The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic
Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily
Meditations with Matthew Fox
|
The Death of a Prophet, Albert Nolan, OP |
Yesterday South African Dominican Albert Nolan died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 86. Who was Albert Nolan? |
Albert Nolan was a theologian and activist for social justice during the horrific apartheid times of South Africa. He had to go underground to escape the notorious South African Security police because he had worked with college students and black youth supporting them as a chaplain as they came into their
power to rise up against the cruel and unjust regime. | Image by Ricardo da Silva, S.J. Photo courtesy of The Southern Cross. Originally posted to the website of America Magazine |
Rabbi Heschel defines a prophet as “one who interferes.” Albert Nolan was a prophet for his interference with satanic apartheid. In 2003 he was awarded the ‘Order of Luthuli in Silver’ by then President Thabo Mbeki for
his “life-long dedication to the struggle for democracy, human rights and justice and for challenging the religious ‘dogma’ especially the theological justification for apartheid.” It is said that he “inspired a generation of Christian activists and theologians.” |
His excellent book on Jesus before Christianity brought forward a liberation theology that he
called “prophetic theology” and it is one of my favorite books on Jesus. We used it as a primary textbook for many years at our Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality. In addition to appreciating his work on Jesus, the pre-Constantinian
and pre-Nicene creed Jesus—the pre-empire Jesus therefore, I had an important encounter with my Dominican brother Albert Nolan when he visited Oakland, California just as the time that I was expelled from the Order and was meditating on whether to join the Episcopalian church. |
L-R: Ralph David Abernathy; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Ralph Bunche; Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel; Frederick Douglas Reese, leaders of the third Selma-to-Montgomery march, speak with the press. Photographer
unknown. Abraham Joshua Heschel papers, from Duke University Libraries.
| He and I sat down over tea in an Oakland café and here is how I tell the story in my autobiography: When I was dismissed from the Dominican order I felt that three options presented themselves to me: 1) Hide under a rock (the Vatican’s choice) 2) Do what Fr. Leonard Boff did: seek laicization 3) Make a lateral move to another tradition in the Christian church. |
For me, and my culture, I felt the third option to be the most creative choice. I consulted only one Roman Catholic clergy person on making the decision, and he was a liberation theologian and elder Dominican, Fr. Albert Nolan of South Africa. He had been elected head of the Dominican order several years earlier but
had turned the job down—the first time in its 750 year history that anyone had!—which says something of the wisdom of the man. [This was during the reign of Cardinal Ratzinger and the return of the inquisition.) |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
Queries for Contemplation Does the title of Albert Nolan's book, Jesus before Christianity, excite you as it does me because it takes us back before Christianity took over an empire and back to Jesus' Jewish roots and thereby confronts anti-semitism and imperial ambitions at the same time? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition) Matthew Fox's stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author's continued journey, and his reflections on the current
changes taking place in the Catholic church. Confessions tells the inside story of what it was like "standing in front of the train" when the Vatican was on the attack. It also reflects on the meaning of the encouragingly healthy papacy of Pope Francis, but holds little hope for the institutional church. Rather, this book points to the main
interest and accomplishments of the author's work to bring spirituality and prophetic warriorhood alive again in society and religion. Fox draws inspiration from great mystics of the past, such as Hildegard of Bingen (a champion of the Divine Feminine) and Meister Eckhart (a profoundly mystical and ecumenical champion of those without a voice), and the return of the archetype of the Cosmic Christ alongside the teachings of the historical Jesus and the bringing forth of the wisdom traditions from
all the world's spiritual traditions to stand up for eco-justice, gender justice, economic justice and social justice. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE Join Matthew Fox for the monthly online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Original Blessing. Thursday, October 20, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register
HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality. Thursday, November 17,
4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. Creation Spirituality in Conversation |
| Join
scholars Matthew Fox and Thomas G. Hermans-Webster for Progressive Christianity's monthly “Things that Matter” discussion on eco-spirituality: “The Intersection of Faith and Climate Justice.” |
Please share this post! Just click the buttons below.
OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
|
|
|
|
