A New Intermediate Online Course Offering from the Center for Christogenesis

“Whole-Making: Spirituality, Science, and Social Change”
An Introduction to Howard Thurman’s Commitment to Community
Called a “holy man for the new millennium,” Howard Thurman’s vision of “whole-making” is as important today as it was in his lifetime.

The Center for Christogenesis is offering this course as an opportunity to explore Howard Thurman’s socio-spiritual vision of community as set forth in his seminal text The Search For Common Ground: An Inquiry into The Basis of Man’s Experience of Community (1971). Thurman’s notion of “community,” and related concern for what he termed “whole-making,” have much in common with the 20th century English process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead’s concept of “concrescence.” “Community” was foundational to Thurman’s personal life and spirituality, as well as his pastoral ministry and related theological writing. His “search for community” was holistic and relentless.

As a minister, pastoral theologian, and “spiritual father” of the American Civil Rights Movement, Howard Thurman (1899-1981) made significant contributions to the religious and ethical life of twentieth-century America. At the time of his death, Thurman was Dean Emeritus of Marsh Chapel, Boston University. He also served as Dean of Rankin Chapel and professor of theology at Howard University in Washington, DC, and Director of Religious Life at Morehouse College. During these tenures, Thurman began a lifelong friendship with Indian satyagrahi Mohandas Gandhi, Indian poet and educational reformer Rabindranath Tagore, and the American Quaker mystic-philosophers Rufus Jones and Douglas Steere.

In recent years scholarly treatment and popular interest in Thurman’s life, thought, and ministry have significantly increased. This year, 2021, marks the 40th anniversary of Howard Thurman’s death. His primary vocational concern “to provide spiritual resources for those involved in the work of social change” is as important today as it was during his lifetime.