The Prophet as Community Builder

  • Historically, one of the prophet’s primary functions is to critique the injustices, inequalities, and evils of the society in which she or he finds themselves. We see this in each of the Prophetic Voices films. But a second and related function of the prophet witness is to build community. During the period of Nazi oppression in Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer founded a pioneering seminary community, where he trained a generation of seminarians who would stand for truth and the justice of God against dehumanizing Nazi practices. Having experienced the scars of racial injustice firsthand, Howard Thurman created remarkable spiritual communities at Howard and Boston universities and co-founded the groundbreaking Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples - designed to be the first interracial, interfaith community in America.

    Similarly, Dorothy Day founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which became an organizing center for social and political activism, spawning a nationwide network of communities directly responding to the needs of America’s poor.

  • 1 Each of the figures in Prophetic Voices was involved in shaping and creating community in some way. Looking at these five figures, what similarities or differences do you see in how they approached this idea? How was community practiced and lived out in their own lives? What things were similar, and what things different?

    2. Can you identify the models for community that each of these figures drew upon? How does Dorothy Day’s model - each person thinking of themselves as their brother’s keeper - differ from Heschel’s model of the prophet working to reconcile a community to God? Or Howard Thurman seeking to break imposed racial boundaries in the communities he fostered?

    3.. What do you take away from these films in terms of the meaning of community, how authentic community is fostered, and how you might further strengthen and support the communities with which you are involved?

    4. Although these films deal primarily with religious communities, can you apply some of the lessons learned from these figures to secular settings as well? Why or why not?