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Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D. Says “We Outside” at February 23 Rankin Chapel

Turman, an associate professor at Yale Divinity School, urged courage and resilience in dire circumstances.

Larry J. Sanders (B.A. ’14)
Feb 24, 2025 2 minutes
Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D. at February 23 Rankin Chapel

As Howard University prepares for its 158th Charter Day festivities, Andrew Memorial Rankin Chapel welcomed Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D. as the featured speaker at the February 23, edition of its Sunday Service Series.

Turman – associate professor of Theology, African American Religion, and African American Studies at Yale Divinity School – chose the fourth chapter of 2 Kings for a message she titled “We Outside.” On the final Sunday of Black History Month, Turman encouraged the University community to remain present, vocal, and undeterred in the face of seemingly dire circumstances.

Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D. | Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel | Howard University

Turman’s selected scripture describes a widow threatened by a creditor with enslavement of her sons to resolve her husband’s already paid debts. Turman compared their situation with present-day conditions, evoking James Baldwin’s “Price of the Ticket” in explaining how many of us believed our ancestors had already and sufficiently covered the cost for our freedoms.

“Whatever [this situation] is, it is something that this generation has never seen the likes of before,” Turman said. “Like so many of us, this widow could not believe what was happening – what was unfolding – right before her eyes.”

In the scripture, the widow was encouraged to lean on community, a paradigm our ancestors followed and one we should seek to reestablish today. “God’s work is never singular; God’s work is never about you,” Turman said. “The truth of the matter is one truth that we learn way back in kindergarten: ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands.’”

Watch the entirety of the February 23 service above or on Rankin Chapel’s YouTube.

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