The Unlikely Friendship of Two Giants: Alfred North Whitehead and Howard Thurman
History loves to surprise us with unexpected connections. On the surface, Alfred North Whitehead and Howard Thurman lived on entirely different planets. Whitehead was a “British Brahmin,” an elite Cambridge mathematician and Harvard philosopher who enjoyed the height of academic privilege. Thurman was the grandson of slaves, growing up under the constant daily trauma and disenfranchisement of the Jim Crow South.
Yet both of these men transcended their origins to become monumental spiritual guides. In his new book, The God of the Growing Edge, theologian Bruce G. Epperly brings them into a beautiful, life-giving dialogue. As Epperly writes:
“Alfred North Whitehead and Howard Thurman grew up in very different worlds and as children faced very different possibilities and limitations. Thurman grew up in the racist, violent, and spiritually bankrupt world of “Jim Crow” South in Daytona Beach, Florida… Whitehead was raised in privilege with the expectation of greatness. Each was a child of their origins, deeply influenced by race and class, and each also transcended the impact of their beginnings spiritually and intellectually.
From Thurman, I learned how to join contemplation and action. In reading his meditations, I discovered the world of Christian mystics and prophetic healers. From Whitehead, I found a God I could believe in and, as my teacher John Cobb says, a Christ for our pluralistic age. I read Whitehead through the eyes of Thurman’s American experience of spiritual transcendence in a racist society. I read Thurman through Whitehead’s vision of an adventurous God whose circle of love embraces and inspires everyone, without exception.”
When we bring the philosopher’s head and the mystic’s heart together, we discover a dynamic, relational God who is intimately involved in our struggle for justice. This book is not just an academic exercise; it is an invitation to your own holy adventure.
The God of the Growing Edge is available now from Energion Publications.
(Featured image generated by Gemini AI in NotebookLM.)
