The Thurman Series Presents: The Thurman Listening Experience

About this event

Join us for an audio experience centered on the work of philosopher Howard Thurman.

6 pm Listening Experience

7:30 pm Reception

This is the Fall 2026 installment of The Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman Series, a continuing series intended to serve as a beacon and road map for education and engagement with the Thurmans’ life, legacy, and philosophies.

This event will be led by:

Nick Bates

Boston University Howard Thurman Center Director

Dr. Shively T.J. Smith

Boston University Associate Professor of New Testament, School of Theology

This is an audio immersive experience based on Dr. Smith's most recent book. Dr. Smith's process of writing the book, which revolved around listening to audio of Thurman. This transformed the direction of the book and ultimately created the book we have today. What does it mean to encounter Howard Thurman through listening? In this hybrid event, Dr. Shively Smith and Nick Bates, Director of the Howard Thurman Center, invite participants into the audio archives that shaped Smith’s book on Thurman—and into the process of writing from what she heard.

Rather than a traditional book talk or panel, the program will unfold as a guided listening experience. Smith will share selected recordings of Thurman alongside realted passades from her book. The excerpts may trace an interpretive journey through Thurman's work while opening space to consider how listening informed Smith's research, interpretation, and personal engagement with Thurman.

This is not an academic book talk. This a space where the audience will dialogue with Dr. Smith and others as we engage our own relationship with Howard Thurman. This program will be led jointly by Dr. Smith and Nick Bates. We will guide this immersive experience.

Collaborators

BU Libraries School of Theology

The Howard Thurman Center honors the legacy of author, philosopher, and educator Howard Thurman who was the Dean of Boston University's Marsh Chapel from 1953 to 1965. Thurman believed that unique and creative experiences could break down barriers between people from different backgrounds. The Howard Thurman Center is designed to bring students, faculty, staff and the larger Boston community together in a beautiful, fun space that's like your BU living room.