The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
The Gospel of Creation, as told by Jesus: Nature's Storyteller |
07/27/2023
by Rick Reich-Kuykendall |
Jesus’ biggest and most innovative decision was the manner in which he chose to preach. |
He chose the way and the lifestyle of the storyteller, the parable-maker who fashions a new creation out of the holy materials of the only creation we all share in common: the birds, the lilies of the field, the fishes caught, the fig tree in
bloom, the sheep versus the goats, the leaven in the bread, | |
the mustard seeds of the
world, and the rains that fall on the unjust and just alike. His reverence for nature was so great that the creatures of nature were indeed his teachers, his professors, who he recognized instinctively were looking “on him with affectionate looks” and with truth to tell.
1 |
| "Creation is all things and us. It is us in relationship with all things." * "Creation is what the mystic is awakened to, and what the prophet fights to sustain.” "Every creature is a manifestation of the Cosmic Christ, and that divinity permeates all of reality." |
Descartes states that the basis of his philosophy is the observation, “I think, therefore I am.” Creation Spirituality responds: “No! How egocentric and self-conscious a starting point for education and society this is!” Rather, we should say: “Earth exists and therefore we
are.” Or, “Creation begets and therefore we are.” 2 |
1. Adapted from Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, p. 124. 2: See also Fox, Creation Spirituality:Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, pp. 7, 10, 90,
102-103. * This statement could also be read as Fox’s definition of “panentheism” which is: “God is in all things, and all things are in God.” Mechthild of Magdeburg also wrote: “The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw, and I knew I saw, all things in God and God in all things.” Banner Image: The Sea of Galilee. Photo by Nemo. Wikimedia
Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What is the “Good News” of Creation for
you?
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Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation
Spirituality Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply
developed way. “Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story | |
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the
Earth Passionate and provocative, Fox uncovers the ancient tradition and the present-day movement of a creation-centered spirituality that melds Christian mysticism with the struggle for social justice, feminism, and environmentalism. Fox calls for a “Liberation theology for first-world peoples” and presents a practical outline of that theology. Basic to Fox's notion of creation
spirituality is the gift of awe--a mystical response to creation and the first step toward transformation. Awe prompts indignation at the exploitation and destruction of the earth's people and resources. Awe leads to action. He cites Rabbis Abraham Heshel’s warning that when awe is lost, false gods of consumerism take over, “forfeit your sense of awe and the universe becomes a market place for you.” Showing how we can learn from each other, Fox's spirituality weds the healing and
liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme in a new 7-week online course hosted by The Shift Network: "Science, Spirituality & the Noosphere: Deepen the Meaning of Your Life & the Power You Hold to Create Fulfillment & Happiness," beginning August 8. Register
HERE and receive access to a free introductory video. Join Matthew Fox for a Cosmic Mass and Panel Forum at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions - A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights, August 14-18 in Chicago, IL Wed., 8/16, 7:00pm CT - The Cosmic Mass - Honoring Gaia, Solidarity for Our Earth Thurs., 8/17, 1:00pm CT – Panel and Response to The Cosmic Mass Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Aaron Perry hosts Matthew Fox on the Y On
Earth podcast, on “Hildegard von Bingen & Her “Viriditas,” sharing profound wisdom and deep insights about the essential importance of our relationship with Mother Earth, our celebration of the Divine Feminine, and our connection with Creation Spirituality, drawing upon centuries
of knowledge and wisdom from indigenous and mystical traditions world-wide… particularly from the Rhineland Mystic Movement of the medieval European Renaissance, and a most extraordinary woman at its helm: Hildegard von Bingen. | |
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