The Howard Thurman Podcast

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for black bodies in America, pledges his allegiance to the union, and likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1964-02-07),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1265.

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for America, likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War, and attempts to find spiritual grounding in the midst of unrest and war.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1960-02-05),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1262.

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for America, likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War, and attempts to find spiritual grounding in the midst of isolation and civil unrest.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, discernment, God's will, Isolation, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1963-02-08),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1261.

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reads an excerpt from Stephen Vincent Benet's book, "John Brown's Body." According to Thurman, he reads this text every year the Friday before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The quotation that is read comes from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln. In it, Lincoln ponders God's will for black bodies in America, pledges his allegiance to the union, and likens himself to an old hunting dog when reflecting upon his tenacity while fighting in the Civil War.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, civil war, God residue, God's will, John Brown's Body, slavery, Stephen Benet

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Readings from Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body (1962-02-09),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1260.

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman speaks to what it means to live a life that is truly one's own. Drawing from Catherine Coblentz' "Blue Cat of Castle Town," and a story of a dog who has lost its bark, Thurman challenges the listener to discern what their true voice is, how one comes to singing their own song. Thurman agrees that the process of finding one's own song is difficult; however, Thurman maintains that finding your own song is one of the most integrous journeys that one can take. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Howard Thurman reflects upon an excerpt from his own writing, Deep is the Hunger. He reads a story of sailors and a chaplain stumbling upon the dead body of an enemy, and collectively discerning what they are to do with the said body. Drawing from this story, Thurman invites the listener to discern what is at stake when considering what it means to live a good life, which is followed by the discovery of what Thurman calls a "basis for action." Thurman explains that this form of discernment is something that is at the center of our being, and is worth deep exploration.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: actualized potential, blue kitten, circle of meaning, core, deep is the hunger, discernment, dog, identity, individualism, integrity, purpose, river, song, voice

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Sing Your Own Song (1964-03-06); The Right Thing This Day (1958-05-23),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1259.

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads from a letter that his friend from Canada sends him. Within the letter, the listener hears of a young boy who makes the decision to participate in a blood transfusion for his sister. In agreeing to participate in the transfusion, the boy misunderstood, and assumed that he would have to die in order to save his younger sister's life. Thurman sees this boy's misunderstanding as a "moment of truth." The moment of truth speaks to one's sense of courage, responsibility, creativity, and sacrifice. Embedded into this moment of truth is a reaction that comes from the tension between one's personal and public life. Thurman invites the listener to discern what their "moment of truth" is and challenges the listen to what their "moment of truth" is calling them to do. In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reads from his book, "Meditations of the Heart." In this reflection, Thurman reflects upon what it means to look at life critically. When things are going well, the difficult and the not-difficult aspects of life blend together; however, when one is in desperation, one is able to critique and names the parts of life that are difficult. This conversation speaks to Thurman's wider work concerning the tension goodness and innocence.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: commitment, decision, dichotomy, encounter, experience, goodness, innocence, Lloyd George, meditations of the heart, moment of truth, pearl, responsibility, sacrifice, solitary, spiral, St. Francis, test, truth

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Moment of Truth (1963-04-19); Pearl without Price (1971-12-4),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1258.

In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon the spiritual, "The Blind Man Sat By the Way," which he calls a "sorrow song." When holding this song in tension with the biblical narrative of Jesus healing the blind man, Thurman comes to the conclusion that the blind man in the sorrow song was never healed. Drawing from the experience of people who were enslaved in America, Thurman reveals that there is no mentioning of the blind man being healed in the song because there was no healing upon the horizon for those who were singing the song. He continues by reflecting upon numerous stories from his life in order to further ask the question, "What do we do with frustrations when there is no freedom in sight?" In this recording within the We Believe Series, Thurman reflects upon and attempts to reclaim the old spiritual song, "Heaven, Heaven." Thurman critiques popular conceptions of the song, stating that it overlooks the reality that every person has to navigate societal expectations with a level of compromise. The question he asks in light of compromise, however, is "At what point is the line drawn?" Here, Thurman considers the deeper question of compromise being a means of deception, and that the ethical dimension of compromise is housed in the tension between deception as a means of survival and deception as a means of ethics.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: aspirations, compromise, cuttlefish, deception, desire, discovery, healing, Hounds of Hell, Huckleberry Bush, hypocrisy, New Testament, Old Testament, preparing, rattlesnake, Rock Street Cemetery, self-respect, shedding, sight, sorrow songs, spirituals, St Gauden

Description by Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Blind Man (1958-10-03); Heaven, Heaven (1958-11-21),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1257.

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reflects upon the negro spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead." Rather than echoing the moan of the prophet Jeremiah, this song provides an answer to the prophet's cries. Rather than asking," Is there a balm in Gilead," Thurman notes that the early singers of this spiritual are affirming that there is indeed a balm in Gilead. From Thurman's perspective, this balm is the moral law which rests within all of humanity. Moral law is the restraint one has in themselves to take the raw material of pessimism and transform it into optimism. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman builds upon his previous reflection upon the negro spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead." Here, he echoes the words from his professor and mentor, George Cross, when he remarks, "The contradictions in life are not final and ultimate." Here, Thurman is asserting that when one conceptualizes life as static, one is imprisoning oneself; however, when one conceptualizes life as dynamic, one is pursuing a life of freedom and fullness. Thurman explains to the listener that in this dynamistic perspective, one finds the energy and strength that is associated with optimism; thus, one is able to find tools to heal.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, actualization, contradictions, dynamic, energy, experience, fluidity, George Cross, healing, Jeremiah, moral law, optimism, pessimism, Pope Pius XII, privilege, Psalm 23, raw material, restraint, Satan, spirituals, strength, There is a Balm in Gilead

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “Balm in Gilead, Part 1 (1958-10-10); Balm in Gilead, Part 2 (1958-10-17),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1256.

In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman draws from a quotation written by Kabir, who is a Hindu Mystic. The line Thurman repeats from the Kabir quotation throughout this reading is, "I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty," which is utilized as a way of speaking to our deepest longings resting within ourselves. Thurman notes that if one is seeking truth destructively, it will disintegrate one's inner life, and eventually, collapse one's outer life. While seeking the truth, Thurman challenges the listener to seek their own truth within themselves, as there is no other source of truth. In this recording within the We Believe series, Howard Thurman reads from his text, Meditations of the Heart. In this recording, he reflects upon the ways in which humanity makes meaning of existence and evil. He problematizes notions of one singular account of evil, noting that when the "evilness of evil is removed, then the total character is totally altered." He continues, that it is only in the following of one's own truth, that one can distinguish the raw materials to which the Kingdom of God can be built.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: Acts of the Apostles, Ahab, disintegrate, evil, evilness, Herman Melville, inner life, Kabil, light, Macbeth, meditations of the heart, Moby Dick, musk deer, My Brother's Face, painting, Paradise Lost, personality, Peter, religious man, search, seeking, thirsty, transcendence, truth

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Light In One's Path: Parts 1 and 2 (1971-12-3),,” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1254.

In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reads from his text, Meditations of the Heart, which reflects on Matthew 21:29 and asks: "What does it mean to be a person of your word?" He responds to this question by discerning the function of language, and how language creates meaning. This deep reflection on the nature of linguistics makes the listener ask, what is it about our words that dictate whether or not one is integrous? In this recording within the We Believe series; Howard Thurman reflects upon what it means when those on the journey of life believe that they "did it." He continues, noting that any sense of achieving knowledge is false, as knowledge is dynamic in nature, rendering language as a mere symbol to make sense of knowledge. Rather than framing the pursuit of life as the pursuit of knowledge, Thurman suggests that equity is the actual pursuit that humanity should participate in.

Part of the Collection, We Believe (Television Series, 1958-1965)

Tags: body, denial, identity, inner-being, integrity, Jesus, journey, linguistics, Matthew 21:29-31, meditations of the heart, money, origin, Parables, pedantic, pilgrim's progress, residue, self, symbol, womb

Dustin Mailman

Recorded in WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts

Citation: Thurman, Howard, “The Integrity of the Word (1964-01-31); Man's Equity in Life (1971-12-3),” The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 9, 2024, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/1253.