In the first of two sermons entitled “Man,” Thurman considers what it means for the human to be a spirit-possessing being. The spirit is fundamental to understanding all things that a person thinks and feels. It is what enables the human to respond to one's experiences. Thurman imagines spiritual consciousness as an elevated level of awareness, whereby a person resists being imprisoned within moments and events so that possibilities beyond immediate experience become visible. Here, one can speak back to whatever is “total” in life and thus respond to life “totally.” Such acts are evidence, Thurman says, of what the psalmist means when declaring that humans have been made a “little lower than God.” He ends this message by asking all to consider what he or she will do with the inspiration of the spirit. Divine presence within the body, he avers, is what has the power to turn “the destiny of the race.”

Part of the Collection, A Faith to Live By (1952, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA)

Tags: alternative, freedom, harmony, imagination, man, order, spirit

Description by Unknown

Recorded in Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “A Faith to Live By, Part 4: Man, 1952 October 5,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/933.