The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Deep thanks goes out to Richard Reich who has been with us from the beginning of the DM four years ago. He has offered responses to the daily Comments as well as support behind the scenes with typing up passages from Matt's previous writings,
etc. He will be missed by the DM team, but we thank him for his many contributions to the DM team and wish him well in his continued creative work including painting and writing. We also welcome a new team member, Dr. Carol Vaccariello, who like Rick has
a rich background as a parish minister (and previous to that as a Catholic sister) and as co-director of the Doctorate of Ministry program at the University of Creation Spirituality for many years. She is also an author of The Lion of God: Archangel Ari'El and has worked as a chaplain on merchant ships on the high seas! Welcome aboard, Carol! |
Ending the Doctrine of Discovery
04/03/2023 |
Two days ago we addressed what I consider to be major religious news–the
repudiation by Pope Francis of the three papal bulls of the late fifteenth century known as “The Doctrine of Discovery.” |
These declarations effectively gave Portuguese and Hispanic royals the right to
make slaves of African and indigenous peoples in the soon to be encountered Turtle Island or America. A very shameful chapter in Western religion indeed. | |
The Bubonic plague of the 14th century effectively killed the tradition of creation spirituality in the West, a tradition that begins not with the human and therefore not with the question of “Am I saved?” but with the
sacredness and goodness of creation. Teachings we find in the very first page of the Bible (Genesis 1) and elsewhere in the Jewish tradition including the wisdom tradition of Israel from which Jesus of Nazareth emanated. |
"A mass grave being dug for frozen bodies from the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, in which the U.S. Army killed 150 Lakota people.” There have been at least 27 documented cases of massacres of 100-1000 Native Americans each. Wounded Knee is just one of them. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. | Unfortunately, when European explorers and military with clergy in tow landed on the
shores of Turtle Island they were out of touch with creation as the primary issue in their faith tradition and were solely preaching redemption. This distorted religious consciousness and the diseases the invaders brought with them from Europe did not have a happy ending for the |
inhabitants of Turtle Island. Genocide followed. As many as 90 million Indians disappeared. Forgotten too was the deeper meaning of salvation named by Thomas
Aquinas: “The first and primary meaning of salvation is this: To preserve things in the good.” No word about hell and damnation for non-Christian peoples. But a big word about the goodness of creation and our responsibility to keep it good. |
Aquinas backs this up with talk about “original goodness,” “primal goodness” and “original freshness.” And this: “All nature is good….All things are good because they flow from the fountain of goodness. We can praise God through all things.” | |
And this, “Blessedness is grounded on nature. There is no thing that does not share in goodness and beauty.” Words echoed by Julian of Norwich when she declares that “God is the true Father and Mother of Nature”
and “the first good thing is the goodness of nature” and “God is the very essence of nature.” What a different history we would have inherited had the original invaders of Turtle Island known and practiced the earliest tradition in the Bible: That of creation
spirituality. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 45-51.
And Fox, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond, pp. 101f., xxxviii, 114ff. Banner image: The colonization of the world was precipitated by the Doctrine of Discovery. South Africa’s colonization began with “the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in Table Bay, South Africa in 1652.” Painting by Charles Davidson Bell (1813–1882) in Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. |
Queries for Contemplation
Take the teachings of
Julian of Norwich in the second to last paragraph above and read them deeply as lectio divina. Now apply them to Native American teachings. Do the same with Aquinas’s teachings above also.
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Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic--and Beyond Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered in place’ and developed a deep wisdom that she shared in her book, Showings, which was the first book in
English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book.
“What an utterly magnificent book. The work of Julian of Norwich, lovingly supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.”
–Caroline Myss
Now also available as an audiobook HERE. | |
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom
for Hard Times A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox online as he offers a Worship Service Inspirational Message - “Otto Rank, and Pere Chenu: Two 'Real, Raw and Radiant' Guides calling us to Deep Freedom” for
Brentwood Inspired Living Center, Sunday, April 16, 10:00 am PT. Learn more HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “Creativity – Where the Divine and the Human Meet” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, April 20, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Karen Tate interviews Matthew on his latest book Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality to discuss religious vs. spiritual, the nature of evil and angels, compassion vs pity, and wisdom vs knowledge. On Voices of the Sacred Feminine with Karen Tate. Listen HERE. | |
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