Jesus and the Disinherited

Howard Thurman has come across my desk many times in the past year. His book Jesus and the Disinherited is a small and readable guide to the experience, perspective, and theology behind the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. A few excerpts for you:

“Many and varied are the interpretations dealing with the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth. But few of these interpretations deal with what the teachings and life of Jesus have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall.”

Thurman proceeds to lay out what can fairly be called an early treatise of a US American version of liberation theology for the African-American church. Martin Luther King often carried this little book with him from place to place. Many considered Thurman the pastor, the mystic, and the chaplain to the Civil Rights movement. He was not the one marching, he was the one to whom those who marched would retreat for sustenance and resolve.

“Fear is one of the persistent hounds of hell that dog the footsteps of the poor, the disposed, the disinherited.”

Herman’s style is accessible. No degree in theology is needed to understand his writing. He is direct and to the point with his analysis of the disinherited experience. But he is also one to turn toward solutions and strategy.

“Deception is perhaps the oldest of all the techniques by which the weak have protected themselves against the strong. Through the ages, at all stages of sentient activity, the weak have survived by fooling the strong.”

and

“The religion of Jesus makes the love-ethic central…To love such an enemy requires reconciliation, the will to re-establish a relationship.”

But, let’s be clear here, Thurman is not offering the love-ethic and reconciliation as an easy way of cheap grace. His book concludes with clear-eyed honesty that the disinherited must recognize the fear and hatred expressed upon them while engaging in the use of the tools at his/her disposal for living out a life in the Spirit and in the manner of Jesus

First published in1949, one could read this book with 2020 and 2021 in mind.

Thurman was also a mystic and a poet and a wordsmith. If you’d like more, I commend this interview with Rev Otis Moss III conducted on the On Being Radio Network. Thurman’s books can be found here