Rumors of New Heresy Proceedings and Matthew Fox
With rumors of new heresy proceedings in the wind regarding panentheism (unsubstantiated -- I'll have to ask the person who told me where he read it), I immediately thought of Matthew Fox. A former Dominican Priest, he came to an understanding of the richness of Creation as an intimate expression of the identity of Deity in the late 80's and early 90's. For this, he was suspended from his teaching position at Holy Name University and silenced by the Church (of Rome). Later, he left Rome, and continued his writing. A combination of classical liberal theology and universalist panentheism (a current movement in many religions, including Wicca, that defines the very atoms of Creation as an intimate expression of the "body" of Deity, and human interaction with it absolutely necessary for healthy spirituality), he has written multiple books on the subject. I was gifted with Creation Spirituality by a friend in the early 90's, as he knew that at that time I was interested in combining my Christian beliefs with the practice of Wicca (something I've since decided isn't really possible without abandoning the primary precepts of "original sin," "universal salvation/atonement only through Jesus" and the acceptance of Christianity as the "only way,"), and I have found it a fascinating read.
The rumors state that the Catholic Church has started heresy proceedings for the first time in some 80 years, against a former priest. These rumors may actually refer to Episcopal Church proceedings against The Rt. Reverend Richter of Newark, NJ (a colleague of Rt. Rev. John Shelby "Jack" Spong) in the 90's)--since I can't find any current news on heresy with google: -- but even so, my attention has been brought back to Fox's book and I dug it out of the back room "library," (which desperately needs cleaning), and googled his name, and found this:
From: Paradigm Magazine: Jane's Tidings: News for Pagans and Others
Independent Fox
Matthew Fox, the maverick theologian who once hired Wiccan author Starhawk to teach at the College of the Holy Names in Oakland, Calif., has broken his last formal tie with Catholicism, quitting the college to establish his own "University of Creation Spirituality." Among his current interests is "rave" spirituality, in which congregants dance to hip-hop and rap music in a room studded with television monitors playing psychedelic videos. Officials at the College of the Holy Names diplomatically say the "rave" liturgy would not become part of the curriculum because the cost of the related equipment would be too high. (Religion News Service, 2/13/96)
In Creation Spirituality (c)1991, I found this, titled A New Creation Story:
In the beginning was the gift.
And the gift was with God and the gift was God.
And the gift came and set its tent among us,
first in the form of a fireball
that burned unabated for 750,000 years
and cooked in its immensely hot oven
hadrons and leptons.
These gifts found a modicum of stability,
enough to give birth to the first atomic creatures,
hydrogen and helium.
A billion years of stewing and stirring
and the gifts of hydrogen and helium
birthed galaxies--spinning, whirling, alive galaxies
created by trillions of stars,
lights in the heavens and cosmic furnaces
that made more gits
through violent explosions of vast supernovas
burning abright with the glow
of more than a billion stars.
Gifts upon gifts, gifts birthing gifts, gifts exploding,
gifts imploding, gifts of light, gifts of darkness.
Cosmic gifts and subatomic gifts.
All drifting and swirling, being born and dying,
In some vast secret of a plan.
Which was also a gift.
One of these supernova gifts exploded in a special manner
sending a unique gift to the universe,
which later-coming creatures would one day call
earth,
their home.
Its biosphere was also a gift,
wrapping it with beauty and dignity and just the right
protection from sun's radiation
and from the cosmic cold.
And eternal night.
This gifted planet was set as a jewel
in its most exquisite setting,
in this case, the exact distance of 100 million miles
from its mother star, the sun.
New gifts arose, never seen in such forms in the universe--
rocks, oceans, continents,
multicellular creatures that moved by their own inner power.
Life was born!
Gifts that had taken the form of fireball and helium,
Galaxies and stars, rock and water, now took the form of Life!
Life-- a new gift of the universe, a new gift in the universe.
Flowers of multiple color and scent, trees standing upright.
Forests arose offering places for all manner
of creeping, crawling things.
Of things that fly and sing.
Of things that swim and slither.
Of things that run on four legs.
And eventually,
of things that stand and walk on two.
With thumbs that move to make still more creativity--
more gift making--
possible.
The human begame a gift, but also a menace.
For its powers of creativity were unique in their potential
for destruction or healing.
How would humans use these gifts?
Which dirction would they choose?
The earth waited for an answer to these questions.
And is still waiting.
Trembling.
Teachers were sent, divine incarnations
birthed from the soil.
Isis and Hesiod, Buddha and Lao Tzu, Moses and Isaiah,
Sara and Esther, Jesus and Paul,
Mary and Hildegard, Chief Seattle and Buffalo Woman.
To teach the humans ways of compassion.
And still the earth waited
to see if humanity was gift or curse.
Trembling.
Have you ever given a gift and regretted it afterward?
Earth wonders and waits.
For the gift has been made flesh
and dwells everywhere among us
and we tend to know it not.
And to treat it not as a gift
but as an object.
To be used, abused, trampled underfoot--even crucified.
But to those who do receive it as a gift
all is promised.
All shall be called children of the gift,
sons and daughters of grace.
For all generations.
Something to think about, and part of the reason I am where I am, is that my own "Creation Story" belief is very similar to this (but thinking of God as more feminine, or a balance of masculine and feminine) than this poem would seem to imply. But Fox says, that if we approach Creation with the "Gift of Awe," then we will begin to get an inkling of an understanding of the divine. And this, my friends, is key to panentheism and what it entails.
The rumors state that the Catholic Church has started heresy proceedings for the first time in some 80 years, against a former priest. These rumors may actually refer to Episcopal Church proceedings against The Rt. Reverend Richter of Newark, NJ (a colleague of Rt. Rev. John Shelby "Jack" Spong) in the 90's)--since I can't find any current news on heresy with google: -- but even so, my attention has been brought back to Fox's book and I dug it out of the back room "library," (which desperately needs cleaning), and googled his name, and found this:
From: Paradigm Magazine: Jane's Tidings: News for Pagans and Others
Independent Fox
Matthew Fox, the maverick theologian who once hired Wiccan author Starhawk to teach at the College of the Holy Names in Oakland, Calif., has broken his last formal tie with Catholicism, quitting the college to establish his own "University of Creation Spirituality." Among his current interests is "rave" spirituality, in which congregants dance to hip-hop and rap music in a room studded with television monitors playing psychedelic videos. Officials at the College of the Holy Names diplomatically say the "rave" liturgy would not become part of the curriculum because the cost of the related equipment would be too high. (Religion News Service, 2/13/96)
In Creation Spirituality (c)1991, I found this, titled A New Creation Story:
In the beginning was the gift.
And the gift was with God and the gift was God.
And the gift came and set its tent among us,
first in the form of a fireball
that burned unabated for 750,000 years
and cooked in its immensely hot oven
hadrons and leptons.
These gifts found a modicum of stability,
enough to give birth to the first atomic creatures,
hydrogen and helium.
A billion years of stewing and stirring
and the gifts of hydrogen and helium
birthed galaxies--spinning, whirling, alive galaxies
created by trillions of stars,
lights in the heavens and cosmic furnaces
that made more gits
through violent explosions of vast supernovas
burning abright with the glow
of more than a billion stars.
Gifts upon gifts, gifts birthing gifts, gifts exploding,
gifts imploding, gifts of light, gifts of darkness.
Cosmic gifts and subatomic gifts.
All drifting and swirling, being born and dying,
In some vast secret of a plan.
Which was also a gift.
One of these supernova gifts exploded in a special manner
sending a unique gift to the universe,
which later-coming creatures would one day call
earth,
their home.
Its biosphere was also a gift,
wrapping it with beauty and dignity and just the right
protection from sun's radiation
and from the cosmic cold.
And eternal night.
This gifted planet was set as a jewel
in its most exquisite setting,
in this case, the exact distance of 100 million miles
from its mother star, the sun.
New gifts arose, never seen in such forms in the universe--
rocks, oceans, continents,
multicellular creatures that moved by their own inner power.
Life was born!
Gifts that had taken the form of fireball and helium,
Galaxies and stars, rock and water, now took the form of Life!
Life-- a new gift of the universe, a new gift in the universe.
Flowers of multiple color and scent, trees standing upright.
Forests arose offering places for all manner
of creeping, crawling things.
Of things that fly and sing.
Of things that swim and slither.
Of things that run on four legs.
And eventually,
of things that stand and walk on two.
With thumbs that move to make still more creativity--
more gift making--
possible.
The human begame a gift, but also a menace.
For its powers of creativity were unique in their potential
for destruction or healing.
How would humans use these gifts?
Which dirction would they choose?
The earth waited for an answer to these questions.
And is still waiting.
Trembling.
Teachers were sent, divine incarnations
birthed from the soil.
Isis and Hesiod, Buddha and Lao Tzu, Moses and Isaiah,
Sara and Esther, Jesus and Paul,
Mary and Hildegard, Chief Seattle and Buffalo Woman.
To teach the humans ways of compassion.
And still the earth waited
to see if humanity was gift or curse.
Trembling.
Have you ever given a gift and regretted it afterward?
Earth wonders and waits.
For the gift has been made flesh
and dwells everywhere among us
and we tend to know it not.
And to treat it not as a gift
but as an object.
To be used, abused, trampled underfoot--even crucified.
But to those who do receive it as a gift
all is promised.
All shall be called children of the gift,
sons and daughters of grace.
For all generations.
Something to think about, and part of the reason I am where I am, is that my own "Creation Story" belief is very similar to this (but thinking of God as more feminine, or a balance of masculine and feminine) than this poem would seem to imply. But Fox says, that if we approach Creation with the "Gift of Awe," then we will begin to get an inkling of an understanding of the divine. And this, my friends, is key to panentheism and what it entails.