A Spiritual and Intellectual Pioneer
Howard Thurman was born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1899 and the family relocated to Daytona Beach the following year. Early on, he developed a kinship with nature and a "hunger of the heart"--a curiosity into the meaning of life. He found refuge during times of loneliness and trepidation in an old oak tree in his back yard. It was while young Howard stood with his back placed firmly against the tree that he first felt the unity of all living things and engaged in what he would later call, "the religious experience."
When Thurman was seven years old, his father died of pneumonia and his mother took on a job as a domestic., so he mainly was raised by a strong and affirming grandmother. She was a former slave who had a profound influence on what would become an essential part of Thurman's thought--that if theology is to have any validity, it must justly deal with one's life situation and must affirm one's worth as a child of God.
One of Thurman's family friends and early influences was Mary McLeod Bethune, who started a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach in 1904., which later became Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune was an educational role model for Thurman. Later in life, he delivered the eulogy at her funeral in 1955.
Thurman attended high school in Jacksonville, Florida. He later completed studies at Morehouse College, Atlanta in 1923 and the Rochester Theological Seminary, New York in 1926. In 1929, after serving his first pastorship in Oberlin, Ohio, Thurman returned to Atlanta to serve as Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Director of Religious Life at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. Thurman endeavored to develop self-esteem and confidence in students and encourage them to use education to better the lives of their people. Thurman also felt that it was his immediate responsibility "to inspire and encourage students in their individual quests for the truth."
In 1935, during the Great Depression, and while a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Thurman and his wife, Sue Bailey Thurman, led a pilgrimage of African Americans to Ceylon, Burma and India and met with Mahatma Gandhi. As a result of this trip, he formulated, a generation before Martin Luther King Jr., a non-violent approach to social change in America. This "love-ethic" informed one of Thurman's best known works, Jesus and the Disinherited, which later influenced King and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
At the close of the 1935 pilgrimage, looking down into Afghanistan at the Khyber Pass, Thurman experienced a vision of a church that would be open to "seekers of all colors and creeds." He was compelled to see if "experiences of spiritual unity among peoples could be more compelling than the experiences which divide them." In 1944, Thurman fulfilled his vision when he left Howard University as Dean of Rankin Chapel and co-founded the nation's first interracial and interfaith church, Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples (Fellowship Church) in San Francisco. He saw this endeavor as an indictment against American Christianity's practice of segregated worship and exclusionary doctrine. When segregation was still the law of the land and religious intolerance prevailed around the world, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists and Christians saw the church as an opportunity to give form and content to Thurman's message on the possibility and value of an inclusive community.
Thurman held numerous influential ecumenical positions at academic institutions from the 1930s on. He was dean of Howard University's Rankin Chapel from 1932 to 1944. By 1953, Thurman had become a nationally and internationally respected figure and accepted the racially groundbreaking appointment as Dean of Marsh Chapel, Boston University. Because of the diverse campus population, Thurman found another "laboratory" for proving the urge of the spirit toward unity. He held this position until 1965.
During a crucial period in American History, the Civil Rights Movement, Thurman acted as an advisor, counselor and mentor to movement leaders. Mrs. Sue Bailey Thurman recalls that during many midnights, her husband would receive calls requesting prayer and counsel for the next "battle." Despite criticism that he should become more visibly active, Thurman was committed to addressing the inner battles of congregates rather than participating in protest marches and demonstrations. He believed that personal spiritual renewal was important to the liberation process and that inward liberation was a prerequisite for social transformation.
During his final years at Boston University, Thurman embarked on a "Wider Ministry," lecturing world-wide, and assumed a position as Visiting Lecturer at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. After his retirement in 1965, and until his death in 1981, he directed the Howard Thurman Educational Trust in San Francisco, which provided scholarships to needy students and served as a base for his continued ministries and counsel. Many made a trek to speak with the "Holy Man," "Saint," "Mystic" of San Francisco including leaders of the civil rights movement, workers, students, professionals, social and community leaders. Thurman left a tremendous library of readings, meditations and tapes that are actively used and continue to inspire new generations world-wide.
"The movement of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In a moment of dedication, they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires."
~ Howard Thurman, Footprints of a Dream, 1959
The above information was adapted from Arleigh Prelow's write-up on Howard Thurman at howardthurmanfilm.com
When Thurman was seven years old, his father died of pneumonia and his mother took on a job as a domestic., so he mainly was raised by a strong and affirming grandmother. She was a former slave who had a profound influence on what would become an essential part of Thurman's thought--that if theology is to have any validity, it must justly deal with one's life situation and must affirm one's worth as a child of God.
One of Thurman's family friends and early influences was Mary McLeod Bethune, who started a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach in 1904., which later became Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune was an educational role model for Thurman. Later in life, he delivered the eulogy at her funeral in 1955.
Thurman attended high school in Jacksonville, Florida. He later completed studies at Morehouse College, Atlanta in 1923 and the Rochester Theological Seminary, New York in 1926. In 1929, after serving his first pastorship in Oberlin, Ohio, Thurman returned to Atlanta to serve as Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Director of Religious Life at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. Thurman endeavored to develop self-esteem and confidence in students and encourage them to use education to better the lives of their people. Thurman also felt that it was his immediate responsibility "to inspire and encourage students in their individual quests for the truth."
In 1935, during the Great Depression, and while a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Thurman and his wife, Sue Bailey Thurman, led a pilgrimage of African Americans to Ceylon, Burma and India and met with Mahatma Gandhi. As a result of this trip, he formulated, a generation before Martin Luther King Jr., a non-violent approach to social change in America. This "love-ethic" informed one of Thurman's best known works, Jesus and the Disinherited, which later influenced King and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
At the close of the 1935 pilgrimage, looking down into Afghanistan at the Khyber Pass, Thurman experienced a vision of a church that would be open to "seekers of all colors and creeds." He was compelled to see if "experiences of spiritual unity among peoples could be more compelling than the experiences which divide them." In 1944, Thurman fulfilled his vision when he left Howard University as Dean of Rankin Chapel and co-founded the nation's first interracial and interfaith church, Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples (Fellowship Church) in San Francisco. He saw this endeavor as an indictment against American Christianity's practice of segregated worship and exclusionary doctrine. When segregation was still the law of the land and religious intolerance prevailed around the world, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists and Christians saw the church as an opportunity to give form and content to Thurman's message on the possibility and value of an inclusive community.
Thurman held numerous influential ecumenical positions at academic institutions from the 1930s on. He was dean of Howard University's Rankin Chapel from 1932 to 1944. By 1953, Thurman had become a nationally and internationally respected figure and accepted the racially groundbreaking appointment as Dean of Marsh Chapel, Boston University. Because of the diverse campus population, Thurman found another "laboratory" for proving the urge of the spirit toward unity. He held this position until 1965.
During a crucial period in American History, the Civil Rights Movement, Thurman acted as an advisor, counselor and mentor to movement leaders. Mrs. Sue Bailey Thurman recalls that during many midnights, her husband would receive calls requesting prayer and counsel for the next "battle." Despite criticism that he should become more visibly active, Thurman was committed to addressing the inner battles of congregates rather than participating in protest marches and demonstrations. He believed that personal spiritual renewal was important to the liberation process and that inward liberation was a prerequisite for social transformation.
During his final years at Boston University, Thurman embarked on a "Wider Ministry," lecturing world-wide, and assumed a position as Visiting Lecturer at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. After his retirement in 1965, and until his death in 1981, he directed the Howard Thurman Educational Trust in San Francisco, which provided scholarships to needy students and served as a base for his continued ministries and counsel. Many made a trek to speak with the "Holy Man," "Saint," "Mystic" of San Francisco including leaders of the civil rights movement, workers, students, professionals, social and community leaders. Thurman left a tremendous library of readings, meditations and tapes that are actively used and continue to inspire new generations world-wide.
"The movement of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In a moment of dedication, they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires."
~ Howard Thurman, Footprints of a Dream, 1959
The above information was adapted from Arleigh Prelow's write-up on Howard Thurman at howardthurmanfilm.com