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Part 1 of Jesus and the Disinherited. Begins by referring to Jesus' "working paper." Thurman's book was written about ten years prior, and he wants to take another look at these issues with consideration of all that has happened. He tells the story of his father's death and funeral when he was seven. As he grew he found he had a very intimate relationship with Jesus, even verbally discussing things with Jesus at night in the sand dunes. Jesus was a real personality to Thurman. However, he…

This recording is a part of a seminar that took place in 1975 on the topic of Howard Thurman's inimitable text, Jesus and the Disinherited. In these recordings, you hear the voices of numerous students in conversation with Thurman. In this recording, Thurman opens with his reflections upon the tension between the temporal body of Jesus Christ, and one makes of Jesus' lived experience. Collectively, the classroom explores questions of the historicity of Jesus, the limitations of personal…

In this message, Thurman discusses the song "Jacob's Ladder" and how it has been taken to represent human experience as a journey. He also describes a Gothic principle in which human life is Earth-bound, but also involves a sense of the beyond that provides opportunity for alternatives and choices in every aspect of life.

This is Part 2 to "Presenting Albert Schweitzer," a radio program aired on WBUR Boston University Radio, hosted by Miriam Rogers. This episode was an interview with Sue Bailey Thurman. The introduction to the episode is provided by Norbert Ellerin.

In this second half, Miriam Rogers and Sue Bailey Thurman closes out the interview. Rogers asks Thurman about Gandhi and his perspective on social progress. Rogers also tasks Thurman about a book in which she is included, entitled "Meditations for…

"Presenting Albert Schweitzer" was a radio program aired on WBUR Boston University Radio, hosted by Miriam Rogers. This episode was an interview with Sue Bailey Thurman. The introduction to the episode is provided by Norbert Ellerin.

In this interview, Sue Bailey Thurman presents the lives of Phyllis Wheatley and Amos Fortune, two black people who had arrived to America at Boston on slave ships. Thurman says that the stories of their lives should hearten all Americans, as they embody the…

Thurman discusses the second annual religious arts festival, he explores how art serves as a means of expressing religious ideals, using dance, music, and the spoken word to engage with spiritual themes. The festival’s purpose is to create a collective experience that fosters emotional and spiritual release, culminating in a symbolic act of breaking bread together, representing unity and shared humanity.

In both of these recordings within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, "Meditations of the Heart." In them, we hear Thurman reflecting upon citizenship and right action. Thurman's central question throughout these reflections is: What does it me to be a full, free, and responsible citizen? He claims that by having a moral praxis that rejects hatred in every way it manifests itself, one is able to resist means that contradict the end they are seeking.

In this recording, Thurman first cautions us to think twice before we move our neighbor's landmarks. This means to be aware that we are never able to fully understand another person's perspective and path through life. "To know a man is to know concerning his landmarks, for these are his points of referral that stand out beyond and above all the traffic of his life, advising and tutoring him in his journey through life and beyond."

Thurman then explores the difficult yet important task of…

In this second sermon on "Community and the Will of God," Thurman delves deeper into innocence. We are born innocent, with a sense of inner wholeness; however we eventually lose this innocence and find ourselves between our highest ideals and the reality of our lives. This tension between who we are and who we strive to be creates an inner need for balance. Thurman says that this is the nature and fate of human beings: to seek the redemption of wholeness after this loss of innocence. In this…

In this recording, Thurman explores the varieties of peace we can find in life, from innocent peace as children to the peace of exhaustion when we've overwhelmed our resources and can do nothing more. Finally, there is the peace resulting from triumph over adversity, when we are able to "distill goodness out of that which is not good" and "learned how to winnow beauty out of ugliness."