The Way of the Mystics

First-time in print: the sermons of one of America’s most influential Black theologians

Howard Thurman tended not to speak of his own mystical inclinations, conscious that the word mysticism was likely to be misunderstood. And yet Thurman is commonly recognized as a mystic in the sense that he used the word to describe someone who had an acute experience of the Divine Life. Furthermore, the kind of mysticism to which he was attracted was not something airy or otherworldly, but one that promoted the world and its transformation. In this second volume of the Sermon Series, Thurman reflects on his personal canon of mystics, ranging from William Blake and Buddha, to Gandhi, St. Francis, and his teacher Rufus Jones.