Howard Thurman - The Genius of Hinduism

Writing in 1938, Thurman would contrast the either-or-nature of Christianity - exclusive, excluding, anathematizing - with Hinduism and would conclude that Hinduism's "genius" seemed "to be synthesis-making. It possesses amazing powers of adjustment and is profoundly elastic." (Thurman's emphasis) from Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman's Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence Dixie, Quinton; Eisenstadt, Peter  Beacon Press 2011 isbn = 978-0-8070-0045-8 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/visionsofbetterw00dixi/page/95 95–115]| url the=https://archive.org/details/visionsofbetterw00dixi/page/95

I did not expect this from a black Baptist preacher. With so many resources being put forward during the black lives movement, I started reading about Howard Thurman's meeting with Gandhi. Just before that, thete was a discussion of his meeting with Kshitimohan Sen from which the above quote is taken. Interesting that this aspect of Howard Thurman has not been written up in Wikipedia yet.

Although Thurman would always call himself a Christian, this would always be more of a starting point but a destination, as he would wander, increasingly wider, in a interreligious search to realize the unity of God by transcending artificial cultural barriers.

It is hard to stop reading passages from this book. The discussion of how attractive the Muslim religion was to blacks is fascinating, something I have never understood or thought about much.