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Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Dorothee Soelle: From Christolatry
to Mysticism 01/12/2023 |
Dorothee Soelle felt that there is a clear danger evident in the history of Christianity of elevating Christ to a position of idolatry that she calls Christolatry. She also offers the medicine for
it—mysticism. |
She writes: The goal of the Christian religion is not the idolizing of Christ, not christolatry, but that we all “are in Christ,” as the mystical expression goes, that we have a part in the life of Christ. | |
This part is to recognize our capacities for compassion and our vocations as healers ourselves. Compassion is often born of one’s own wounds that allow us to recognize the wounds in others. This savior is a wounded healer, and he heals so that we may become as he is. Be as he is, laugh as he laughs, weep as he weeps. Heal the sick, even those who without knowing it have contracted the great neuroses of our society, who know no mercy within themselves and their children when they consent to the nuclear state and
technologies inimical to life. |
As part of an effort to oust transients from Bullhead City, AZ, 78-year-old grandmother Norma Thornton was arrested and criminally charged for feeding the
homeless. Institute for Justice | What does it mean to practice compassion? To feed the hungry means to do away with militarism. To bless the children means to leave the trees standing for them. Soelle replaces idolatry
that |
puts Christ on a pedestal with the mystical understanding to be “in Christ.” Mysticism heals religion when religion wanders off target and becomes unbalanced and idolatrous. As
Carl Jung says, “only the mystics bring what is creative to religion itself.” Soelle says that Christolatry is the opposite of mysticism or being “in Christ”and she invokes Soren Kierkegaard’s distinction between those who esteem Christ
and those who follow him. If I esteem him then I lift him ever higher and have nothing to do with him; I use my admiration to keep myself free of Christ…’Look and see,’ he says to me and shows how the lame begin to walk. He does
not say, ‘close your eyes; I’ll do everything.’ |
Soelle warns what hagiography can do to us: We put
people (Jesus included) on pedestals often to get them out of our hair so we don’t have to change our lives. Following Christ is very different from idolizing him. It is carrying | |
on his work, since he cannot do
everything. We are encouraged to become adults spiritually and to develop our powers of creativity and compassion to make a difference. |
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Adapted from Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations, p. 273. Banner Image: On a pedestal atop a mountain: "Christ the Redeemer” statue, Mount Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo by Yvon Maurice on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation Have you come to learn the difference between esteeming Christ and following him? What follows from that? Do you wish everybody did? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As
Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry. “Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us I wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this
book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless youth | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox at the virtual Our Lady of the Prairie retreat, offering a discussion and Q&A on “Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable
God.” Thursday, January 19, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he speaks on “The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times” in a virtual event hosted by the Weber Retreat and Conference Center Thursday, January 26, 4:00pm-5:30pm 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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