Browse Items (102 total)

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…

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.

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.

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…