Anthony Sean Neal is assistant professor of philosophy at Mississippi State University.

In Howard Thurman's Philosophical Mysticism: Love against Fragmentation, Anthony Sean Neal convincingly makes the case for Howard Thurman being an unduly neglected African American philosopher who sought to improve the lived conditions of black people in the United States, as well as affirm their God-given worth during what Neal calls the “Modern Era of the African American Freedom Struggle” (1896–1975). Neal also explains how Thurman synthesized a vast array of personal, philosophical, and theological sources—ranging from his Grandma Nancy’s slave religiosity and the Negro Spirituals to black theology to poetics to Neoplatonism, intuitionism, and process thought—into an eclectic yet coherent philosophical theology that makes sense of his own experiences as a black mystic philosopher, poet, and pastor living in a racially segregated United States. It is well worth reading!

• IntroductionChapter 1 An Emergent Beginning: A Philosophical (Genealogical) History of the Intellectual Antecedents to Howard ThurmanChapter 2 Creatively Encountering Oneness: Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic (A Logical Analysis of Thurman’s Theology)Chapter 3 Deepening the Hunger: Philosophical and Theological Poetics (A Humanistic Analysis of Thurman’s Meditations and Poetry)Chapter 4 Intrinsic LoveConclusion: Logical Extensions. Examining the Tapestry: Consequences of Howard Thurman’s Thought

Anthony Sean Neal is assistant professor of philosophy at Mississippi State University.

In Howard Thurman's Philosophical Mysticism: Love against Fragmentation, Anthony Sean Neal convincingly makes the case for Howard Thurman being an unduly neglected African American philosopher who sought to improve the lived conditions of black people in the United States, as well as affirm their God-given worth during what Neal calls the “Modern Era of the African American Freedom Struggle” (1896–1975). Neal also explains how Thurman synthesized a vast array of personal, philosophical, and theological sources—ranging from his Grandma Nancy’s slave religiosity and the Negro Spirituals to black theology to poetics to Neoplatonism, intuitionism, and process thought—into an eclectic yet coherent philosophical theology that makes sense of his own experiences as a black mystic philosopher, poet, and pastor living in a racially segregated United States. It is well worth reading!

• IntroductionChapter 1 An Emergent Beginning: A Philosophical (Genealogical) History of the Intellectual Antecedents to Howard ThurmanChapter 2 Creatively Encountering Oneness: Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic (A Logical Analysis of Thurman’s Theology)Chapter 3 Deepening the Hunger: Philosophical and Theological Poetics (A Humanistic Analysis of Thurman’s Meditations and Poetry)Chapter 4 Intrinsic LoveConclusion: Logical Extensions. Examining the Tapestry: Consequences of Howard Thurman’s Thought

Anthony Sean Neal is assistant professor of philosophy at Mississippi State University.

In Howard Thurman's Philosophical Mysticism: Love against Fragmentation, Anthony Sean Neal convincingly makes the case for Howard Thurman being an unduly neglected African American philosopher who sought to improve the lived conditions of black people in the United States, as well as affirm their God-given worth during what Neal calls the “Modern Era of the African American Freedom Struggle” (1896–1975). Neal also explains how Thurman synthesized a vast array of personal, philosophical, and theological sources—ranging from his Grandma Nancy’s slave religiosity and the Negro Spirituals to black theology to poetics to Neoplatonism, intuitionism, and process thought—into an eclectic yet coherent philosophical theology that makes sense of his own experiences as a black mystic philosopher, poet, and pastor living in a racially segregated United States. It is well worth reading!

• IntroductionChapter 1 An Emergent Beginning: A Philosophical (Genealogical) History of the Intellectual Antecedents to Howard ThurmanChapter 2 Creatively Encountering Oneness: Howard Thurman’s Mystical Logic (A Logical Analysis of Thurman’s Theology)Chapter 3 Deepening the Hunger: Philosophical and Theological Poetics (A Humanistic Analysis of Thurman’s Meditations and Poetry)Chapter 4 Intrinsic LoveConclusion: Logical Extensions. Examining the Tapestry: Consequences of Howard Thurman’s Thought