This short book constitutes an elaboration of lectures Thurman had given at the Samuel Huston College, Austin in 1948. Published in 1949, 'Jesus and the Disinherited' was Thurman's first book and his best-known. The combination of mysticism, social activism, and ecumenicism that Dorrien described fascinated me and led me to explore Thurman's writings for myself. He traveled to India and was deeply influenced by Gandhi.

He founded and led a racially-integrated non-denominational church in San Francisco and served as chaplain at both Howard University and Boston University. Thurman was an African American minister, advocate for social justice, and mystic. and the Black Social Gospel' provoked my interest in learning more about Howard Thurman (1899 - 1981). Gary Dorrien's recent book, 'Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King, Jr. Howard Thurman And The Black Social Gospel Although Thurman's intended audience was aimed at the disenfranchised of the pre-civil rights movement, his ideas transcend this historical niche and provide a stark and radical reality for the disenfranchised the world over, especially during our current moment in history where the beast of imperialism is running rampant to consume everything in its wake.īottom line: Read this book. Thurman's words flow like water, and move in cadence to the human mind, moving from subject to subject with an unannounced ease. Thurman then uses Jesus' historical context and relates it to the hardships encountered by African-Americans in the pre-civil rights era, emphasizing how Jesus' teaching can form practical solutions to overcoming the 'three hounds of Hell' which he names, 'fear, deception and hate.' Throughout the rest of the treatise, Thurman provides excellent description of how the 'hounds of hell operate' and his repeated theme by which to overcome is that mankind must change his 'inward center' before any of the outer world may be changed.Īlthough many may be hesitant to read such a work based upon the title, Thurman's work is more of a philosophical and mystical treatise than a proselytizing harangue, as are most contemporary religious works. In the first section, 'Jesus, and Interpretation', Thurman frames his argument on the facts that Jesus was a poor Jew, living under Roman rule, none of which provided Him any advantage towards becoming a worldwide spiritual phenomenon.

By detailing religion as a symptom to the root cause of greater problems, Thurman recontextualizes Jesus, taking Him out of the mandated religions that have been created in His name, and placing Him in the historical context of His day and age. Matthew Monk Whether you consider yourself 'religious' or not, this book will appeal to you, precisely because this is exactly the theme of Thurman's treatise.

Thurman jesus and the disinherited