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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…

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…

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 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'…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…