The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Watch for Matthew Fox's video meditation -- now appearing every Monday! |
Sojourner Truth, Sacred Activist,
continued 03/01/2024 |
Because of her visibility as an abolitionist, President Lincoln invited Sojourner Truth to the White House in October 1864. While living in Washington, she did a kind of Rosa Parks act and insisted on riding in streetcars that were for whites only, thus protesting
segregation. |
After the War, she worked hard to find jobs for freed and indigent Black Americans and pleaded with the government to resettle ex-slaves on government land in the West. To no avail, unfortunately. Among her teachings are these: |
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If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. That little man in black there, he says women
can’t have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. |
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| Speaking like Douglass who distinguishes between “the Christianity of the land” and “the Christianity
of Christ”, she asks: What is that religion that sanctions, even by its silence, all that is embraced in the ‘Peculiar Institution’? If there |
can be anything more diametrically opposed to the religion of Jesus, than the work of this soul-killing system—which is as truly sanctioned by the religion of America as are her ministers and churches—we wish to be shown where it can be found. In 1863 she summarized her fight for racial
equality this way: |
Children, who made your skin white? Was it not God? Who made mine black? Was it not the same God? Am I to blame therefore, because my skin is black?…..Does God love colored children as well as white children? Near the end of her life, she declared
this: Now, if you want me to get out of the world, you had better get the women voting soon. I shan’t go till I can do that. |
The tombstone of Sojourner Truth, Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Michigan. Wikimedia Commons. |
She criticized Douglass for putting equal rights for black men ahead of those of black women and once in discussion with him when he was depressed, she asked him: “Is God Dead?” Those words are written on her tombstone.. |
See Charles Burrack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical
Awareness with Social Justice.
Banner Image: Sojourner Truth (carte de visite, 1864, Wikimedia Commons) and Frederick Douglass (engraving
made by J. C. Buttre from a Daguerreotype, 1854, Wikimedia Commons). |
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Queries for Contemplation What lessons do you take from Sojourner Truth’s story and actions and teachings here? |
Responses are welcomed. To add
your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack
To encapsulate the life and work
of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM. |
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Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
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.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality
and Practice. |
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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 |
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A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the
meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest
consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register |
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In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how
humans fit into the awesome, fantastical, cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "This delicious book for children of all ages
celebrates joy as the essential truth of reality." - Andrew Harvey, Author of The Hope and Radical Regeneration "I absolutely LOVED reading this beautiful, creative, stirring story—a
charming, whimsical, powerful, parable." - Robert Holden, Author of Happiness NOW! and Higher Purpose Receive a 20% discount when you buy this and one other book from Matthew Fox’s store! Use Promo Code 20% at checkout. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, March 21, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox, Mariko Middleton and Skylar Wilson of the Order of the Sacred Earth in a free virtual meeting for connection and networking with other mystic warriors, Tuesday, March 26, 4:00-5:00pm PT. Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, April 18, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register
HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness and the Soul in Spirituality and Science in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, May 16, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "What the Mystics Tell Us About Dying" at the 2024 Symposium on Death and Bereavement Studies. To listen, click the video thumbnail at right. |
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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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