Browse Items (291 total)

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…

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.

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…

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.

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."

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.

This sermon further explains what the Sound of the Genuine means (cf. “The Sound of the Genuine,” May 4, 1980), the implications of waiting and listening for the sound of the genuine in oneself and others, and includes a lengthy description of the “Good Samaritan” who helped the young Thurman at the Daytona train station.

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.

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…

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.