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In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the Thanksgiving season, asking the question: "What is the nature of your own gratitude?" He calls the listener to discern whether or not they have paused to look at their life in the present moment and identifies the present moment as a gift. When considering the task of understanding the present moment as a gift, mercy and gratitude function as the means to allow oneself to be present in the moment. Thurman claims that our…

This recording is a part of a wider series of conversations from September to October of 1980 where Howard Thurman met with a variety of young men and women who were discerning their calling to ministry. Thurman poses the intent of this group as an opportunity to "open up for one's self the moving, vital, creative push of God, while God is still disguised in the movement of God's self." In this recording, Thurman explores what it means to live one's life with a robust sense of responsibility and…

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…

This sermon is the eighth of nine in a series of sermons given in Marsh Chapel that are titled "The Inward Journey." In this sermon, Thurman explores St. Augustine's texts "Confessions," and "City of God." He uses each of these texts to navigate St. Augustine's theological posturing towards salvation, original sin, free will, and conversion. The climax of this sermon critiques Augustine's claim that the church is the place to which humanity finds salvation, which is held in juxtaposition to…