@ Photograph from Expanding Common Ground: The Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Boston University
Howard Thurman
A Theologian for the 21st Century
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...a strange necessity has been laid upon me to devote my life to the central concern that transcends the walls that divide and would achieve in literal fact what is experienced as literal truth: human life is one and all men [and women] are members one of another.
-- Howard Thurman |
Why Howard Thurman?
There is a yearning in our time, all over the world, for a way of being religious that finds the Spirit of God in the depths of life itself; that is at home in the silence of the heart as well as the passion for justice; that understands and appreciates the human need for localized religious and non-religious identities, while simultaneously welcoming a fellowship of all peoples whatever race, creed, or ethnicity. Howard Thurman provides a model and wisdom. He is an interfaith, justice-oriented, spiritually-sensitive theologian for our time. He offers a theology without walls. This page offers resources for learning more about him. (Jay McDaniel)
New to Howard Thurman?
You might want to start with these videos
Short interview on Religion
Listen to Howard Thurman:
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Howard Thurman's Theology:
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The "Open Horizons" of Howard Thurman
This is a page of Howard Thurman audios and videos. Author of 21 books and hundreds of sermons, he was a spiritual mentor for Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others. He is a guide for me, too, and others who are influenced by process theology. Thurman does not need a Whiteheadian metaphysic to ground his thought; he is quite fine on his own. The beauty of his perspective would be lost if it were reduced to abstract ideas in a Whiteheadian grid But for those of us drawn to Whitehead's perspective, we cannot help but hear a good bit of Whitehead in the talks he gives. The ten ideas above can easily be understood as Whiteheadian ideas even as they are Thurman ideas. He provides a vivid and vital illustration of what it might mean to live the process way. But not just for us. For all in the open horizons tradition: Christian open theists, generously orthodox Christians, ecumenical Buddhists, progressive Jews, humanistic Muslims. And, yes, those who are spiritually interested but not religiously affiliated.
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In a world filled with tragedy, many well-meaning people around the world feel a sense of urgency to act in constructive, life-nourishing ways. They critique oppressive social structures and work to build local communities that are creative, compassionate, inclusive, with no one left behind. They talk about the need for new stories that might help change the world, and they try to live out those stories in their daily lives.
Howard Thurman believed in this kind of change; he was a socialist at heart. And yet he also believed that social change is impossible without, at the same time, changing one's inner spirit. He knew that, without a liberation of the spirit from the shackles of greed and hatred, there can be no lasting change. This liberation does not happen by withdrawing from life, but rather by entering more deeply into the vibrancy of life and its source. He writes:
“…this is a living world; life is alive, and as expressions of life we, too, are alive and sustained by the characteristic vitality of life itself. God is the source of the vitality, the life, of all living things. His energy is available to plants, to animals, and to our own bodies if the conditions are met. Life is a responsible activity. What is true for our bodies is also true for the mind and spirit. At these levels God is immediately available to us if the door is opened to Him. The door is opened by yielding to Him that nerve center where we feel consent or the withholding of it most centrally. Thus, if a man [sic] makes his deliberate self-conscious intention the offering to God of his central consent and obedience, then he becomes energized by the living Spirit of the living God.” (Disciplines of the Spirit, 22)
He added that this living Spirit is itself sustaining in times of trial:
“It is good to remember that God has not left himself without a witness in our spirits. There is a Spirit in us that contains our spirit, that provides the secondary consolations which float the big anxieties, that sustains the effort beyond the calculated endurance, that makes the case for the good impulse when the rational judgement sends the mind spinning in the opposite way, that brooks over all weariness and all despair until the change comes and the heart is revived, that holds the confidence in the integrity of the self when the deeds that contradict will not be stilled and the act that destroys goes on its relentless way--it is good to remember that God has not left Himself without a witness in our spirits.” (The Inward Journey, 133)
Howard Thurman reminds us that the religion of life transcends the religion of dogma, and that life is always in process, always becoming more than it was. The spiritual journey is a process of being open to an inner voice which is simultaneously a cosmic voice, whose name is Love and whose presence, within and between human beings, unfolds through contagion. We "catch" love the way we catch the measles. As a process theologian might put it, we experience love, first and foremost, by feeling loved by others through a "vector transmission of feeling."
To the degree that we are animated by this Love, says Thurman, we sense a unity to all creation and yet we simultaneously identify with the vulnerable: those whose backs are against the wall. We become "open" in the senses of this prayer, written by Thurman:
Open unto me — light for my darkness.
Open unto me — courage for my fear.
Open unto me — hope for my despair.
Open unto me — peace for my turmoil.
Open unto me — joy for my sorrow.
Open unto me — strength for my weakness.
Open unto me — wisdom for my confusion.
Open unto me — forgiveness for my sins.
Open unto me — love for my hates.
Open unto me — thy Self for my self.
Lord, Lord, open unto me!
Amen.
*
In a world filled with tragedy, many well-meaning people around the world feel a sense of urgency to act in constructive, life-nourishing ways. They critique oppressive social structures and work to build local communities that are creative, compassionate, inclusive, with no one left behind. They talk about the need for new stories that might help change the world, and they try to live out those stories in their daily lives.
Howard Thurman believed in this kind of change; he was a socialist at heart. And yet he also believed that social change is impossible without, at the same time, changing one's inner spirit. He knew that, without a liberation of the spirit from the shackles of greed and hatred, there can be no lasting change. This liberation does not happen by withdrawing from life, but rather by entering more deeply into the vibrancy of life and its source. He writes:
“…this is a living world; life is alive, and as expressions of life we, too, are alive and sustained by the characteristic vitality of life itself. God is the source of the vitality, the life, of all living things. His energy is available to plants, to animals, and to our own bodies if the conditions are met. Life is a responsible activity. What is true for our bodies is also true for the mind and spirit. At these levels God is immediately available to us if the door is opened to Him. The door is opened by yielding to Him that nerve center where we feel consent or the withholding of it most centrally. Thus, if a man [sic] makes his deliberate self-conscious intention the offering to God of his central consent and obedience, then he becomes energized by the living Spirit of the living God.” (Disciplines of the Spirit, 22)
He added that this living Spirit is itself sustaining in times of trial:
“It is good to remember that God has not left himself without a witness in our spirits. There is a Spirit in us that contains our spirit, that provides the secondary consolations which float the big anxieties, that sustains the effort beyond the calculated endurance, that makes the case for the good impulse when the rational judgement sends the mind spinning in the opposite way, that brooks over all weariness and all despair until the change comes and the heart is revived, that holds the confidence in the integrity of the self when the deeds that contradict will not be stilled and the act that destroys goes on its relentless way--it is good to remember that God has not left Himself without a witness in our spirits.” (The Inward Journey, 133)
Howard Thurman reminds us that the religion of life transcends the religion of dogma, and that life is always in process, always becoming more than it was. The spiritual journey is a process of being open to an inner voice which is simultaneously a cosmic voice, whose name is Love and whose presence, within and between human beings, unfolds through contagion. We "catch" love the way we catch the measles. As a process theologian might put it, we experience love, first and foremost, by feeling loved by others through a "vector transmission of feeling."
To the degree that we are animated by this Love, says Thurman, we sense a unity to all creation and yet we simultaneously identify with the vulnerable: those whose backs are against the wall. We become "open" in the senses of this prayer, written by Thurman:
Open unto me — light for my darkness.
Open unto me — courage for my fear.
Open unto me — hope for my despair.
Open unto me — peace for my turmoil.
Open unto me — joy for my sorrow.
Open unto me — strength for my weakness.
Open unto me — wisdom for my confusion.
Open unto me — forgiveness for my sins.
Open unto me — love for my hates.
Open unto me — thy Self for my self.
Lord, Lord, open unto me!
Amen.
More Audios
1. The Radical Test
2. What do you want to do, Really?
3. Conversations with Howard Thurman (I and II)
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