Spirituality and Conflict Resolution: A Study of the Life, Practices and Teachings of Dr. Howard Thurman

This dissertation is an exploratory study of spirituality as a tool in addressing and preventing deep-rooted conflicts. In addition, it examines approaches to spirituality by African Americans, and the role of religion and spirituality in their survival and freedom. As the field of conflict expands its vision of approaches to conflict prevention and resolution, a critique of the life, practices, and teachings of Dr. Howard Thurman (1900-1981), provides a vivid picture of the approach by a single individual to the myriad social problems related to racial and religious intolerance.

Following seven years of examining the history of the civil rights movement, and life of Dr. Thurman, this biography provides insights into the role of historiography and biography in understanding, and providing clues to methods of preventing deep-rooted conflicts from becoming entrenched. In addition, it demonstrates the importance of individual efforts toward self-transformation to the growth and transformation of other individuals, communities and the world. Spiritual disciplines as delineated by Dr. Thurman under girded the commitment by the civil rights movement between 1955-1968 to non-violence, and attests to the role of spirituality in overcoming the crippling affect of fear, hatred, and deception critical to conflict resolution and problem-solving.

The author challenges prevailing concepts in the field of conflict resolution. One is a belief in the significance of security in the life of a person as a means of preventing conflict. The other is a belief in the need by nations for enemies, in order to prevent internal disorder. The need for enemies is discussed from the perspective of the harm caused by reliance on enemies to the integrity and uniqueness of the both the individual, and a people, in determining for themselves what constitutes, and in achieving internal security.