Social Activism

As a school of the prophets, Boston University STH has a long tradition of social activism. In many cases, this involved preaching to the social concerns and needs of a given time period. In the clip below, Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam gave an interview in which he described his position on ecumenism, race relations, and international relations in the 1960s.

Boston University has a particularly strong connection with the heritage of the Civil Rights Movement. Many people passed through Boston University that became instrumental in the struggle for racial equality and justice. An early leader was J.W.E. Bowen (B.D. 1885, Ph.D. 1887). Howard Thurman was Dean of Marsh Chapel from 1953 until 1965. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Ph.D. student in Religious Studies. Today, BU proudly embraces this heritage, and carried it forward through institutions like the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground.