicated mystic," not so much interested in metaphysics and theological problems. Rather, all that St. Francis knows is that there is a song in his heart which is an expression of the love of God. With the love of God, St. Francis is able to live from a place of harmony and satisfaction in God. Ultimately, we must be careful to not let our possessions and our social labels obstruct the music of God in the hearts of others and ourselves.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

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Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: St. Francis of Assisi, 1953 June 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/601.

Men Who've Walked With God: Buddha, 1953 May 3

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 11:33:00 +0000

In this fourth lecture on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman talks about the Buddha and his wrestling with human existence. Thurman says that the Buddha saw the aging and hunger in the world and equated life with suffering. The Buddha's response to this was to root out desire, to renounce attachment to the self. Thurman says that the insight here is that the self is not so much important as much as the act and the deed of the self. The ethical insight of the Buddha is in the purification of desire, which radiates into the moral life as a powerful life-affirming posture.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God: Buddha, 1953 May 3,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/599.

Men Who've Walked With God, Part 1, 1953 April 12

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 11:31:00 +0000

In this first sermon on "The Men Who've Walked with God," Thurman explores the dynamics of mysticism. Mystical experience is deeply personal, and yet always urging one out towards life. The mystic cannot be lost in transcendence, because the mystic must test their insights in the outer world. Mysticism is better experienced than it is explained. In this experience, there is direct contact with the Spirit of God. For this reason, as Thurman says, the mystic goes against the grain of institutions that claim their formulas are the doorway to God. Thurman ends hinting that the following series will deal with the disciplines of mysticism that keep the spirit active within and in the world.

Part of the Collection, Men Who've Walked with God (1953)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Men Who've Walked With God, Part 1, 1953 April 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/598.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Micah, 1952 August 17

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 11:30:00 +0000

"To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with that God." In this ninth sermon on the prophets, Thurman explores the notions of justice, mercy, and humility as they are recounted in Micah. We often think of justice as a balance sheet, the "eye for an eye" logic. But Thurman invokes Jesus who teaches that mercy is more important than justice. Mercy and kindness is an act that cannot be paid back, and in fact continues to multiply itself in the recipient. This, Thurman says, is what it means to do justly, "releasing people from prison in the way you deal with them." Lastly, Thurman goes against the idea that humility is deprecation; rather, true humility is a clear-eyed assessment of oneself, both weaknesses and strengths included. Together, justice, mercy, and humility form the meaning of religion and the meaning of a good life.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Micah, 1952 August 17,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/592.

Parables of Jesus, Part 7: Rich Young Fool, 1951 October 28

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:22:00 +0000

In this final entry on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman examines the Parable of the Rich Fool. The overarching question for Thurman is this: How do we relate to the money and resources that we have? We aspire to protect ourselves and make flourishing lives with our resources, but we also find ourselves measuring our value by these things. Thurman suggests that we measure our lives by our commitment – not by how much we have, but rather if we use our goods for things in which we truly believe. Thurman invites us to ponder whether our possessions are more valuable than peace of mind and freedom of soul.

Part of the Collection, The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Parables of Jesus, Part 7: Rich Young Fool, 1951 October 28,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/586.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Ezekiel, 1952 August 11

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:21:18 +0000

In this eighth sermon on the prophets, Thurman gives a thorough exploration of Ezekiel. First, Thurman returns to the topic of responsibility through the lens of holiness. In Ezekiel, though environment affects our choices, we each must reckon with ourselves and our own actions. The action is ultimate in determining our holiness, and our good acts might save us from the weight of our bad acts. Thurman also suggests that we might bear responsibility, not through some profession, but simply as ourselves taking ownership of our own living. This includes when our lives are under great threat and consequence, which might compromise our moral commitments. Do we commit the sin of deceit when our lives are jeopardy? Or do we maintain our integrity? Thurman does not offer any clear answers, but asserts that we must all wrestle with the question, for it is the circumstance of our everyday lives.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Ezekiel, 1952 August 11,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/591.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Deutero-Isaiah, 1952 June 29

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:21:17 +0000

In this fifth sermon on the prophets, Thurman finds Deutero-Isaiah wrestling with what it means to be in relationship with God. The prophet is troubled by the notion that Jews are supposed to be in automatic relationship with Jehovah, and yet they do not act like it. Thus the prophet concludes that it is not tribe or lineage that makes one a Jew, but rather moral and spiritual character. Anyone can thus "become a Jew" as the prophet says. Those who have had this experience of God play the part of revealing the true nature of God to the world. For Thurman, the image of the suffering servant illustrates those who have been exposed to God's spirit and therefore suffer on God's behalf as instruments of God's plan to redeem the world.

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Deutero-Isaiah, 1952 June 29,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/590.

Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Hosea, 1952 June 1

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:18:22 +0000

In this second sermon on the prophets, Thurman talks about God's unwavering faithfulness to human beings even in the midst of hardship. Through Hosea's writings, Thurman illustrates the ways in which crisis tempts us into abandoning our faith in God, the true source of our security. Thurman suggests that God's punishment and redemption is carried out through the logic of cause and effect. The world is not full of war because God is evil, but because our social processes lead to war. Nevertheless, Thurman insists that we must hold the faith that "the ultimate destiny of man is a good destiny."

Part of the Collection, Religion of the Prophets (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Religion of the Prophets: The Message of Hosea, 1952 June 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/585.

Thurman on the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, 1975 February 7

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:18:21 +0000

In this audio recording, Howard Thurman shares the background and the intentions of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust. Thurman traces his own educational journey through the hardships of segregation and financial struggles, which were only overcome by the support of friends, family, and strangers. After a fateful encounter with a man that helps pay his ticket to high school, Thurman makes a promise to God: for every year of his life, he will try to do for some student that that man had done for him. The Howard Thurman Educational Trust is the manifestation of that promise. The Trust makes it mission along three priorities: 1.) enabling scholarships and personal mentorship to students, 2.) encouraging intercultural experiences and understanding, and 3.) sharing the thoughts and reflections that have come from Thurman's life of religious commitment.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Thurman on the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, 1975 February 7,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/190.

Patience of Unanswered Prayer (1958-04-11)

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:15:00 +0000

In this recording, Thurman explores the value of learning the patience of unanswered prayer. He suggests that this patience can lead away from a focus on the hunger for something that has not come to pass. Instead, we can focus on what it can mean to deal with that hunger and how it can help us understand ourselves. He then offers a number of ways in which we can help answer the question, "What do you do with the frustrations of your own life?"

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Patience of Unanswered Prayer (1958-04-11),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/167.

Martin Luther King Service (Santa Cruz), April 8, 1968

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 01:01:00 +0000

In this recording, Howard Thurman honors the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. , giving perspective to his "life and martyrdom." Thurman describes King's greatest contribution to be his ability to speak ethical insight from the center of his religious experience. Thurman says that this was a new development: to denounce racism, not just as un-American and undemocratic, but as a moral sin against God. Thurman assures us that King's work is unfinished, and that it is us who determine the meaning and significance of his life by how we respond. Thurman sees King as one who lived out his metaphysical principles, and put his trust in the "sound of the genuine" that can potentially be heard between every person.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in University of California, Santa Cruz, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Martin Luther King Service (Santa Cruz), April 8, 1968,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/107.

On Mysticism, Part 16 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 01:00:50 +0000

This recording is the tenth lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Howard Thurman is asking the question, "What do I have?" He poses this question in relation to the mystical traditions that strive to empty themselves of the material world for the sake of transcendental relationship with God. Engaging this question, Thurman struggles with the tension between humanity's innate entanglement with "the real" of the world, and the ways in which one truly experiences the love of God by emptying oneself from all "occupations and distractions of the mind."

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: actualization, adventure of the mind, Albert Magnus, aliveness, ant, Augustine, biology, Carl Jung, contemplation, creation, ecology, embodiment, experience, George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Great Plains, identity, journey, kenosis, love, manifestation, Meister Eckhart, Morehouse College, negative way, philosophy, Plotinus, reality, revelation, sanctification, self-awareness, solitude, soul, source, the real, transformation, universal form

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 16 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/106.

On Mysticism, Part 13 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:58:16 +0000

This recording is the ninth lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman responds to the question: "Can I work out, in my private journey, the implications of my moment of vision?" In classic Thurman form, he gives no clear answer to this question; however, he points to Jesus' ministry, and Greek philosophical conceptions of the soul, in order to further illuminate the question at hand.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: adultery, Brahman, Buddha, community, conversion, Essenes, experience, Greek Philosophy, Herodians, Hinduism, holiness, Incarnation, legion, Meister Eckhart, membership, miracle, nucleus, Oscar Wilde, Pharisee, Plotinus, private journey, purity, religious experience, river, Roman dogs, Rome, Socrates, soul, spiritual energy, suffering

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 13 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/105.

On Mysticism, Part 12 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:57:00 +0000

This recording is the eighth lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman reflects upon the life of Jesus, and an encounter he had with the author Margaret Rhodes, in order to make sense of what it means to heal. Here, Thurman indicates that the primary function of healing rests in the healing of one's "identity of belonging." In other words, Thurman is arguing that to heal, and be healed, is to be fully integrated into a life of community.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: baptism, calling, christology, contemplation, creative energy, gifts, goya, Head of Christ, healer, healing, Henrich Hofmann, historical Jesus, imago dei, inner experience, interelatedness, Jesus, magic, Margaret Rhodes, Minneapolis, mystic experience, Palestine, Platonic doctrine, power, principle of automation, self-awareness, social change, Stephen Hawking, symbolism, symposium of the soul, wilderness, woodpecker, working paper

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 12 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/104.

On Mysticism, Part 11 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:56:00 +0000

This recording is the seventh lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman explores the question "How must I relate to the natural order in which I must work out my life?" This question is met with the significance of the Temptation of Jesus in relation to Jesus' baptism. Thurman suggests that Jesus' transcendental experience in Baptism informs his steadfast commitment to not be led into temptation. The example of Jesus, for Thurman, illustrates the significance of the religious life, and the ways in which the religious life points one towards fullness, freedom, and responsibility.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: actualization, baptism, biblical interpretation, center, Charles Badger Clark, civil war, dove, Hunchback of Notre Dame, importance, Jesus, journey, Leo Tolstoy, mission, mystery, mysticism, natural order, nucleus, personal truth, pragmatism, religious experience, responsibility, Satan, solitude, structure of dependability, struggle, subjectivity, temptation of Jesus, truth, value, Vicksburg, Victor Hugo, vision, withdraw

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 11 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/103.

On Mysticism, Part 9 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:54:00 +0000

This recording is the sixth lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman reflects upon what it means to make sense of one's own transcendent "center." The center to which Thurman is referencing is held in relation to the placement of Jesus' baptism in the context of the arc of scripture; heralding this event as the epitomization of the transcendental self. It is here where the centrality of the transcendent reality is grounded upon everything existing in the "divine context," thus existence is inseparable from prayer.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: absolute, Albert Schweitzer, Back to Methuselah, Bernard Shaw, center, center of being, christology, clue, conditioning, Daniel, divinity, DNA, Dream of Gerontius, essence of prayer, experience, inner quiet, Isaiah, Jesus, John Henry Newman, John the Baptist, Jordan River, King Uzziah, language, lions den, meditation, nature, nervous center, Noah, nucleus, opening, organic, possibility, Psalm 139, psychology, Quakers, Quest for the Historical Jesus, scientific process, sunday school, transcendence, voice, Weinel, Widgery

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 9 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/102.

On Mysticism, Part 6 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:52:00 +0000

This recording is the fifth lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. He revolves the content of this lecture around the question: "How may I act so that in my action there will be a corresponding manifestation of an increase within me of a sense of the presence of God?" To which, Thurman responds with dialogue with students in the class pertaining to notions of self-actualization, the task of the mystic, and the exploration of the content of religious identity.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: actualization, awareness, Brethren of the Common Life, center of being, comprehension, Concord Reformatory, consciousness, contemplation, contextuality, dilemma, dualism, ego, externality, good works, ground, Harvard, Hounds of Hell, identity, Incarnation, integrity, interconnectivity, intimate experience, Jesus, LSD, modernity, moral quality, mysticism, nibble, pragmatism, praxis, presence, proof, religious experience, seeing, seeking, Timothy Leary, truth, vulnerability, watch, William James

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 6 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/101.

On Mysticism, Part 4 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:50:00 +0000

This recording is the fourth lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. Drawing from Olive Schreiner, Elmer O'Brian, and his own encounters, Thurman reflects upon God's (or The Ultimate's) sovereign providence. Thurman communicates this idea via the designation of "God's giveness." He notes that it is in personal "spiritual exercises" that one has the potential to be opened to this innate nature of God.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: aestheticism, angel, creative encounter, ecology, Elmer O'Brian, failure, George Fox, giveness, Gospel of John, Holt Rinehart, inner light, interelatedness, Israel, Jacob, life, manifestations of life, Meister Eckhart, natural religion, Old Testament, Olive Schreiner, panentheism, pantheism, potential, presence, reading, roses, sacrament, Saint Paul, spiritual exercise, totality of experience, ultimate, unity, Varieties of Mystic Religion

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 4 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/100.

On Mysticism, Part 3 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:38:22 +0000

This recording is the third lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. Building upon Thurman conception of being a "time binder," he notes that utopian conceptions of harmony are not unobtainable. Drawing from his wider work of "racial memory," Thurman indicates in this recording that humanity's restorative relationship with the animal kingdom provides an inkling for God's participation with humankind in the pursuit of harmony. This harmony has existed before, and in a movement towards this redemptive harmony, Thurman suggests, there is an innate movement towards humanity's created intent.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: A.E. Hotchner, Alexander Pope, aliveness, awareness, common ground, communication, creation, dualism, ecology, George Cross, gorilla, harmony, journey, myths, Papa Hemingway, pathology, Plato, polar bear, potentiality, prayer, priest, racial memory, rattlesnake, Ringling Brothers, sanctification, self-consciousness, sovereignty, substance, theodicy, Thomas More, time binder, utopia, vulgarity, warthogs

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 3 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/99.

On Mysticism, Part 2 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:32:00 +0000

This recording is the second lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman notes that innate within the human identity are the categorizations of "Space Binder" and "Time Binder." Space Binder speaks to meaning making in reference to the external world. Time Binder speaks to the transcendent reality of existence that both observes and reacts. Each of these designations function as tools to make sense of one's participation in reality, while also transcending the limits of human conception.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: death, deception, dualism, ecology, embodiment, epistemology, fact, freedom, harmony, India, integration, intellect, interconnectivity, Kabir, mind body, mystery, mystical union, mysticism, Nature of Mind, oneness, ontology, order, panentheism, personality, pragmatism, relationality, river, space binder, synthesis, Tagores University, temporality, time binder, transcendent reality, universal truth

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 2 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/98.

On Mysticism, Part 1 (University of Redlands Course), 1973

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:31:00 +0000

This recording is the first lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. Thurman's emphasis in this recording is the centrality of one's identity, and conception of self in relation to the world and creation. He does this by drawing upon stories of and experience he has with a Sioux tribe in Canada, and his interpretation of a Robinson Jeffers poem. The recording concludes with a stream of consciousness waxing from Thurman, illustrating his understanding of becoming "self-conscious," and the potential dangers that come when one relies primarily on the self rather than the communal body.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: African Genesis, Andromeda, Arctic Circle, Canada, center, community, consciousness, context, continuity, creativity, ecology, embodiment, essential fact, evolution, Gore Place, identity, imagination, interconnectivity, Isolation, J Allen Boone, Kinship With All Life, mental illness, mysticism, New York, oneness, order, organism, panentheism, presence, reality, religious experience, Robert Ardrey, Robinson Jeffers, Saskatchewan, scientific theory, Sioux Indians, Strongheart

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in University of Redlands, Redlands, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “On Mysticism, Part 1 (University of Redlands Course), 1973,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/97.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 1 (Seminar Discussion) [Side A], 1975 Jan 22-23

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:30:00 +0000

This recording is a part of a seminar that took place in 1975 on the topic of Howard Thurman's inimitable text, Jesus and the Disinherited. In these recordings, you hear the voices of numerous students in conversation with Thurman. In this recording, Thurman opens with his reflections upon the tension between the temporal body of Jesus Christ, and one makes of Jesus' lived experience. Collectively, the classroom explores questions of the historicity of Jesus, the limitations of personal experience, the impact of Jesus' teachings on the Civil Rights Movement, hope, and the habitus of nonviolent strategy.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: apocalyptic vision, Civil Rights Movement, consciousness, culture, death, deception, disciples, ego, encounter, experience, expression, historical Jesus, hope, integrity, Jesus, laboratory, lagoon, love ethic, luck, nonviolence, ocean, personalism, personality, plurality, religious experience, risk, seminar, slavery, suffering, truth, validation, Western Civilization

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 1 (Seminar Discussion) [Side A], 1975 Jan 22-23,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/86.

A Sense of Presence, Sense of Self, 1974 July 18

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:27:38 +0000

This is a recording of Howard Thurman reading from his text "Deep Is The Hunger" (1951). Thurman explores a parable of a poor laborer who invests in expensive glass from a high end antique store. From this parable, Thurman discusses what it means to live with only that which is best and beautiful, that which is one's treasure. He continues by juxtaposing this idea of treasures by lifting up the nature of tragedy, which lures one from that which makes their life most beautiful.

Part of the Collection, Readings from Deep is the Hunger (1951)

Tags: antique store, balance, beauty, courage, dedication, deep is the hunger, experience, fears, Francis De Sales, home, illumined finger of God, Introduction to the Decent Life, Jesus, laborer, meditation, memory, old glass, poorly dressed, siege, storm path, storms, treasures in heaven, truth within me, vacuums

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Sense of Presence, Sense of Self, 1974 July 18,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/74.

Hear Us and Help, Psalms in Today's English Version (American Bible Society), 1971 Nov

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:22:00 +0000

A recording of Howard Thurman reading a selection of Psalms for recordings by the American Bible Society devotionals entitled, "Hear Us and Help" in November 1971. On this side of the recording, Thurman read Psalms 71, 77, 86, 90, 103, 139.

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: American Bible Society, Here Us and Help, Psalms

Description by Erik Mattson

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Hear Us and Help, Psalms in Today's English Version (American Bible Society), 1971 Nov,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/73.

Hear Us and Help, Psalms in Today's English Version (American Bible Society), 1971 Nov

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 21:20:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, NA

Tags: American Bible Society, Here Us and Help, Psalms

Description by Erik Mattson

Recorded in NA

Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 3: Jesus and the Natural Order (continued), 1969 July 22

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:05:00 +0000

In this brief add-on to Thurman's sermon on Jesus and the Natural order, Thurman discusses the paradox that human beings are at once a part of the natural order, and yet also seem to be over and against nature. Human beings always feel themselves to be threatened by the impersonal forces of nature, which ultimately feeds the fear that perhaps we are alone, cut off, isolated in this world. If only the world could acknowledge us, to know our private world of hopes, dreams, and aspirations, perhaps we would feel comforted and assured. For this reason, Thurman says we are always trying to put a human face onto the world of nature so that we may be in conversation with it. For this reason, Thurman spoke to the ocean and to the stars as a boy, hoping to break his isolation.

Part of the Collection, Friends Five-Year Meeting (1969, Earlham College, Richmond, IN)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 3: Jesus and the Natural Order (continued), 1969 July 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/62.

Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 3: Jesus and the Natural Order, 1969 July 22

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:04:00 +0000

In this second sermon from the Friends Five-Year Meeting, Thurman returns to the temptations of Jesus. The tempter urges Jesus to jump off a tower. Thurman says that the logic behind the tempter's dare is that there is no order or structure to existence; the tempter tries to convince Jesus that he is above the natural order. However, the truth is that if we do not act in accordance with the order, the order itself will destroy us. "Thou shalt not tempt God." Thurman relates this to America and the empires of history that have deemed themselves favored and thus unbound by the order that other peoples are bound to. Thurman says that the miracles we must seek are the unseen miracles of the spirit: the resolution of the inner conflicts which keep us separate and despairing.

Part of the Collection, Friends Five-Year Meeting (1969, Earlham College, Richmond, IN)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 3: Jesus and the Natural Order, 1969 July 22,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/61.

Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 2: Jesus and the Gothic Principle, 1969 July 21

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:03:00 +0000

In this second sermon from the Friends Five-Year Meeting, Thurman parallels the insights of Jesus with the principles of Gothic architecture. In the iconic Gothic arch, Thurman sees pillars that are grounded in the earth, and yet stretch up into infinity. This, he says, reflects human beings in both our earth-bound creatureliness and the reality of the human spirit which seeks trust, understanding, and love. Thurman ties this insight to the temptation story in which the tempter urges Jesus to turn stone to bread, to which Jesus responds that man does not live by bread alone. Here, Thurman says, Jesus affirms that human beings have both creaturely and spiritual needs, and that the two are indeed part of one creative beat.

Part of the Collection, Friends Five-Year Meeting (1969, Earlham College, Richmond, IN)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 2: Jesus and the Gothic Principle, 1969 July 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/60.

Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 1: Jesus and the Religious Experience, 1969 July 20

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:02:00 +0000

In this sermon given at a Quaker conference, Howard Thurman gives words to religious experience as an encounter with the living God. For Thurman, religious experience is a moment in which one becomes personally and privately aware of God as a fact. This is an experience that cannot be controlled or willed, but rather it is given by grace, by God's own autonomy. Our responsibility is not about holding tightly to religious experience of the past, but rather to be open and prepared to encounter God in our lives, and to be transformed by divine presence.

Part of the Collection, Friends Five-Year Meeting (1969, Earlham College, Richmond, IN)

Tags:

Description by Rodell Jefferson III.

Recorded in Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Friends Five-Year Meeting, Part 1: Jesus and the Religious Experience, 1969 July 20,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/59.

Man and Social Change, Part 3: Violence and Nonviolence (continued), 1969 March 21

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:01:21 +0000

"Throughout history, physical violence has been used to bring about immediate social change. However, it is unable to rob a person of the “final vote” – the option to give up one’s life. Non-physical violence is a more devastating reality for Thurman because when it is effective, the person surrenders the will and is robbed of the option. Willingness to die, to escape the forced option, is “the organic basis for freedom in human life.” The force of violence does not enter the will but “Nonviolence insinuates itself into the will,” creates a new sense of self and freedom, and enables the person to become an unbounded instrument of social change.

Part of the Collection, Man and Social Change Series (1969, California State College, Long Beach, CA)

Tags: Ghandi, non-physical violence, nonviolence, option, physical violence, social change, violence, will, World War I, World War II

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in California State College, Long Beach, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Man and Social Change, Part 3: Violence and Nonviolence (continued), 1969 March 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/58."

Man and Social Change, Part 3: Violence and Nonviolence, 1969 March 21

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Part of the Collection, Man and Social Change Series (1969, California State College, Long Beach, CA)

Tags: Ghandi, non-physical violence, nonviolence, option, physical violence, social change, violence, will, World War I, World War II

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in California State College, Long Beach, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Man and Social Change, Part 3: Violence and Nonviolence, 1969 March 21,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/57."

Man and Social Change, Part 2: Man and the Experience of Community (continued), 1969 March 20

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:55:00 +0000

"Community is evinced when any form of life identifies with another. For Thurman, humans experience wholeness when individual existence recognizes itself within the fullness of all existence. Community is an expression of life because its manifestation follows the “harmony,” “order,” and “inner togetherness” consistent with a person’s inner order. In this way, Thurman notes, community makes sense to the mind. Recognizing this profound continuity, persons in community must widen the “magnetic field” of their relationships and pursue experiences of harmony that compel the spirit more than ideologies, creeds, or, fears that divide.

Part of the Collection, Man and Social Change Series (1969, California State College, Long Beach, CA)

Tags: community, disharmony, harmony, innocence, life, organism, racial memory of the human

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in California State College, Long Beach, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Man and Social Change, Part 2: Man and the Experience of Community (continued), 1969 March 20,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/56."

Man and Social Change, Part 2: Man and the Experience of Community, 1969 March 20

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:54:25 +0000

Part of the Collection, Man and Social Change Series (1969, California State College, Long Beach, CA)

Tags: community, disharmony, harmony, innocence, life, organism, racial memory of the human

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in California State College, Long Beach, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Man and Social Change, Part 2: Man and the Experience of Community, 1969 March 20,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/55."

Man and Social Change, Part 1: Man and the Experience of Freedom (continued), 1969 March 19

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:53:00 +0000

Freedom is the will and ability to act at any moment, Thurman says, “as to influence” or “determine the future.” For him, the experience of freedom relies on one’s ability to create options. Without options, there can be no sense of self. To keep the possibility of choice alive, a person must take responsibility for her life so that one resist becoming a prisoner to the will of others and life events.

Part of the Collection, Man and Social Change Series (1969, California State College, Long Beach, CA)

Tags: action, freedom, inward journey, liberty, option, reaction, responsibility

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in California State College, Long Beach, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Man and Social Change, Part 1: Man and the Experience of Freedom (continued), 1969 March 19,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/54.

Man and Social Change, Part 1: Man and the Experience of Freedom, 1969 March 19

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:52:48 +0000

Part of the Collection, Man and Social Change Series (1969, California State College, Long Beach, CA)

Tags: action, freedom, inward journey, liberty, option, reaction, responsibility

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in California State College, Long Beach, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Man and Social Change, Part 1: Man and the Experience of Freedom, 1969 March 19,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/53.

The Creative Encounter, Interview with Roberta Byrd Barr, Part 1 (continued), 1969 Nov 30

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:51:00 +0000

Originally aired on KING-TV based in Seattle, this audio is from the first part of a three-part series in which Roberta Byrd Barr interviewed Howard Thurman about his life and work. This segment concludes the first part of the series; the beginning is available in this related item. All three parts of the interview are available on the Virtual Listening Room site by Boston University.

Part of the Collection, Television Interview with Roberta Byrd Barr (1969, KING-TV, Seattle, WA)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Creative Encounter, Interview with Roberta Byrd Barr, Part 1 (continued), 1969 Nov 30,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/52.

The Creative Encounter, Interview with Roberta Byrd Barr, Part 1, 1969 Nov 30

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:50:00 +0000

Originally aired on KING-TV based in Seattle, this audio is from the first part of a three-part series in which Roberta Byrd Barr interviewed Howard Thurman about his life and work. This segment includes the first 45 minutes of the first part. The remainder of the audio is available in this related item. All three parts of the interview are available on the Virtual Listening Room site by Boston University.

Part of the Collection, Television Interview with Roberta Byrd Barr (1969, KING-TV, Seattle, WA)

Tags:

Description by Spencer Roberts

Recorded in NA

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Creative Encounter, Interview with Roberta Byrd Barr, Part 1, 1969 Nov 30,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/51.

The Dilemma of Love and Hate (continued), 1973 April 1

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 18:04:12 +0000

Sunday evening sermon, second part

Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO)

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Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Love and Hate (continued), 1973 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/50.

The Dilemma of Love and Hate, 1973 April 1

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 18:02:00 +0000

Sunday evening sermon, first part

Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO)

Tags:

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Love and Hate, 1973 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/49.

The Dilemma of Life and Death (continued), 1973 April 2

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Monday evening sermon, second part

Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO)

Tags:

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Life and Death (continued), 1973 April 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/48.

The Dilemma of Life and Death, 1973 April 2

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:46:00 +0000

Monday evening sermon, first part

Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO)

Tags:

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Life and Death, 1973 April 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/47.

The Dilemma of Religious Experience, 1973 April 1

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:45:58 +0000

Sunday morning service

Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO)

Tags:

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Religious Experience, 1973 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/45.

What Shall I Do with My Life, Part 2: The Dilemma in the Wilderness, 1971 March 14

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:41:00 +0000

Here Thurman uses Matthew 4:1-11 as a framework to discuss the practical world against the possibility of reality. The fluidity of natural order or lack thereof is also discussed as it relates to logic, time, and exceptions to the rules of the natural order.

Part of the Collection, What Shall I Do With My Life? (1971, New York Community Church, New York, NY)

Tags: Christ, Matthew, natural order

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in New York Community Church, New York City, New York

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “What Shall I Do with My Life, Part 2: The Dilemma in the Wilderness, 1971 March 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/42.

What Shall I Do with My Life, Part 1: Freedom of the Human Spirit, 1971 March 7

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:40:00 +0000

Here Thurman highlights the spiritual experience of freedom. The implications of freedom as it relates to the manifestation of God and the awareness of God realized in the individual are also discussed. Just as there is a responsibility in freedom for our actions that determine, shape, and influence the future; there is also a responsibility for one’s reactions to life’s experiences. The most authentic expression of freedom is the endless possibilities of choice. Freedom is the power to accept or reject, it is the power to take initiative over one’s own life.

Part of the Collection, What Shall I Do With My Life? (1971, New York Community Church, New York, NY)

Tags: choice, freedom, God

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in New York Community Church, New York City, New York

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “What Shall I Do with My Life, Part 1: Freedom of the Human Spirit, 1971 March 7,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/41.

In the Garden, 1962 September 16

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:39:30 +0000

In the final sermon of this series, Thurman affirms that Jesus does not struggle with the fact of death but the fact of finality swallowing all future possibilities. When Jesus asked God whether the cup before him might pass, what he possibly considered, Thurman notes, is whether more time living might be better than dying. The test of faith, Thurman says, comes when life’s agony is not relieved. In Jesus’ yielding expression, “Thy will be done,” Thurman interprets God’s ability to intervene “in the midst of the breaking heart and the anguishing spirit” and inspire peace and resolve.

Part of the Collection, The Temptations of Jesus (1962, United Church of Canada, London, ON, Canada)

Tags: death, loneliness, peace, temptation, tempter

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in United Church of Canada, London, Ontario

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “In the Garden, 1962 September 16,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/34.

At the Crossroad, 1962 September 15

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:38:00 +0000

Thurman’s fourth sermon in this series expands the traditional frame of the wilderness temptations and portrays Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem for the last time as a crossroads dilemma. In this instance, Jesus must decide whether to go to Jerusalem, where he would be rejected and killed, or, to continue his ministry elsewhere and live. Thurman explains the crossroad faced by Jesus as a dilemma because this moment reflects the "agony" of any dilemma in that one must choose either between competing goods or competing evils. Jesus knew going to Jerusalem would mean meeting his fate. If he did not go, it would mean quieting the revelation of God within him. In the choice Jesus makes to go to Jerusalem, Thurman recognizes the crowning example of faith to trust God and follow divine will.

Part of the Collection, The Temptations of Jesus (1962, United Church of Canada, London, ON, Canada)

Tags: agony, crossroad, dilemma, Jesus, Judas, temptation, tempter

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in United Church of Canada, London, Ontario

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “At the Crossroad, 1962 September 15,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/33.

The Kingdoms of this World, 1962 September 14

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:37:44 +0000

In his third sermon regarding Jesus and the tempter, Thurman discusses the dilemma one faces when deciding whether personal ascent to power will compromise one's spiritual integrity. It is possible, Thurman says, that Jesus considered how ruling over the kingdoms of the world might position him to further the aims of God’s kingdom. Perhaps Jesus contemplated the potential of his teaching, healing, and miracle-working power backed by political authority. However, Thurman warns that “the nerve center of our consent” must always go to God. Rather than succumbing to the temptation of expediency, the individual must be invested in a reality beyond one’s own.

Part of the Collection, The Temptations of Jesus (1962, United Church of Canada, London, ON, Canada)

Tags: consent, Jesus, Kingdom of God, love, power, temptation, tempter, trust

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in United Church of Canada, London, Ontario

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Kingdoms of this World, 1962 September 14,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/32.

Tempt God, 1962 September 13

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:36:00 +0000

In the second temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Thurman explains why Jesus resisted making himself an exception to the rule of the natural order. The tempter’s efforts to convince Jesus to operate beyond the logic of physical reality was an effort to get him to be less human. Jesus did not act outside of life so that he could speak to human life, Thurman notes. No one can do as one pleases or “disregard the structure of dependability that holds life in focus.” Trusting God rather than seeking exceptions to the natural order is what allows one to feel the closeness of God, Thurman says, and feel the hand of Jesus “on my shoulder speaking the word of reassurance” and offering peace.

Part of the Collection, The Temptations of Jesus (1962, United Church of Canada, London, ON, Canada)

Tags: Jesus, order, peace, temptation, tempter

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in United Church of Canada, London, Ontario

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Tempt God, 1962 September 13,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/31.

Not By Bread Alone, 1962 September 12

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:35:40 +0000

In this sermon, Thurman discusses the strangeness associated with following Jesus and taking up the life of ministry. The strangeness of this act is that one must leave the known for the unknown, convert family into strangers, and assume a spiritual orientation to a material world. When Jesus opted not to turn stones into bread he must have done so, Thurman muses, knowing that while humans do not live by bread, alone, they do live by bread. While the time men and women spend on earth is a time of the body, the meaning of life is vast and transcends the body.

Part of the Collection, The Temptations of Jesus (1962, United Church of Canada, London, ON, Canada)

Tags: body, integrity, Jesus, self-deception, spirit, temptation, tempter

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in United Church of Canada, London, Ontario

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Not By Bread Alone, 1962 September 12,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/30.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 11: The Quest for God, 1962 May 27

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:30:00 +0000

In the final lecture of “Quests for the Human Spirit,” Thurman discusses three fundamental assurances that underly spiritual quests. First, it is necessary to achieve a sense of being totally encompassed and embedded within a dependable reality. Second, more than maintaining a sense of the all-encompassing, one’s faith must become a “tutor,” Thurman says. Believing that God exists, is “close at hand,” and available to participate in one’s various experiences is fundamental to dealing with the anxieties of aloneness. Third, in understanding that God is love, and engaging in the practice of love, one experiences a kind of rightness with the world.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: all-encompassing, creativity, dependability, God, invention

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 11: The Quest for God, 1962 May 27,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/24.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 10: The Quest for Peace (continued), 1962 May 13

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:29:32 +0000

In Thurman’s second lecture on peace, he focuses on the collective experience of harmony in a world context. While human beings are deeply embedded within the ambitions and structures of governments and states, it is essential for the individual to establish a sense of being separate and distinct from the world in which one is nourished. Amid Cold War politics nearly twenty years after the use of the first atomic bomb, Thurman considers the meaning of thinking about peace in light of the threat of nuclear war and mass death within human populations. Calling for a moral revolution, Thurman explains that we exist within a collective moral web that connects all people. Individual commitment to peace must, then, transcend the self, participate in the shared fate of our world and society, and become felt within the highest reaches of power.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: atomic bomb, community, peace, power, Soviet Union, state, violence

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 10: The Quest for Peace (continued), 1962 May 13,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/23.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 9: The Quest for Peace, 1962 May 6

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:28:00 +0000

In the first of this two-part lecture, Thurman defines peace as a sense of “inner togetherness.” Experiences of peace are diverse and unfold through manifestations of innocence, exhaustion, reconciliation, conformity, and triumph. Here, Thurman emphasizes peace associated with “trials.” He does so because only tranquility on these terms persist within when external conditions do not change. This, he says, is the peace that passes all understanding.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: forgiveness, peace, tranquility, wholeness

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 9: The Quest for Peace, 1962 May 6,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/22.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 8: The Quest for Identity, 1962 April 1

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:27:00 +0000

Possessing a name provides a sense of being situated in the world. It is how the person marks one’s claim against society, Thurman notes. Identity in this regard requires the person to have a sense of one’s own body and idiom. Distinctive character underlies the capacity to probe the social world wherein one exists so that who one is becomes more articulate and more integrated within the whole.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: identity, mooring, name, selfhood

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 8: The Quest for Identity, 1962 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/21.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 7: The Quest for Integrity, 1962 March 25

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:26:00 +0000

Integrity is the alignment of self-image with the facts, or, the truths concerning a person. It is the “creative synthesis and wholeness inside the man.” Such inner “unanimity within,” Thurman claims, allows a person to take a stand and possess humility. Never fooled by any single or biased opinion about oneself, one must turn to ultimate judgment – to God. Meaning can only be defined in the presence of sovereign critique.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: absolute judgment, humility, inner unity, integrity, self-image, ultimate judgment

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 7: The Quest for Integrity, 1962 March 25,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/20.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 6: The Quest for Authority, 1962 March 18

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:25:37 +0000

Authority is more than a final limit. It also the persisting substance of limitations that remain with us after withdrawing from the presence of power. For Thurman, this sense of abiding authority is summed up in the biblical words “thus says the Lord.” We are “naked without authority,” he argues. There must be authority wherein one can lay oneself bare and yet not feel violated. Thurman believes religion accomplishes this. In the act of submitting to a higher reference point, human beings are rescued from the emptiness of absolute autonomy and achieve a sense of participating in a collective destiny.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: assurance, authority, limit, location, responsibility, self-deception

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 6: The Quest for Authority, 1962 March 18,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/19.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 5: The Quest for Stability, 1962 March 11

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:24:00 +0000

In this brief lecture, Thurman addresses the need for stability. The sense of stability can be experienced when a person possesses what is most “significant and worth-full” to them. One must have morale to be stable, belief in one’s cause, faith in the enterprise to which one has committed, affirm these feelings, and finally, relate to the community. Stability is peace and security within with the vast universe beyond.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: boundless, security, stability

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 5: The Quest for Stability, 1962 March 11,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/18.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 4: The Quest for Truth, 1962 March 4

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:23:17 +0000

When the sense of personal reality becomes part of an enlarging reality, one encounters truth. The quest for truth may be the essence of all quests, Thurman notes. Such striving is a sole aim and may not always produce or correlate with social change. It is more than a technique. The pursuit of what is spiritually true compels something within the individual to participate in a broader meaning. When one’s inner “root” is absorbed into and becomes the “root” in existence, Thurman says, the truth of one’s being embedded within an unrestricted reality makes the experience of freedom possible.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: ahisma, Ghandi, reality, Tolstoy, true, truth

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 4: The Quest for Truth, 1962 March 4,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/17.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 3: The Quest for Values, 1962 February 18

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:22:00 +0000

For Thurman, the quest for value cannot be distinguished from the human experience of meaning. He suggests that ideas regarding value are not created in isolation within the mind, but they are “indigenous to the very life of personality.” The content of values largely reflects our communities of meaning and when one begins to develop a personal way of assessing them through her own experiences, she arrives at what Thurman terms a “priority of value.” This means that individual knowledge of values must eventually come into an alignment of integrity with those of one’s world to arrive at a satisfying sense of self. In monotheistic religion, this is manifest in the awareness of God.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: inner light, lostness, meaning, value

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 3: The Quest for Values, 1962 February 18,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/16.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 2: The Quest for Freedom, 1962 February 11

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:20:00 +0000

Thurman explains that freedom is the “capacity to determine the future by action.” He sees the possibility of death as the guarantor of the experience of freedom because that possibility is always open to the person. The fact that this option is available rather than accepting any present conditions is only to suggest that this means one can imaginatively project oneself into another possibility. For Thurman, grappling with one’s final option opens the door for pushing back the frontier of freedom wherever unacceptable limitations persist.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: death, failure, finality, freedom, frontier of freedom, hell, option

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 2: The Quest for Freedom, 1962 February 11,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/15.

Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 1, 1962 February 4

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:19:51 +0000

In his introductory lecture to “Quests for the Human Spirit,” Thurman describes the quest as an act of bringing to focus the purpose of one’s life. Thurman notes that this is a creative work wherein one’s mental resources are organized into the raw materials needed to energize and pursue growth within the human spirit. Choosing between alternatives on the life journey is a matter of mind and heart – resources that drive the quest. Thurman argues that questing is essential to life because it is the quest that actualizes the person who becomes the embodiment of one's striving.

Part of the Collection, Quests of the Human Spirit (1962, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: actualize, choice, creative act, heart, mind, quest

Description by Dr. Tim Rainey

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Quests of the Human Spirit, Part 1, 1962 February 4,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/14.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 8: Faust, 1960 December 4

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:18:00 +0000

In this eighth installment of the Discipline of the Spirit, Howard Thurman uses Goethe's Faust to set the tone as he discusses the principles of dualism and redemption. Thurman goes on to discuss whether our contradictions in life are final considering the righteousness of God. The movement of the creator through the experience of man is also discussed.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: contradiction, dualism, experience, Goethe, redemption

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 8: Faust, 1960 December 4,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/8.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 7: The Discipline of the Act, 1960 November 27

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:17:56 +0000

In this seventh lecture in the Discipline of the Spirit series, Thurman uses Matthew 5:39 as a framework for discipline as it relates to our decision to act. Thurman reminds listeners of the responsibility to act or react in integrity centered around core values as we are responsible for the actions we initiate as well as the reactions we initiate in other people. One must always be careful when deciding to act lest our deeds are out of character with our core beliefs.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: action, choice, dilemma, discipline, forgiveness, Ghandi

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 7: The Discipline of the Act, 1960 November 27,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/7.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 6: The Good and the Evil, 1960 November 20

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:16:00 +0000

In this sixth installment of Disciplines of the Spirit, Howard Thurman talks about commitment in the framework of good and evil. Commitment is a level of dedication that gives us structure, order, and provides a basis for integrated action in life. Commitment rises against whatever comes seeks to come between self and that which self is committed to. In this lecture, Thurman poses the question of whether there is any difference in the dynamics of the experience of commitment when the commitment is to evil as well as good.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: commitment, Good and Evil

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 6: The Good and the Evil, 1960 November 20,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/6.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 5: When Commitment Becomes Idolatrous, 1960 October 30

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:14:00 +0000

In this fifth lecture in the Disciplines of the Spirit series, Howard Thurman discusses the propensity to idolize perfection in our commitments. When we worship our commitment rather than that which we are committed, we give up the ability to be influenced by the vitality, power, and dynamism of that to which we are committed. This is especially true of our moral commitments which, when idolized, violates our experience of the living God.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: commitment, idolatry

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 5: When Commitment Becomes Idolatrous, 1960 October 30,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/5.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 4: The Single Mind, 1960 October 16

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:13:00 +0000

In this fourth lecture of Disciplines of the Spirit, Howard Thurman discusses commitment and its significance. Deep within every man, there is a profound sense regarding the meaning of life itself. Those that believe that life is dynamic and essentially unfinished tend to also be of the mindset that there are always alternatives and options to be considered. In these instances, commitment becomes the experience through which a man passes when, deep within himself, he selects values and proceeds to lift this selection of values into the dimension of the absolute. While commitment consists of offering our yes completely, there are external forces that support and hinder our commitment. When yielding our consent to a cause that is more significant than life, the little that we have becomes a tremendous force. When our commitment involves the total surrender to the Kingdom of God, our strength and qualities are magnified.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: commitment, values

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 4: The Single Mind, 1960 October 16,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/4.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 3: Personal Stability, 1960 October 9

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:12:00 +0000

In this third installment of Disciplines of the Spirit, Thurman is lecturing about personal stability. In this lecture, personal stability is defined as the experience through which an individual passes when he thinks he has that which is of most importance to him. An additional definition of personal stability used in this lecture is private morale, which is the belief in one’s cause, whatever it may be. At times personal stability rests on the instability of others which has and continues to have far-reaching consequences that are typically problematic. At times personal stability rests upon our self-confidence which can ultimately fail us if our area of self-confidence is challenged. Thus, we must find that which is big enough to absolve us from the limited narrow basis for our stability. We must find that which is big enough to hold against all the tensions of our lives, age, and generation.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: experience, stability

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 3: Personal Stability, 1960 October 9,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/3.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 2: Growth, 1960 October 2

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:11:00 +0000

In this second installment of Disciplines of the Spirit, Thurman builds upon the concept of growth introduced in part 1 of the series. Here Thurman describes growth as the ability to accept what is fact and to handle change, whether the change is gradual or radical. Our desire to resist change for fear of being without a familiar structure requires us to grow in wisdom as we navigate the anxiety associated with the search for stability having lost all that is familiar to us. Our ability to properly function depends on our ability to grow accustomed to the solitary nature of life as we transition from where we are to where we feel we are destined to be. This brings about a new level of awareness, significance, and ultimately wisdom. The wisdom that God requires.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: awareness, change, growth, wisdom

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 2: Growth, 1960 October 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/2.

Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 1, 1960 September 25

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:10:00 +0000

This initial lecture in the Disciplines of the Spirit series is a discussion about the development of patience through the discipline of growth. Thurman describes discipline as the training, development, response to, and often responsibility for something. The spirit is disciplined, trained, cultivated, and fashioned by many things. One of these things is the experience of growth. Growth is characteristic of life and as our body continues to develop, so does our mind and spirit. In our initial stages of growth our desire to keep the interval between what we wish for and the fulfillment of that wish at zero. As we learn to negotiate the expanding time interval between wish and fulfillment, we develop patience.

Part of the Collection, Disciplines of the Spirit (1960, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: discipline, growth, patience, spirit

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Disciplines of the Spirit, Part 1, 1960 September 25,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 12, May 24, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:45:00 +0000

Part 12 of Jesus and the Disinherited. In this he defines love as the "maintenance and furtherance of life at its highest level". He begins with a quote from Olive Schreiner. Love is not an ethic in the sense of being a "yard stick" for measuring oneself, but the inner intent of God in creation. He uses the life of Jesus as a model for love, especially for those with their "backs against the wall." Thurman insists that love resists cooperating with anyone who is working against this maintenance and furtherance of life. He argues that nonviolence may actually be worse than violence, as people can adjust to physical violence, but resistance "shocks" a person by invading their inner life and cutting them off from support. Nonviolence is a technique for bringing about social change, but unless nonviolence becomes the inner self of a person then someone working for peace may be extremely violent in their interpersonal relationships. He argues that fear feeds those who work against life at its highest level, and gives an example of his and his sister's reaction to their mother's corporal punishment. Finally, he argues that love, and specifically the love of an enemy, is not an ethical act but a spiritual act, for God must come into our inner selves to bring about within us a desire to want to do this.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: fear, interpersonal relationships, love, nonviolence, Olive Schreiner, resistance

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 12, May 24, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1028.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 11, May 3, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:44:23 +0000

Part 11 of Jesus and the Disinherited. In this sermon he discusses hatred. He argues that hatred is a defense of the weak against the strong. However, hatred dehumaninizes the other and becomes self destructive. Hatred crushes the hater by placing the cause all of life's problems on one simple target. Hatred ignores the complexities of life, becomes all consuming. Since it cuts one off from the person/people who is/are the object of the hate, it also cuts them off from God. It isolates a person, making them feel "cut off from God" and from other humans. He argues that people will try anything to keep their hatred, but maintain their relationship with God, all to no avail. Thurman argues that each of us is responsible to God not only for what we do, but how we react to what others do to us. He finally argues that overcoming hatred cannot be done unless God comes into the hater and transforms them internally. Hence, the hater must "desire to desire" release from the hate. When God removes the hate from us, we see all people in their complete humanity and we are brought back into community. To illustrate his points he uses an allegory of an angel God sends to help a person deal with hate, and he uses Ahab from "Moby Dick."

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: Ahab, angel allegory, Hate, hatred, Moby Dick

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 11, May 3, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1027.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 8, March 22, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:43:00 +0000

In his eighth talk, his Easter message, Thurman turns to the issue of Deception and how it can be a tool for the weak. He discusses how morality prevents chaos, and how easy it is for us to call darkness light if we want to excuse something we are doing. In this talk he gives several examples of deception, but ponders whether or not it is morally acceptable to deceive. From his own life, he gives the example of his job as the "door boy" for his older sisters and it was his job to open the door for their dates and if it was the wrong boy he was to deceive them and get rid of them. From nature he gives the example of how the cuttlefish deceives the predator, or how Florida birds fool the chicken hawk. Children know how to manipulate their parents so that the parents believe they are doing their own will, when they are actually doing the will of the child. In the Negro Spiritual "All God's Children Got Shoes" the word "heaven" is substituted for the master's house to deceive the master in what they are really talking about. From Scripture, Ezekiel spoke of Hiram when all knew he was speaking of Nebuchadnezzar. On Palm Sunday, the praises of the people did not arise from the purest motives but Jesus did not stop the procession. Henry Van Dyke's story of the people protecting baby Jesus by declaring there is no male child here and here is a ruby for the soldier who goes and looks elsewhere. Will God forgive Naaman for bowing down to a foreign king in order to preserve his own life? Is it moral to deceive for a greater moral cause? Is it acceptable for the weak to deceive the powerful in order to protect themselves. What does Jesus mean when he says, "Let your yes, be yes, and your no, be no?" Without answering the question directly, Thurman ends with comments on how there are some things in life that are worse than death.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: All God's Children Got Shoes, chicken hawk, cuttlefish, deception, door boy, Ezekiel, Henry Van Dyke, Hiram, hosannas, morality, Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, Negro spiritual, Palm Sunday, Thurman's aunts, yes be yes

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 8, March 22, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1024.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 7, March 8, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:42:00 +0000

Part 7 of Jesus and the Disinherited on fear. Thurman contrasts fear of God versus fear of man. Fear pushed far enough becomes a courage that is destructive, like a light bulb burning out. Fear causes biological changes in the body and he gives the examples of bees and beekeepers. Fear as fight is destructive courage. Fear as flight leads to no escape. Jesus attacked the experience of fear by inviting people into their self worth as children of God, in spite of the stereotypes and judgments of the culture. His grandmother's slave story of the slave preacher, "You are not slaves. You are God's children." Slaves would fill tubs to water to dampen the sound of the meeting. If fear creates biological changes in the body, then wouldn't also courage? 1. Creates a sense of well being in a dangerous situation. 2. Creates inner peace. Quotes (sounds like Emerson, but I can't find the reference), "to walk in the traffic of the world with the independence of solitude." 3. Enables us to more accurately appraise the elements in the environment that have been exaggerated. A gospel that insists on conformity to a category, dogma, or etiquette is not the religion of Jesus. Jesus says the same thing to the poor and the powerful: You are God's child, responsible to God. So be careful how you live.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: bees, child of God, conformity, destructive courage, fight or flight, Grandmother, self-worth, slave meeting, slavery, stereotypes, walk in the traffic of the world

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 7, March 8, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1023.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 6, March 1, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:41:05 +0000

Part 6 of Jesus and the Disinherited on the topic of fear. Reads Clive Benson's "The Centurion" and from George Bernard Shaw's "On the Rocks," "the greatest of Rome is nothing but fear." Fear is an emotional response to danger. Even those in power show fear by devising so many creative ways to insure the status quo. Example of Pliny the Elder requesting and being denied the organization of a firefighting unit, because those in the unit might organize against the government. Story of French government officer responsible for domination of Morocco who said that if Pilate had been a smart leader he would have "liquidated" Jesus in the hills, long before things could become so dramatic. But for the truly marginalized, they have a fear of death the hangs over everything, knowing that one slip of a remark could lead to their death, a death without dignity like a dog. A marginalized parent would teach their babies to behave in such as way so as to not unintentionally bring them physical danger. So fear is a form of protection by conditioning behavior. However, this protection is temporary, and eventually fear becomes that with destroys our souls. Hence Jesus said to not fear the death of the body, for then there is nothing else they can do, but fear God.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: Clive Benson, fear, George Bernard Shaw, On the Rocks, Pliny the Elder, The Centurion

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 6, March 1, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1022.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 5, February 22, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:40:00 +0000

Part 5 of Jesus and the Disinherited. Again reads from Clive Benson, "Martha of Bethany," and "The Rich Young Ruler." Remember that Jesus was a poor Jew, and not just economically poor but a member of a marginal community which tends to give to the individual a low estimate of themselves. Story of the untouchable Indian boy who came to Thurman during his trip to India and asked, "Is there anything that you can say that would help a nobody?" When you are outside the mainstream of society, you are a disinherited and you feel that there is nothing you can do or become that would impact society. Thurman argues that the Essenes did somewhat answer this problem by sharing all things and building common community, but it is useless if one must disassociate from the larger world. The one place Jesus found where a person could live a redemptive life was in the family. We think that if we are not prosperous then God has not blessed us, and that means that God has taken "the same attitude towards you that society has." A person's meaning has nothing to do with classification. What Jesus did was take the discovery of how a family loves all its members (strong and weak), and then project that onto the whole human race as the family of God. This works against fear and hate. Thurman says he had heard plenty of sermons on how to treat and aid people "with their backs against the wall," but not until he was 25 did he hear a sermon to the "people with their backs against the wall." What would happen if we believed that the poor would inherit the earth?

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: Clive Benson, Essenes, family, family of God, God's family, marginalized, Marthan of Bethany, poor, The Rich Young Ruler, untouchable

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 5, February 22, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1021.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 4, February 1, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:39:39 +0000

Part 4 of Jesus and the Disinherited. Reads 2 pieces by Clive Benson: "The Brothers" and "The Phoenician Woman." This talk is on "brotherhood" or inclusiveness. He argues that Jesus considered someone included by their relationship with God, whereas to Paul it was one's relationship to Christ. The church has followed the Paul model. He points out that Paul had a different viewpoint than Jesus. Both were Jews, but Paul had Roman citizenship and could claim that for protection whereas Jesus could be treated as trash. He claims it made Paul look at the Romans as "not so bad," and he likens it to him being given complete freedom in Mississippi to live like a white person even though he was black. He talks of his grandmother, who was a slave, refusing to read Paul because twice yearly the master would have the preacher come and lead services always using Paul's text of "slaves obey your masters." He argues that Paul's definition of brotherhood, or who's included and who's excluded, is different than Jesus'. And once we have any reason to exclude anyone, then we can then make up any reason we want for excluding someone. Hence, church and civilization divide people up, but true brotherhood is based on our universal connection to God.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: brotherhood, Clive Benson, exclusiveness, Grandmother, inclusiveness, Mississippi, nationalities, Paul, slave, The Brothers, The Phoenician Woman, Vicksburg

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 4, February 1, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1020.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 3, January 25, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:26:20 +0000

Part 3 of Jesus and the Disinherited. He begins with a reading called "Joseph" by Clive Benson (not mentioned by name). The thrust of this piece is that God is primary, and can be trusted because God is kind. God is just and kind at the same time. There was only one real question Jesus was ever asking, "What is the will of God?" Not, "what do I want," or "how will this impact what's important to me?" He wants us to focus on this, and he tells the story of how he taught older women to ride bikes, and when they'd see a rock ahead, he'll tell them not to look at it or they would go straight at it. "Don't watch Rome so hard."

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: bicycle, Clive Benson, Joseph, rock, root, will of God

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 3, January 25, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1019.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 2, January 18, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:24:56 +0000

Part 2 of Jesus and the Disinherited. He quotes from Russell Gordon Smith from "Fugitive Papers." Thurman argues that the Jews had a sense of destiny, which was hindered by the fact of Roman rule and created a constant turmoil and sense of danger. What made Jesus, then, different? The common belief was that anyone who upends that which blocks destiny, becomes a righteous arm of God as the enemy is destroyed. The Zealots want to appear Roman, then kill it from the inside. The Essenes wanted to withdraw completely, feeling the Roman Empire to be totally polluted, and hoping that through shear naked spirituality God would overthrow Rome without anyone having to resort to violence. In the religion of Jesus, each person is responsible for their own actions in response to the environment they find themselves. Education can make God less personal and, ironically, we become more pessimistic about our destiny. God used that Jewish/Roman/Greek environment in which to shape Jesus and his community.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: Essenes, Fugitive Papers, Jews and Rome, Le Roy, Little Rock, Psalm 91, Russell Gordon Smith, seminary, Sepphoris, Temptations of Christ, World Student Volunteer Movement, Zealots

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 2, January 18, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1018.

Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 1, January 11, 1959

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:23:30 +0000

Part 1 of Jesus and the Disinherited. Begins by referring to Jesus' "working paper." Thurman's book was written about ten years prior, and he wants to take another look at these issues with consideration of all that has happened. He tells the story of his father's death and funeral when he was seven. As he grew he found he had a very intimate relationship with Jesus, even verbally discussing things with Jesus at night in the sand dunes. Jesus was a real personality to Thurman. However, he couldn't square this intimate, real "personality" Thurman had come to know with the things people said about Jesus. Later, when he traveled to India and asked why he was a Christian, when Christians had harmed the black people so terribly, even considering people like Thurman a traitor to his people by professing Christianity. That encounter led Thurman to go back and study the actual life of Jesus. He realized that Jesus was a Jew. Thurman began wondering how the Jewish people could have possibly endured all the suffering they had endured since AD 70 to the present, and in fact Jesus came out of that milieu of suffering community. He quotes Albert Schweitzer, and points out that people shall know Jesus by experience, even mystery, through the trials, sufferings and joys of life.

Part of the Collection, Jesus and the Disinherited (1959, Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, MA)

Tags: Albert Schweitzer, black history, defense of Christianity, experience, father's death, India, Jesus, Jewish history, Jews, mystic, Saul Solomon Thurman, slave history, slave ship Jesus, traitor, working paper

Description by Ken Owens

Recorded in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston, Massachussetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Jesus and the Disinherited, Part 1, January 11, 1959,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1017.

The Search for Meaning in the Experience of Love (IV) (continued), 1975 November 5

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 01:02:53 +0000

In this second part of Howard Thurman’s lecture on the Experience of Love, Thurman continues his discussion on the acceptance of others in their totality. John 8:1-11 is used to highlight the importance of meeting others where they are while treating them as though they are where they should be. We do not find Refuge in material possessions; we find refuge in the heart of those who love us.

Part of the Collection, The Search for Meaning (1975, Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN)

Tags: experience, love, refuge

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Search for Meaning in the Experience of Love (IV) (continued), 1975 November 5,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/233.

The Search for Meaning in the Experience of Love (IV), 1975 November 5

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:58:15 +0000

This fourth lecture in The Search for Meaning series is the first part of Howard Thurman’s talk on the experience of love. Here Thurman defines love as the ability to deal with another person at a point in that person that is beyond all of his faults and all of his virtues. To be loved is to have a sense of being totally dealt with, totally held, so that you can dare to be free enough in your spirit just to run the risk of being you. Howard Thurman also uses several anecdotes to demonstrate love as a function of personal worth and forgiveness in this lecture.

Part of the Collection, The Search for Meaning (1975, Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN)

Tags: experience, forgiveness, love, worth

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Recorded in Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Search for Meaning in the Experience of Love (IV), 1975 November 5,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/232.

The Search for Meaning in the Experience of Freedom (III), 1975 November 4

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:56:40 +0000

In this third lecture in the Search for Meaning, Howard Thurman discusses freedom as it relates to personal accountability. Thurman defines freedom as the ability to stand in the present that ultimately determines the future. Freedom is also defined as having a sense of option and alternative. It is the freedom of choice that keeps our soul alive. Additionally, it is our desire and ability to take responsibility for our deeds despite extenuating circumstances that give us true liberation.

Collection: The Search for Meaning (1975, Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN)

Tags: choice, freedom, liberty, meaning, option

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Location: Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Search for Meaning in the Experience of Freedom (III), 1975 November 4,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/231.

The Search for Meaning in the Experience of the Self (II), 1975 November 3

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:52:51 +0000

In this second installment of The Search for Meaning, Howard Thurman uses the demon-possessed man from the synoptic gospels as the framework for this lecture on defining the experience of self. The awareness of self is essential to determining who we are at our core. This includes our personal, spiritual, and ethical awareness. Understanding who we are, what we want, and how we propose to get is critical to outlining and protecting our inner network of values the govern our lives and our decisions.

Collection: The Search for Meaning (1975, Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN)

Tags: awareness, meaning, synoptic gospels, values

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Location: Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Search for Meaning in the Experience of the Self (II), 1975 November 3,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/230.

The Search for Meaning (I), 1975 November 2

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:20:40 +0000

In this first installment of The Search for Meaning, Howard Thurman uses the temptation of Jesus in the synoptic gospels as a framework for a conversation about those things we choose to devote our lives and energy to. Like Christ, we are no exceptions to the rule of God’s order and God’s will because of who or what we are or decide to be. Spiritual duality and internal conflict as it relates to the demands of state and country are also discussed.

Collection: The Search for Meaning (1975, Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN)

Tags: duality, meaning, synoptic gospels

Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard

Location: Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Search for Meaning (I), 1975 November 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/229.