Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans (includes a sermon by Thurman and a Dürer visual exegesis; Chapter 5 study guide, part 1)

   

Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: 

From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans

How Howard Thurman's insights benefit current discussions about what to do in the face of the injustices that so many people face today: highlighting parts of my recent book, Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans.

Today's post focuses on chapter 5, which is the first chapter on the parable of the Prodigal Son: "Listening for the Whisper of God: 'You have to churn the Milk.'" 

As preparation for the chapter, I first recommend readers listen to an audio of one of Thurman's prodigal son sermons: "The Prodigal Son," (September 23, 1951). In that sermon, Thurman notes that God is like the loving father, and anyone could be one of the two brothers, estranged from their father. But God always welcomes us back, and when the prodigal “comes to himself,” he comes to his very center and comes face-to-face with God within him.

In further preparation for the chapter, I then recommend a visual exegesis of Albrecht Dürer's The Prodigal Son amid the Swine:

The longer version is found in David B. Gowler, “What Can Renaissance Art and Howard Thurman Tell Us about the Prodigal Son?” but here is a quick summary of the visual exegesis: 

In this striking engraving, the urgency of the pigs’ scramble for food matches the urgency of the prodigal’s physical and spiritual hunger, and the prodigal’s pose portrays the moment when he “came to himself.” Similarly, Thurman believes that the famine in the land reflects the prodigal’s physical hunger and internal spiritual famine, and the parable illustrates how human beings can move from such isolation to an assurance of community: When people “come to themselves,” it is in response to “a seeking and beseeching God,” and Thurman muses about how the degradation of the prodigal’s spirit led to “a stirring down at the bottom of his being” that said, “You are lost. You are out of contact with your family. You are out of community. Why don’t you go home?” Thurman thus argues for a deeper spiritual meaning of when the son “came to himself” and envisions it as an exemplar for one’s spiritual journey: human beings can discover God within themselves, realize who they really are, and return “home.”

The next post (on chapter 5, part 2) will focus on some key quotes from the chapter and some "digging deeper" insights.