Jesus and the Disinherited

“No other publication in the twentieth century has upended antiquated theological notions, truncated political ideas, and socially constructed racial fallacies like Jesus and the Disinherited. Thurman’s work keeps showing up on the desk of anti-apartheid activists, South American human rights workers, civil rights champions, and now Black Lives Matter advocates.”
—Rev. Otis Moss III, author of Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World and senior pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ

“Howard Thurman was one of the great moral clarions of his time and Jesus and the Disinherited, his most indispensable work. Here is an uncompromising vision of Christian ethics and the meaning of Jesus’s life to the least, the last, and the lost. Thurman’s prophetic witness and piercing intellect are as relevant to our current hour of tumult as they were in 1949, when he first put these incisive thoughts to paper.”
—Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope

“Jesus and the Disinherited represents nothing less than those conversations Black parents must have with their children in a world that denies the created sacredness of their Black humanity.”
—Kelly Brown Douglas, from the 2022 Foreword

Howard Thurman (1899-1981) was hailed by Life magazine as one of the great preachers of the twentieth century. He was a nationally recognized theologian, distinguished religious leader, and prolific author whose radical nonviolent philosophy played a pivotal role in shaping the civil rights movement. As the first black dean of Boston University’s Marsh Chapel, he became a spiritual adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. He wrote over 20 published books, such as Meditations of the Heart, With Head and Heart- The Autobiography of Howard Thurman, and Disciplines of the Spirit.

Kelly Brown Douglas is an African American Episcopal priest, a womanist theologian, and the inaugural dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. She is also the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral. She is the recipient of the Anna Julia Haywood Cooper Award, given by the Union of Black Episcopalians, in honor of her leadership and development in womanist theology in African American Christian faith. She is the author of The Black Christ, Sexuality and the Black Church, What’s Faith Got to Do with It- Black Bodies/Christian Souls, Black Bodies and the Black Church- A Blues Slant, and Stand Your Ground- Black Bodies and the Justice of God.

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