The Howard Thurman Podcast

This recording is the second lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. In this recording, Thurman notes that innate within the hum...

This recording is the first lecture in our collection of ten that Howard Thurman gave at the University of Redlands in 1973 on the topic of mysticism. Thurman indicates that this lecture functions as a means to point the listener towards practical approaches to mysticism through lenses of psychology, philosophy, and religious experience. Thurman's emphasis in this recording is the centrality o...

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. Coll...

This is a recording of Howard Thurman reading from his text "Deep Is The Hunger" (1951). Thurman explores a parable of a poor laborer who invests in expensive glass from a high end antique store. From this parable, Thurman discusses what it means to live with only that which is best and beautiful, that which is one's treasure. He continues by juxtaposing this idea of treasures by lifti...

A recording of Howard Thurman reading a selection of Psalms for recordings by the American Bible Society devotionals entitled, "Hear Us and Help" in November 1971. On this side of the recording, Thurman read Psalms 71, 77, 86, 90, 103, 139. Part of the Collection, NA Tags: American Bible Society, Here Us and Help, Psalms Description by Erik Mattson Recorded in NA Citation: Thurman, Howard,...

A recording of Howard Thurman reading a selection of Psalms for recordings by the American Bible Society devotionals entitled, "Hear Us and Help" in November 1971. On this side of the recording, Thurman read Psalms 4, 5, 6, 13, 16, 25, 31, 33, 42, 61, 70. Part of the Collection, NA Tags: American Bible Society, Here Us and Help, Psalms Description by Erik Mattson Recorded in NA Citation: T...

In this brief add-on to Thurman's sermon on Jesus and the Natural order, Thurman discusses the paradox that human beings are at once a part of the natural order, and yet also seem to be over and against nature. Human beings always feel themselves to be threatened by the impersonal forces of nature, which ultimately feeds the fear that perhaps we are alone, cut off, isolated in this world. If o...

In this second sermon from the Friends Five-Year Meeting, Thurman returns to the temptations of Jesus. The tempter urges Jesus to jump off a tower. Thurman says that the logic behind the tempter's dare is that there is no order or structure to existence; the tempter tries to convince Jesus that he is above the natural order. However, the truth is that if we do not act in accordance with the or...

In this second sermon from the Friends Five-Year Meeting, Thurman parallels the insights of Jesus with the principles of Gothic architecture. In the iconic Gothic arch, Thurman sees pillars that are grounded in the earth, and yet stretch up into infinity. This, he says, reflects human beings in both our earth-bound creatureliness and the reality of the human spirit which seeks trust, understanding...

In this sermon given at a Quaker conference, Howard Thurman gives words to religious experience as an encounter with the living God. For Thurman, religious experience is a moment in which one becomes personally and privately aware of God as a fact. This is an experience that cannot be controlled or willed, but rather it is given by grace, by God's own autonomy. Our responsibility is not about...

"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 “th...

"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 “th...

"Community is evinced when any form of life identifies with another. For Thurman, humans experience wholeness when individual existence recognizes itself within the fullness of all existence. Community is an expression of life because its manifestation follows the “harmony,” “order,” and “inner togetherness” consistent with a person’s inner order. In this way, Thurman notes, community makes se...

"Community is evinced when any form of life identifies with another. For Thurman, humans experience wholeness when individual existence recognizes itself within the fullness of all existence. Community is an expression of life because its manifestation follows the “harmony,” “order,” and “inner togetherness” consistent with a person’s inner order. In this way, Thurman notes, community makes se...

Freedom is the will and ability to act at any moment, Thurman says, “as to influence” or “determine the future.” For him, the experience of freedom relies on one’s ability to create options. Without options, there can be no sense of self. To keep the possibility of choice alive, a person must take responsibility for her life so that one resist becoming a prisoner to the will of others and life eve...

Freedom is the will and ability to act at any moment, Thurman says, “as to influence” or “determine the future.” For him, the experience of freedom relies on one’s ability to create options. Without options, there can be no sense of self. To keep the possibility of choice alive, a person must take responsibility for her life so that one resist becoming a prisoner to the will of others and life eve...

Originally aired on KING-TV based in Seattle, this audio is from the first part of a three-part series in which Roberta Byrd Barr interviewed Howard Thurman about his life and work. This segment concludes the first part of the series; the beginning is available in this related item. All three parts of the interview are available on the Virtual Listening Room site by Boston University. Part of the...

Originally aired on KING-TV based in Seattle, this audio is from the first part of a three-part series in which Roberta Byrd Barr interviewed Howard Thurman about his life and work. This segment includes the first 45 minutes of the first part. The remainder of the audio is available in this related item. All three parts of the interview are available on the Virtual Listening Room site by Boston Un...

Sunday evening sermon, second part Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO) Tags: Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Love and Hate (continued), 1973 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/i...

Sunday evening sermon, first part Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO) Tags: Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Love and Hate, 1973 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/49.

Monday evening sermon, second part Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO) Tags: Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Life and Death (continued), 1973 April 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/...

Monday evening sermon, first part Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO) Tags: Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Life and Death, 1973 April 2,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/47...

Sunday morning service Part of the Collection, Lay-clergy Institute (1973, First Congregational Church, Longmont, CO) Tags: Description by ShaCarolyn Halyard Recorded in Lay-clergy Institute, Longmont, Colorado Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Dilemma of Religious Experience, 1973 April 1,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/45.

Here Thurman uses Matthew 4:1-11 as a framework to discuss the practical world against the possibility of reality. The fluidity of natural order or lack thereof is also discussed as it relates to logic, time, and exceptions to the rules of the natural order. Part of the Collection, What Shall I Do With My Life? (1971, New York Community Church, New York, NY) Tags: Christ, Matthew, natural order De...

Here Thurman highlights the spiritual experience of freedom. The implications of freedom as it relates to the manifestation of God and the awareness of God realized in the individual are also discussed. Just as there is a responsibility in freedom for our actions that determine, shape, and influence the future; there is also a responsibility for one’s reactions to life’s experiences. The most auth...