Dr. Walter Earl Fluker, an internationally recognized expert on Howard Thurman’s life and teaching, will deliver the 2023 Manekin-Clark Lecture on Monday, October 23, 2023 at 7:00 PM.
Thurman was a 20th century religious leader and educator who introduced the philosophy of non-violence to Black Christian leaders within the Civil Rights Movement. He pioneered the first interracial, intercultural, interfaith church in San Francisco.
Dr. Fluker is a Distinguished Professor of the Howard Thurman Center at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace in Hartford, Conn. He served from 2020-2023 as the Professor of Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and is professor emeritus and the former Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership at the Boston University School of Theology, where he served as the editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project.
The lecture will be held at Northside Baptist Church of Baltimore, 1100 E. Northern Parkway, and will be available via livestream. It will be free and open to the public.
October 4, 11, and 18
Wednesdays
10:00 AM–Noon ET at the ICJS library
OR 6:30–8:00 PM ET Online via Zoom
Howard Thurman was arguably the most important 20th century African American religious leader before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is universally acclaimed as the moral anchor to the modern civil rights movement. This minicourse introduces participants to Thurman in the contexts of African American religious and cultural activism.
Tuesday, October 10 & 17
Noon–1:00 PM ET
Online via Zoom
And Monday, October 23
Noon–1:30 PM ET
At the ICJS Library
Using Thurman’s timeless and thought-provoking book, The Creative Encounter, we will explore his understanding of religion, the role religious institutions and leaders play in cultivating transformative religious experiences, and how these experiences impact us on an individual and societal level.
November 1, 8, and 15
Wednesdays
5:30–6:30 PM ET
At the ICJS Library
Join us for a study of Howard Thurman’s seminal work, Jesus and the Disinherited and a reflection on his idea of the Growing Edge. Through our readings, we will seek to understand Thurman as an interreligious thought leader, examine our own roles in cultivating a peaceful, pluralistic society, and discuss ways to take action in an increasingly divided world.
Bernie Manekin, one of the founding Jewish trustees of the ICJS, was a man who became entangled in the lives of those that he came to know and love. Jim Clark, a Presbyterian, was a builder who wanted to change the inner, as well of the outer landscape of urban America. A lifelong friendship was forged. The Manekin-Clark Lecture bears witness to their deep, and resilient interreligious friendship.”
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