The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
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On the Cosmic Christ in Early Christianity, part ii 02/16/2023 |
The idea of the “Cosmic Christ” is the primary Christian archetype for mysticism and a renewal of the sacredness of creation. |
I once heard a well-educated Protestant minister say she had never heard the term “Cosmic Christ” in all of her theological training. It sounds new to some because of the vast anthropocentrism of the modern era that turned
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back on nature except what humans can profit from nature. It only sounds new because Christianity preferred the “introspective conscience of the West” (Krister Stendahl’s language) to the bigger mysteries of the universe and
our place in it. As we saw yesterday, the earliest writings like St. Paul and the Gospel of Thomas (and the other Gospels as well), are steeped in the Cosmic Christ or wave theory of the divine Light having visited us, become
incarnate and truly present among us. And continues to be present among us. |
Could a change to international law make a difference in the wanton eco-destruction being wreaked around the globe? Al Jazeera English and Sandra Gathmann look at evolving ICC law against ecocide. | It also sounds new because modern consciousness “deposed” the Cosmic Christ, as Greek Orthodox theologian Jaroslav Pelikan put it. The modern consciousness substituted the human for the cosmos. “I think therefore I
am.” (Descartes) “We shall torture Mother Earth for her secrets." (Francis Bacon). All this |
adds up to what Pope Francis has rightly called “species narcissism.” And to the peril we and Earth find ourselves in today. It also adds up to a desacralized and desecrated Earth, one that exists for human exploitation and is devoid of awe, enchantment, joy, balance, harmony, justice. And is thereby unsustainable as long as humans play Masters of the universe having forgotten what Aquinas taught, that “humans are not the most excellent thing in the universe– the universe is.” |
Religion in the modern era exiled mysticism and awe and with it reverence and gratitude substituting a category called “ascetic theology” in 1635. This in the very century that began with torturing and burning Giordano Bruno at the stake for declaring that Copernicus had something to teach
believers. | The trial of Giordano Bruno by the Roman Inquisition. Bronze relief by Ettore Ferrari (1845-1929), Campo de’ Fiori, Rome. Wikimedia Commons. |
Religion chose to divorce from science and therefore from the cosmos. Religion essentially decided it did not need nature or those who study nature, scientists. It held all the questions and answers in its Bible book and turned its back on the holy book of nature. It took religion and the Vatican 500 years to come around to officially accepting Galileo’s insights and remove the shadow it laid over Galileo. |
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Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 75-77, 108. Banner Image: “Icon of Christ of Latomos, mosaic of Theophany.” Spontaneously appeared in the monastery of Latomos, Thessaloniki, Greece, third century C.E. Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What is your experience of the ignoring of the Cosmic Christ in Western religion? And of the recovering of the Cosmic Christ in religion? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother
Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing
blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author or The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and special guest Caroline Myss for a 6-part course, “The Fire Inside: How John of the Cross’s Creation Spirituality and Mystical Activism Inspires Our Own”
hosted by the Caroline Myss Educational Institute. Tuesdays & Thursdays, February 7-23, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for a lecture and Q&A on “The Reinvention of Work – A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, March 16,
4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox at the Center for Contemporary Mysticism discusses “Birthing a New World: Can Creation-Centered Spirituality Help Reclaim the Sacredness of the Earth?" | |
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