Browse Items (351 total)

In this sixth lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman explores ethical awareness. For the religious person, any sin against another is a sin against God. The person must always connect their acts to their ultimate relationship with life. We are all personally responsible for our ethical lives. Thurman says that we often fall into the trap of pushing people outside of our moral responsibility, but he insists that Christian ethics proclaim that no person can ever be defined as being out of bounds.…

In this final lecture on the Inner Life, Thurman illustrates the infinite value of the human spirit. Here, Thurman ponders what it is that makes human beings "a little lower than God." There is an aspect of the human spirit that is limitless. The deepest things in us are always emerging against all obstacles. Once we become aware of this truth, all experiences become our teachers, helping to liberate our depths and bring us towards fulfillment. Our task is to honor this mystery of the human…

In this second sermon on the prophets, Thurman talks about God's unwavering faithfulness to human beings even in the midst of hardship. Through Hosea's writings, Thurman illustrates the ways in which crisis tempts us into abandoning our faith in God, the true source of our security. Thurman suggests that God's punishment and redemption is carried out through the logic of cause and effect. The world is not full of war because God is evil, but because our social processes lead to war.…

In this final entry on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman examines the Parable of the Rich Fool. The overarching question for Thurman is this: How do we relate to the money and resources that we have? We aspire to protect ourselves and make flourishing lives with our resources, but we also find ourselves measuring our value by these things. Thurman suggests that we measure our lives by our commitment – not by how much we have, but rather if we use our goods for things in which we truly believe.…

In this second lecture on The Meaning of Loyalty, Thurman discusses the problem of conflicting loyalties. We live complex lives with a hierarchy of causes that cannot be reduced to one. How do we resolve loyalty to our ideals in conflict with our loyalty to self-preservation? There is no simple answer, but Thurman poses that we become loyal to the experience of loyalty itself. This principle may be brought into any situation, and serves to ensure the integrity of the person.

In this third lecture on loyalty, Thurman discusses the conflict between the individual and the state. For Thurman, loyalty to something supremely worthy is the ultimate basis for self-respect and significance. Thurman's word for this ultimate cause is God. Thurman posits that the state can either make itself a vehicle of this human striving, or it can become a competitor to it; the state can attempt to move into the space that only God should occupy. At best, political expression is a vehicle…

In this fifth sermon on the prophets, Thurman finds Deutero-Isaiah wrestling with what it means to be in relationship with God. The prophet is troubled by the notion that Jews are supposed to be in automatic relationship with Jehovah, and yet they do not act like it. Thus the prophet concludes that it is not tribe or lineage that makes one a Jew, but rather moral and spiritual character. Anyone can thus "become a Jew" as the prophet says. Those who have had this experience of God play the part…

In this eighth sermon on the prophets, Thurman gives a thorough exploration of Ezekiel. First, Thurman returns to the topic of responsibility through the lens of holiness. In Ezekiel, though environment affects our choices, we each must reckon with ourselves and our own actions. The action is ultimate in determining our holiness, and our good acts might save us from the weight of our bad acts. Thurman also suggests that we might bear responsibility, not through some profession, but simply as…

"To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with that God." In this ninth sermon on the prophets, Thurman explores the notions of justice, mercy, and humility as they are recounted in Micah. We often think of justice as a balance sheet, the "eye for an eye" logic. But Thurman invokes Jesus who teaches that mercy is more important than justice. Mercy and kindness is an act that cannot be paid back, and in fact continues to multiply itself in the recipient. This, Thurman says, is what it…

In this concluding sermon on the Religion of the Prophets, Thurman highlights some key themes in the prophets. For Thurman, the genius of the prophets were founded upon the idea of the sovereignty of God. God is both fact and act, working in the unfolding of history. God has been expressed through creation, through Abraham's faith, through Moses' exodus, and ultimately through the redemption of the universe. The prophets called their people again and again to be in covenantal relationship with…