Christian Mission and Poverty

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Christian Mission and Poverty

nonviolent resistance, through the upheavals and social revolutions of the 1960s, and into the era of the War on Drugs and the beginning of mass incarceration. All along the way, people interested in what the teachings of Jesus mean for the oppressed have returned again and again to Thurman’s work. While Jesus and the Disinherited can be read as an early step in the development of liberation theology, Thurman’s work is more accurately read as a “liberating spirituality.” 1 In other words, while the implications of Thurman’s work for systemic societal change are profound, his text is not only a condemnation of structural injustice but is also a resource for a profound inner resistance grounded in Jesus’ message of freedom and love. Thurman’s interpretation of the mission of Jesus was born out of his reflection on what the Gospel meant for people “with their backs against the wall.” 2 Thurman reflected on the marginalized status of African-Americans, drew from resources in black church traditions, paid attention to anticolonial movements in Africa, met with Gandhi to study creative nonviolent action, and proclaimed the significance of the historical person of Jesus Christ for those who are disinherited. Thurman’s insight into the historical particularity of Jesus as a Jew, from a poor family and a member of an oppressed ethnic group, laid the groundwork for identifying supersessionism 3 as a major issue in the Christian tradition. Thurman recognized that to separate the religion of Jesus from the Jewishness of 1 Howard Thurman, Foreword to Jesus and the Disinherited. 2 Ibid., 11. 3 Supersessionism – the belief that the Gentile church has replaced Israel as the people of God