New Review of Gowler/Jensen's Howard Thurman, Sermons on the Parables

 

I just received a message about a new review of Howard Thurman, Sermons on the Parables, that Kipton Jensen and I put together and edited. It's by Wendy L. Pohlhaus in The Journal of Social Encounters 8:2 (2024) 358–362.

I will excerpt its introduction and conclusion only:

Sermons on the Parables of Jesus by American Civil Rights Icon Howard Thurman

Sermons on the Parables. Howard Thurman. David B. Gowler and Kipton E. Jensen (eds.). Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 2018, paper, L+157 pages. ISBN 978-1-62698-283-3. 

How can a group of sermons written well over 60 years ago about the parables crafted by Jesus, an itinerant Jewish rabbi in the 1st Century, be relevant to the present world in which we live? These parables are relevant because when Howard Thurman -- mystic, preacher, mastermind of the non-violence resistance strategy employed during the American Civil Rights Movement and theological savant -- wrote these sermons the American social, political, and economic landscape was like what we are experiencing today (Gowler and Jensen, 2018, xvi). First, Jesus’ world, like present-day America, was marked by an extreme form of Roman nationalism which required its conquered people, especially the Jewish population, to yield to their imperial rule and accept their cultural and religious norms (Powell, 2018, pp. 34,50; Thurman,1996, p.8). Second, the conquered and marginalized Jewish population resisted this Roman oppression and threat to their identity (Thurman, 1996, p.8). Finally, Roman territorial conquest through war was normative, and there was a stark economic inequality between the Roman and Jewish elite and the majority of the oppressed and impoverished Jews (Powell, 2018, p. 31; Thurman 1996, p.8). 

Moreover, akin to first century Palestine, the world in which Thurman wrote these sermons during the 1950s was still reeling from the atrocities of World War II, watching Senator McCarthy’s brand of nationalism which propagated an American fear that Communism would rule the world, and in which American violent racism subjugated African Americans in all aspects of American life and attempted to diminish their humanity. African Americans during the fifties were in the same position as marginalized Jews in the first century (Cone, 2010, p. 120; Thurman 1996, p. 6). 

Today’s world is marked by wars in Palestine and Ukraine and numerous armed conflicts in Africa in which our children are being killed. There is a rise of a nationalism which taps into the American ruling class’ fear of losing their social, economic, and political control and seeks to “Make America Great Again.” Moreover, despite various civil and equality rights movements, other groups such as the LGBTQIA community, Muslim and immigrant groups are joining Jews and African Americans as the American disenfranchised. Thus, as Thurman’s sermons challenged the faithful in the 1950s, he is challenging the faithful today to meet our modern-day violence and oppressive socio-economic and political conditions by accepting our responsibility to build the Kingdom of God, which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would later refer to as the Beloved Community (Hunt, 2018, pp. 35-37). 

In Sermons on the Parables, Thurman delineates a kingdom-building blueprint for the modern world. First, we who accept the role of kingdom builders must develop the necessary skill set by ascertaining who we are to God. Thurman describes this process as finding your “core” (Thurman, 2018, p. 34- 35). Second, to live into this core, we must ascertain and consent to God’s will for our lives. Third, this consent will create an internal wholeness which facilitates our relationship with our neighbor and our participation in the continued creation of the Kingdom of God. 

[Deleted pages of detailed summary/analysis of the sermons.]

Thus, as Thurman’s sermons challenged the faithful in the 1950’s, he is challenging the faithful today to stop, listen, pray, and find God within our core. When we connect with this core we will be empowered and have the responsibility to overturn modern-day violence and oppressive socioeconomic and political conditions and build the Beloved Community. 

Woman and/in Parables (4): Carol Thysell and some additional thoughts

 

 

More excerpts from chapter 7 of the revised and expanded edition of What are They Saying about the Parables? 

Similar but unheeded exhortations to hear women’s voices fully can be found in the history of parable interpretation. Carol Thysell's "Unearthing the Treasure, Unknitting the Napkin" that provides a transition to other reception history studies that I will later discuss in a series of posts, "What Do Parables Want?"

Thysell found examples of such voices in two early modern era interpretations of Matthew’s parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14–30). Both Marie Dentière, in 1539, and Rachel Speght, a century later, interpreted the parable as justification for women preaching and prophesying: Dentière “objected to the prohibition against women’s public preaching because it would be ‘too impudent to hide the talent which God has given to us,’” and Speght supported women having a public ministry by noting that “none but unprofitable servants knit up Gods talent in a Napkin.” As Thysell notes, these women used similar appeals to the parable to argue “for their own right to preach and to publish for mixed audiences” and “to make an argument for the right and responsibility of all women to contribute to the common good of society” (9). 

It is important to note that we use models that give us partial glimpses of ancient cultures—important glimpses that include “voices of the silenced”—and these insights demonstrate the cultural differences that divide us from ancient Mediterranean peoples. Such knowledge is instructive, especially when previous suppositions and “certainties” are unveiled. But what then? The gap between the ancient past and the present widens further, and as Carolyn Osiek states, “the bridge is not long enough” to cross the interpretive chasm (113). 

As Osiek also notes, for non-Western persons the cultural and social contexts may become more familiar now that the Western, post-enlightenment framework undergirding most New Testament study is illuminated and (partly) dismantled. We do not have to anachronize Jesus’ parables to make them relevant. The challenge is to modernize them authentically. Social-scientific criticism, for example, allows us to understand better the first-century social, cultural, and historical contexts of the parables, but it also reminds us that achieving the status of an “objective observer” is an elusive chimera that can never be captured. Pieces of the puzzle will still be missing; parables remain recalcitrant and delightfully enigmatic. With the knowledge gained from these revelations, though, we can understand the writings from other cultures and ages more fully and can avoid much of the patronizing interpretations that still pervade many studies. 

In addition, even in the twenty-first century, some scholars still seek to reaffirm the patriarchal traditions found in biblical texts, so these texts continue to be (ab)used to justify the oppression and silencing of women. For the vast majority of Christians, however, this approach is unacceptable, and the gap between these ancient texts and modern society grows wider as does the belief that Christians should no longer depend on cultural analogies of ancient societies to portray the activity of God. Yet the standards of the kingdom of God as depicted in Jesus’ parables, although incorporating elements of that patriarchal system, actually can provide a devastating critique of that system. Those higher standards, even while seen within their social system, may also serve as criteria by which all social systems are to be evaluated. In the words of Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza: “Thus liberation from patriarchal structures is not only explicitly articulated by Jesus but is in fact the heart of the proclamation of the basileia of God.”

Woman and/in Parables (3): Elizabeth Dowling’s Taking Away the Pound

 

More excerpts from chapter 7 of the revised and expanded edition of What are They Saying about the Parables? 

This post covers an excellent book by Elizabeth Dowling, Taking Away the Pound, which focuses on how and why the parable of the Pounds (Luke 19:11–28) can be a lens through which to view the portrayal of women characters in the Gospel of Luke. Although the parable does not include a woman character—the story involves a nobleman, his fellow-citizens, and his slaves—Dowling argues that the use and abuse of power in the parable of the Pounds represents all who suffer adverse consequences when they oppose unjust power structures. Thus the parable also serves as a paradigm for what happens to Lukan characters who “lose a pound” when they challenge oppressive structures, where “pound” represents anything a person has that can be taken away by those in positions of power. In particular, in the parable of the Pounds the actions of the nobleman are exploitative and oppressive, and anyone who opposes this oppressive use of power acts honorably. In that light, the third slave, whom the vast majority of interpreters see as having failed, actually is the hero of the story because he (1) from a peasant “limited good” perspective acted honorably by protecting what was entrusted to him and (2) refused to participate in the type of “extortion practised and endorsed by his master” (90–91). This resistance is a lens through which to view the characterizations of women in Luke because the pattern of “taking away a pound” is seen in stories where woman characters resist patriarchal ideas and expectations. 

To demonstrate her thesis, Dowling briefly examines fourteen women characters in Luke. Two are in parables: the woman who loses and then finds one of her ten coins and the widow seeking justice from an unjust judge. Although women “gain” much from their characterizations, such as modeling how to offer Jesus hospitality (e.g., Luke 7:36–50) or as exemplary disciples (e.g., 22:26), there are also many times where women lose what they have gained: (1) Some women “speak” and are not believed by other characters (e.g., even though the narrator does not allow us to hear their words, the women’s announcement of Jesus’ resurrection is deemed an “idle tale” by the eleven, Luke 24:11); (2) women who speak are rebuked or corrected (e.g., Martha in 10:40); (3) women’s words are usually not recorded, thus undermining the effectiveness of their voice (e.g., Anna’s prophecy in 2:36–38); (4) women who are demon-possessed, which may “compromise the women’s public voice” (e.g., 4:38–39; 8:2–3; 13:10–17); (5) women who do not speak either directly or indirectly through the narrator (e.g., Simon’s mother-in-law; 4:38–39). 

The two women portrayed in Lukan parables (Lost Coin; Persistent Widow/Unjust Judge) do not “lose their pound”—the woman who finds her lost coin rejoices, and her direct speech is not marginalized by other characters; the persistent widow succeeds in claiming justice for herself—but the cumulative effect of the portrayal of other women characters in Luke is a negative one, and the trivialization of women’s speech leads to the virtual silencing of their voices: “Those women characters in the narrative who challenge the oppressive stricture of public silence for women are seen to ‘lose their pound’” (198). The public voice of women characters is so diminished by the end of the Luke that in the second volume (Acts) “women do not persist in their public roles of prophesying, teaching, proclaiming or healing in Acts” (202). 

Dowling notes that the marginalization of women’s voices is not just an ancient phenomenon and that modern scholars should not make excuses for Luke’s portrayal of women; in fact, there are other places in the New Testament where women’s roles are not restricted in the same way (e.g., Matt 15:21–28; 207). Dowling recommends that twenty-first century readers have “ears to ear” the voices of women’s resistance to oppressive power structures, to acclaim those women characters who resist being marginalized and silenced, and not to use the silenced and marginalized women characters in Luke as roles for women in contemporary society. Contemporary interpretations need to subvert Luke’s marginalization of women and challenge these oppressive practices both in one’s interpretation of Luke and in one’s daily life (214–15).

Woman and/in Parables (2): Elsa Tamez

 

More excerpts from chapter 7 of the revised and expanded edition of What are They Saying about the Parables? 

The last post about the book included a series about studies that were added in the second edition of WATSA Parables? (for earlier contributions and more details about these new sections, see the book).

This post covers a New Testament scholar who is better known for her outstanding work on the Epistle of James and other studies but also makes an important contribution to the study of the parables: Elsa Tamez.

Tamez is a leading proponent of Latin American liberation theology from a feminist perspective who analyzes biblical texts in ways that illuminate often-overlooked elements of oppression. In Latin America, Tamez notes, many people interpret the Bible as a “simple text that speaks of a loving, just, liberating God who accompanies the poor in their suffering and their struggle through human history.” Even in this context, however, some texts in Scripture clearly marginalize or segregate women, and these texts are used in modern patriarchal sexist societies to claim that women’s marginalization is a biblical principle. 

In such cases as the parables of Jesus in which male characters dominate and women characters are almost invisible, the first step, Tamez argues, is to distance oneself from established interpretations about what a text means. The second step is to read the text with the understanding that God is on the side of the oppressed—the “hermeneutic key” found in Scripture. The third step is to read the entire Bible (i.e., not just texts that involve women) from a woman’s perspective, a step that involves including other oppressed “sectors” besides the poor. This new way of reading the Bible should result, Tamez declares, not only in experiencing God but also in a practice of justice and caring for other human beings. 

Tamez demonstrates this approach in an innovative book, Jesus and Courageous Women, that she hopes will motivate readers “to rethink our lives in relation to the church and to society” (vii). One of the stories is narrated by “Lydia,” a fictional recreation of the woman mentioned in Acts 16. The story includes the parable of the Unjust Judge, in which the “stubborn widow” gives Lydia encouragement to persist in her own resistance to the oppression and injustice she faces: “She reminds me of thousands of women today in our Greek and Roman cities, and also of our ancestors. The widow, the orphan and the foreigner are the most unprotected persons in our culture; they are frequently overlooked and their rights are denied. That is why we find that the statutes in their favor are repeated frequently in the Scriptures” (43–45). Lydia concludes that this parable provides a paradigm for how to respond in an unjust patriarchal society. Women simply cannot allow themselves to be imprisoned in the roles a patriarchal society assigns them. Women must resist and struggle and persevere, because “Jesus provides the guarantee that justice will triumph” (47). Another central message of this parable is that God is in solidarity with the poor and marginalized. God sees them as persons of worth and calls on the followers of Jesus to do likewise (50), and reading parables from the perspective of women opens one’s eyes to the often unchallenged marginalization of women. 

Tamez notes that even grassroots interpretations often ignore difficult biblical texts, soften their oppressive content, or say that the marginalization of women reflected in these ancient texts is simply not relevant for the modern world. Tamez counters that the central message of the Bible—and of the parables of Jesus—is profoundly liberating. Therefore, biblical texts that reflect patriarchy are not normative, just as texts that legitimate slavery are not normative (195). Christians are to use “militant patience” while experiencing oppression, marginalization, or even persecution—steadfastness, resistance, and heroic resistance—while continually practicing justice in their own lives, just as the woman acts in the parable of the Unjust Judge.

Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Good Samaritans

Delighted to have endorsements from Luther Smith, John Dear, and Peter Eisenstadt for my new book on Howard Thurman: Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Good Samaritans. 

I think the book is a timely one in the current social/cultural/political/economic/religious situation. Thurman helped provide the theological foundation for the Civil Rights Movement (including being a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr, Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited, leading the first group of African Americans to meet with Gandhi in India, etc.). His insights are certainly helpful in our current situation.

The description as found on the Paulist website is: 

David Gowler integrates parable scholarship with extensive research on Howard Thurman's life and writings to explore how Thurman's insights about the Prodigal Son and Good Samaritan parables provide a way forward in our quest for community. An online teacher's guide further explores how parables and visual art can heighten spiritual consciousness, demand an ethical response, and create and deepen community.

Endorsements

"Gowler's scholarship prepares us to enter Jesus's parables with greater vision and understanding. Accompanied by Thurman's insights and identification with Jesus as one of the disinherited, the parables' transformative significance confronts every reader."
―Luther E. Smith, Jr., PhD, author, Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet

"David Gowler's beautiful book Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community offers helpful insights into Thurman's wisdom and how we can apply it to our own broken lives and world. A book well worth studying."
―Rev. John Dear, author of The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence, and director of BeatitudesCenter.org

"David B. Gowler, one of our finest students of the parables, uses Thurman's sermons on the parables as portals to the understanding of communal and collective interaction and the deep-lying layers of personal spiritual truths."
―Peter Eisenstadt, author of Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman, and affiliate professor of history, Clemson University

You can find the book here and the study guide here.

I won't provide links, but the book is currently 19% off on the website owned by Bezos, and currently What are They Saying about the Parables? (second edition, 2021) is on sale as well.

"The Work of Christmas," by Howard Thurman (reprise)

  

Another year; another opportunity to rededicate ourselves to this message from Dr. Thurman:

"The Work of Christmas," by Howard Thurman 

Howard Thurman’s poem, “The Work of Christmas” is my favorite Christmas poem, and I post it every year. It provides a vision of a society informed by Jesus’s parable of the Sheep and Goats in the Gospel of Matthew and the biblical principle of hospitality: 

When the song of the angels is stilled, 

When the star in the sky is gone, 

When the kings and the princes are home, 

When the shepherds are back with their flock, 

The work of Christmas begins: 

To find the lost, 

To heal the broken, 

To feed the hungry, 

To release the prisoner, 

To rebuild the nations, 

To bring peace among brothers, 

To make music in the heart. 

Thurman reminds us of how Jesus wants us to respond to our fellow human beings in ways that God demands and in ways that echo, as Jesus of Nazareth declared in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, how God loves and treats us. 

May we truly make "music in the heart" for others and therefore ourselves in 2025.

Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans

 

Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community:
From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans.

Just arrived!: My new book, Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans.

From the Paulist website:

David Gowler integrates parable scholarship with extensive research on Howard Thurman's life and writings to explore how Thurman's insights about the Prodigal Son and Good Samaritan parables provide a way forward in our quest for community. An online teacher's guide further explores how parables and visual art can heighten spiritual consciousness, demand an ethical response, and create and deepen community.

Endorsements

"Gowler's scholarship prepares us to enter Jesus's parables with greater vision and understanding. Accompanied by Thurman's insights and identification with Jesus as one of the disinherited, the parables' transformative significance confronts every reader."
—Luther E. Smith, Jr., PhD, author, Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet

"David Gowler's beautiful book Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community offers helpful insights into Thurman's wisdom and how we can apply it to our own broken lives and world. A book well worth studying."
—Rev. John Dear, author of The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence, and director of BeatitudesCenter.org

"David B. Gowler, one of our finest students of the parables, uses Thurman's sermons on the parables as portals to the understanding of communal and collective interaction and the deep-lying layers of personal spiritual truths."
—Peter Eisenstadt, author of Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman, and affiliate professor of history, Clemson University

The focus of the book is about an important contribution Thurman can make in our current social and political situation. The book can be found here.