Many of you may have never heard of Dr. Howard Thurman (1899-1981) and his importance for the Civil Rights Movement, so I think it is important to share two things with you.
(1) The first two paragraphs of the Introduction to the above new book on Howard Thurman and the parables, which I edited with Dr. Kipton Jensen of Morehouse College (one of the institutions where Dr. Thurman taught):
The Howard Washington Thurman National Memorial, an obelisk dedicated to Dr. Howard Thurman, the 1923 valedictorian of Morehouse College, stands on the Morehouse campus in Atlanta, Georgia. Inside the obelisk—engraved in black marble and near the burial niche where the ashes of Howard and his wife Sue Bailey Thurman are interred—there is a quote from Sue Bailey Thurman that describes her husband as a “seeker and finder of genuine existence—a tutor to the world.” Those words, for those unfamiliar with Howard Thurman’s work and legacy, may seem audacious if not presumptuous. The obelisk itself, in fact, stands in the plaza just outside the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. This chapel, dedicated to the memory of Dr. King, an even more famous Morehouse alumnus, overshadows—in the annals of history and memory—the memorial to Thurman. But just as one must pass by the Thurman Memorial physically on the Morehouse campus to enter the front door of the King International Chapel, one cannot understand King’s theology and philosophy without first understanding Thurman’s.
Howard Thurman played a vital role in laying the spiritual foundation—in providing the arguments but also by setting the religious tone and the spiritual accent—for the early civil rights movement in the United States. Yet Thurman’s importance goes well beyond his influence on King and others in the civil rights movement. His legacy stands on its own, and his spiritual gifts and dreams, as well as his unique response to his troubled times, were as extraordinarily creative as they were vast and far-reaching.
This post is not an ad for the book, so I won’t link to anything connected to it.
(2) I have published additional research based on what I learned while doing the book, and a recent one is “public scholarship” that is readily accessible, if you are interested. The very short piece is entitled, “The Continuing Relevance of Howard Thurman.
You can find it online both in print and on audio. The audio ran on over 200 NPR stations, as well as being published (audio and transcript) in Inside Higher Education and at The Academic Minute:
https://academicminute.org/2018/08/david-gowler-emory-university-the-continuing-relevance-of-howard-thurman/
The NPR link is: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/564572329/the-academic-minute
The Inside Higher Education link is: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/08/06/academic-minute-continuing-relevance-howard-thurman
Here is the transcript:
The Academic Minute:
The Continuing Relevance of Howard Thurman
David B. Gowler
Although he is best known as a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., Howard Thurman played a vital role in laying the spiritual foundation for the civil rights movement in the United States, including his early embrace of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. Thurman published numerous books and articles, but he also was one of the most influential preachers of his day. Hundreds of recordings of Thurman’s lectures and sermons remain unpublished, such as the ones found in Pitts Theology Library, and this treasure trove yields tremendous insights into Thurman’s thought and influence.
In these recordings, Thurman engages with fundamental, universal realities of human experience, but he also translates those ultimate realities into practical messages for his listeners to apply in their daily lives. As Thurman wrote, “It was my conviction and determination that the church would be a resource for activists . . . thick in the struggle for social change . . . .”[1]
Key to Thurman’s understanding of the religion of Jesus is his insistence that one’s personal, inner transformation—such as found in the parable of the prodigal son—should lead to social action—such as found in the parable of the good Samaritan.
Thurman contends that an encounter with the teachings of Jesus, especially the parables, involves much more than just intellectual assent; understanding must lead to concrete action in the world, because truly understanding the radical message of Jesus creates a profound moral obligation. Jesus’s teachings not only challenge people to act; they demand that they act. This insight is just one example of how Thurman provided inspiration to an entire generation of civil and human rights activists and still continues to provide such inspiration today.
[1] Howard Thurman, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), 160.
One of Dr. Thurman’s best books is Jesus and the Disinherited in which he makes a convincing case that Jesus of Nazareth’s true message was in effect a “manual of resistance” for the poor and disenfranchised, those, like Jesus and his fellow Jews, with “their backs against the wall” of Roman oppression. Dr. Thurman also clearly makes the connection between that message and the message of the Civil Rights Movement in the face of oppression, and it is certainly a message that still relates to our current situation today.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used to carry Dr. Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited on his many travels.
Since it was written in 1949, there are some elements that are somewhat dated, but I use the book in two of my courses, and many of my students—both Christian and non-Christian—find Dr. Thurman’s message extremely relevant and applicable, just as Dr. King did so many years ago.