But Jesus insists that we must be honest, no matter the cost and that this integrity, though dangerous, humanizes and elevates the disinherited: “a man is a man, no more, no less” (p. – Oppression also breeds deception, as the disinherited person lies and deceives in their “daily struggle to survive”: “Not to be killed becomes the great end, and morality takes its meaning from that center” (p. In answer to fear, Jesus affirms our status as children of God, which “tends to stabilize the ego and results in new courage, fearlessness, and power” (p. It also leads the oppressed person to a “negative answer” to questions of self-worth like: “Who am I? What am I?” (p. – Oppression breeds fear, arising out of the “violence to which the underprivileged are exposed” (p.
Instead, the book speaks *to* the oppressed about Jesus’ call to reject the three “persistent hounds of hell that dog the footsteps of the … disinherited:” fear, deception, and hate (p. Thurman’s work speaks very little about resistance to oppression or even the sin of oppression. – Although the forward by Vincent Harding says that “superficial readings” of Thurman might suggest “elements of liberation theology,” I agree that such a reading would be incorrect. is said to have carried a copy of Thurman’s work with him during his travels and clearly embraced Thurman’s emphasis on the need for the oppressed to love their enemies and turn away from hatred. He argues that fear feeds those who work against life at its highest level, and gives an example of his and his sister's reaction to their mother's corporal punishment.įinally, he argues that love, and specifically the love of an enemy, is not an ethical act but a spiritual act, for God must come into our inner selves to bring about within us a desire to want to do this.Jesus and the Disinherited is the highly influential work of Howard Thurman, a renowned black theologian. Nonviolence is a technique for bringing about social change, but unless nonviolence becomes the inner self of a person then someone working for peace may be extremely violent in their interpersonal relationships. He argues that nonviolence may actually be worse than violence, as people can adjust to physical violence, but resistance "shocks" a person by invading their inner life and cutting them off from support. Thurman insists that love resists cooperating with anyone who is working against this maintenance and furtherance of life.
He uses the life of Jesus as a model for love, especially for those with their "backs against the wall."
Love is not an ethic in the sense of being a "yard stick" for measuring oneself, but the inner intent of God in creation. He begins with a quote from Olive Schreiner. In this he defines love as the "maintenance and furtherance of life at its highest level".
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