The Howard Thurman Question That Changed My Faith

SEVENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, scholar, mystic, and pastor Howard Thurman gave a lecture series at Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, Texas. The series would become the basis for his seminal book Jesus and the Disinherited. One of Thurman’s students, Martin Luther King Jr., reportedly traveled with a copy of Thurman’s book. Through his writings and teachings, Thurman was a mentor and chaplain for many activists during the civil rights movement.

Jesus and the Disinherited continues to inspire many contemplatives and activists and has profoundly shaped my own approach to ministry. The main inspiration comes through a question Thurman posed to American Christianity: “What, then, is the word of the religion of Jesus to those who stand with their backs against the wall?” Thurman’s question confronted the fact that American Christianity was, as historian Vincent Harding put it, a “strange mutation” away from the teachings and ethics of Jesus. Jesus, who was raised in the poor village of Nazareth out of the mainstream of Roman culture. Jesus, who was Galilean, which meant that even among the Jews, Jesus and his people were considered outcasts. Jesus, who spent many of his days moving from town to town touching lepers, transgressing boundaries, befriending Samaritans, and turning over the tables on corrupt economic practices in the temple. In light of Jesus’ ministry, Thurman was challenging an American Christianity that was rampantly materialistic and segregationist, looming above the daily experiences of the disinherited. Thurman’s writings demonstrated how a path-altering question can help inoculate our faith from harmful (American) mutations and point us back to the integrity of Jesus’ Way.

For my East Harlem church, this has meant slowly moving beyond just holding space for middle-class comfort while challenging our preaching to be more rooted in the perspective of women and others in the Bible who have been overlooked. Our church is also participating in an interfaith Bible study with Central Synagogue and Exodus Transitional Community (ETC). ETC is an organization working with people impacted by the criminal justice system. Recently, participants in the Bible study became stuck on the question: “How do we discern hope through the looming shadows of our times?” Many in the group provided good responses, but the most profound came from Gary Brown, a director at ETC. Gary spoke about his arrest during the Clinton administration, which adopted punitive measures in the so-called war on drugs. He was sentenced to life without parole and said, “I reached my lowest moment” when viewing the sentencing document and seeing his release date, which read: “Deceased.” From this hopeless place, Gary kept faith. He used his time at the Florence Correctional Facility in Colorado to mentor young people; he didn’t want them to repeat his same mistakes. He also led anger management classes, rescripting his story even while in the valley of the shadow of death. After serving 26 years, against all odds, Gary was granted clemency. After his release, Gary would find ETC and work his way into management, living a powerful story of liberation and resilience.

At our Bible study that day, Gary’s testimony breathed life into our constricted perspectives. He was the embodied response to what the religion of Jesus has to offer those whose backs are against the wall. Even today, Thurman’s question continues to change my faith, while for many it continues to illuminate the path to faithful justice-seeking.