This is the story of Larry Donovan, son of a Missouri coal miner who aspires to rise above a working-class life. Propelled into the ranks of migratory workers by the Depression. Donovan searches for his own voice among the confusion of voices in mine, mill, and factory. Finally, he returns home and stumbles upon a purpose within the very life he was trying to escape.
In the small hours of the morning of June 3, 1914, a woman and her husband were found dead in a sparsely furnished apartment in Paris. Only when the identity of the couple was revealed in the English press a fortnight later did the full story emerge. The man, Henry Sackville-West, had shot himself minutes after the death of his wife; but Henry's suicidal despair had been driven equally by the failure of his claim to be the legitimate heir to Knole, one of the largest and stateliest houses in England. Henry's father, Lord Sackville, had been introduced to Pepita de Oliva, a beautiful Spanish dancer born in the backstreets of Malaga, in 1852. Their affair lasted until Pepita's death in 1871, and produced five children, of whom Henry was the youngest. One of his older sisters, Victoria, would eventually become mistress of Knole through a judicious marriage. But Henry and the other illegitimate members of the family, Max, Flora, and Amalia, were gradually eased from the historical record. The Disinherited rescues them from the shadows to which they had been consigned, revealing the secrets and lies that lay at the heart of an English dynasty. It is an absorbing and moving tale of sibling rivalry as the brothers and sisters struggle for their father's love and against the stain of illegitimacy that had condemned them to lives of poverty and disappointment.
“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 at Trinity United Church of Christ A commemorative edition of the work that inspired Martin Luther King Jr. and helped shape the civil rights movement In this beautiful gift edition of the classic theological treatise, complete with a place-marker ribbon and silver gilded edges, celebrated theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1899–1981) revolutionizes the way we read the gospel. Thurman lifts Jesus up as a partner in the pain of the oppressed and reveals the gospel as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised. In this view, the example of Jesus’s life shows us that hatred does not empower—it decays. Only by recognizing fear, deception, contempt, and love of one another can God’s justice prevail. With a new foreword by acclaimed womanist theologian Kelly Brown Douglas, this edition of Jesus and the Disinherited is a timeless testimony of faith that demonstrates how to thrive and flourish in a world that attempts to destroy one’s humanity from the inside out. Having witnessed firsthand the depths of white supremacy and the heights of human civility, Thurman reiterates the inherent dignity of all of God’s children.
This book examines the meaning of Jesus' humanity, his divinity, and the special significance of his teachings to the poor and the oppressed. The discussion of these issues is shaped around the theology of Howard Thurman (1900-1981), one of the greatest religious thinkers of his generation. It is the only such work which thoroughly defines Thurman's significance as an African American folk theologian who both adopts and transcends his religious heritage. Thurman is depicted as a 'folk theologian' who both perpetuates and transforms African American folk religion. The core of Thurman's theology revolves around his reinterpretation of the meaning of the concept of 'humanity' and 'divinity'. The search for a 'Black Christ', black messiah, has been a prominent feature of African American religious thought in the past two centuries. This book addresses Thurman's treatment of Jesus within the ebb-and-flow of the debates in this area. This is the first work devoted exclusively to the subject of Christology as the center of Thurman's theology.
