Online Zoom Forum: Rev Howard Thurman: The Spiritual, Ethical, Civic and Humanitarian Vision in His Life and Work.
Date: Wednesday 30 September 2026.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be five talks, each of 15 minutes, followed by discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A.
Chair:
Simon Barrow:
Bio: Simon Barrow is a writer, commentator, poet, educator and researcher with wide experience in politics, public issues, media, organisational change, ethics and religion/beliefs. He was director of the think-tank Ekklesia from 2005-2024. Before that he worked in media and adult theological education. From 2000-2005 he was assistant general secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. His latest book is Beyond Our Means: Poetry, Prose and Blue Runes (Siglum, 2025) and will be followed by Against the Religion of Power: Telling a Different Christian Story (Ekklesia Publishing, April 2026). He also writes for the Edinburgh Music Review.
Speakers:
Rev Dr Aizaiah G. Yong:
Title: Howard Thurman's Love for Life.
Description: This presentation will provide a brief meditation on Howard Thurman's sermon from Good Friday on 1962 and explore his invitation for a new consciousness in the Christian mystical tradition related to social justice, embodied love, and eco-healing.
Bio: Rev Aizaiah G. Yong, Ph.D. is a scholar-practitioner of contemplative formation and an ordained pentecostal minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)— with strong ties to the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM). He currently serves as Executive Director of Collegeville Institute (CI) for Ecumenical and Cultural Research located at Saint John's Abbey in Central Minnesota.
Dr. Timothy Robinson:
Title: 'Life is Alive': Howard Thurman's Ecological Vision.
Description: Howard Thurman is often referred to as a "nature mystic" due to the passages in his autobiography that recount his childhood experiences in the woods and at the ocean. This presentation will argue that, in fact, an ecological thread ties together most of the major themes in his thought. His mysticism was rooted in an underlying sense of the unity of all life and his quest to overcome the barriers that resist that unity extended beyond the human community extended the more-than-human world. Thus, arising from Thurman's mystical sense of nature was, in his words, "an ethic of reverence for all expressions of life."
Bio: Timothy Robinson has taught spirituality and practical theology on the faculties of Brite Divinity School and the Oblate School of Theology for more than 20 years. He earned a Ph.D. From the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. His research interests include the history of spirituality, mysticism, the life and work of Howard Thurman, and ecotheology. He is currently working on a book about Howard Thurman's ecological thought.
Dr Eva Bohler:
Title: An Afrocentric Analysis of the Philosophies of Howard Thurman.
Description: This presentation examines the philosophical thought of Howard Thurman, as represented in his autobiography, With Head and Heart, as well as Jesus and the Disinherted and The Search for Common Ground, as well as his sermons, to determine Thurman's location as it relates to Afrocentric theory.
Bio: Eva Bohler is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach (USA). She received her PhD in Africology and African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia (USA), where she completed a dissertation titled, An Afrocentric Analysis of the Philosophies of Howard Thurman. Her research interests include Africana intellectual histories, the Civil Rights Movement, and African American history.
Dr Peter Eisenstadt:
Bio: He is an independent scholar and an affiliate member of the Clemson University History Department. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including the Encyclopedia of New York State, and Rochdale Village: Robert Moses, 6,000 Families, and New York City’s Great Experiment in Integrated Housing, which was awarded the New York Society Library Prize for the best book on New York City History. Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman, the first comprehensive biography of its subject, was the culmination of a long-standing scholarly interest. He was the associate editor for the five volumes of the Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, co-author with Quinton Dixie of Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence, and co-editor, with Walter Earl Fluker, of the four volumes of Walking with God: The Sermon Series of Howard Thurman. He lives in Clemson, South Carolina.
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Paypal:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Account Name: Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace
Bank: Bank of Scotland
Bank Address: Edinburgh Royal Mile Branch
Account Number: 06131159
Sort Code: 802000
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GB70 BOFS 8020 0006 1311 59
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