Howard Thurman and the Quest for Community: From Prodigals to Compassionate Samaritans (Includes a sermon and meditation by Thurman; Chapter 5 study guide, part 3)

     

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.

The last post featured a key quotes sermon by Thurman, including is famous quote about th Prodigal Son parable and :coming to face with God."

Today's post, the third on chapter 5 and the Prodigal Son parable, focuses on some "digging deeper" insights, including a sermon by Thurman, a meditation by Thurman, and other resources:

The Prodigal Son parable’s relative complexity leads to greater depth of reader engagement: it has several scene changes, a more extensive plot, a number of conflicts, three major characters, and more developed (mostly indirect) characterization—including dialogue, one of the few interior monologues among the parables, and a speech. (See David B. Gowler, “The Characterization of the Two Brothers in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11–32 ): Their Function and Afterlives.”) 

The quote from Petronius alluded to in this chapter (Satyricon 80.9) is, “Friendship endures only to the last coin.” 

The prodigal son was hungry enough to “gladly eat” (15:16) the food he was assigned to give the pigs, wording similar to the rich man and Lazarus parable where the destitute Lazarus—at the gate of a rich man who, to his later detriment, ignores Lazarus—“longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:21). 

In “Sing Your Own Song” (March 6, 1964) Thurman uses examples from Catherine Coblentz’s Blue Cat of Castle Town to encourage his listeners to “sing their own song,” to find their own authentic voice, and “then God, who is the creator of life and all the living substances, will be able to sing his song through you.” 

The sermon “The Sound of the Genuine” (May 1, 1977) further explains what the Sound of the Genuine means, and it includes a description of the “Good Samaritan” who helped Thurman at the Daytona train station.

The next post (on chapter 6, part 1) will focus on the secpond half of the Prodigal Son parable, including a sermon by Thurman and visual exegesis of Frank Wesley's Forgiving Father.