Fruits of Love: Self and Social Criticism in James Baldwin and Howard Thurman

Abstract

Most accounts of prophetic social criticism in the United States focus on its history and politics. By treating James Baldwin and Howard Thurman as prophetic exemplars, my dissertation carves out an ethic to guide such practices. It argues that Baldwin and Thurman can be helpfully understood as models of self-care, as critics of domination, and as practitioners of freedom. Both model the dangerous possibilities of speaking the truth in love, but each does so from a differing standpoint. Baldwin mainly pursued his task as a writer and, Thurman, as a pastor. I argue that any attempt to account for their sayings and doings needs to be largely informed by their sense of vocation, their calling. Since the appraisal of virtue and vice is always a contextual affair, to appreciate the ethical significance of vocation is to get a better sense of what excellence looks like in practice. Fruits of Love therefore aims to offer a more nuanced treatment of the ethical insights of each thinker. By highlighting the categories of love and vocation, it further discloses the differences between their social visions, as well as the traditions of virtue, care, and freedom that bind them together.