Christianity – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

THE BIRTH OF TRANSCENDENTALISM

The big problem for Christianity today:

it has its roots in a first-axial-period consciousness

(500-300 BC when the great world religions formed

including Judaism, Christianity’s precursor)

and Christianity’s cosmology is outdated and irrelevant

according to many postmodernists.

Therefore, you sometimes have to use apologetics

(Christian philosophy) to open peoples’ minds

before you can be kerygmatic

(proclaim Christ to them).

Ascending religionists (working their way up to God

through more and more perfect virtue)

and descending religionists (working their way down to God

through greater and greater humility)

try to convert each other

but their salvation truly lies in their unity not division

both morals and mysticism are needed.

Fifty years before Pentecostalism birthed

in the 1850s, liberal Protestantism birthed

experiential American Transcendentalism with its love of

nature/poetry/spiritual solitude/mysticism

and liberal Protestantism rejected

the spiritual ennui of organized religion/church.

The Transcendentalists (Emerson/Thoreau/Whitman/Melville)

urged self-transcendence, a magnificent gift

but one always limited by the realities of life –

transcendence shows us the possibilities

but personal and social limitations

restrict our ability to fulfill the possibilities.

But exposing our limitations/mortality/hidden wounds to God

allows us to experience in our shame and brokenness

the unconditional love of the only One

the only truly Transcendent One.

Two tenets of Wisdom:

There is a God

You are not God.

SHADOW: INTEGRATION/ CELEBRATION/LIBERATION

Dualisms deny the wholism of life

and encourage us to project

our personal and social shadows

onto some external scapegoat

who we imagine as the source of all our problems

instead of facing and integrating our shadow –

if all is One, you must own your shadow.

Our self-image is our false self –

it contains none of our shadow –

the stuff we deny and repress about ourselves –

the self-image is a projection of our ideal/not real self.

It is because of men’s projection/disconnection

with their shadow/body/emotions/God

that we have rape/gun violence/war.

Unredeemed men love domination/patriarchy

and “dominator hierarchies” which cause oppression

whereas “growth hierarchies” end oppression

and, contrary to feminist thought

it is a disaster when all hierarchies are condemned –

nothing gets done.

In Christianity, a true prophet does not just critique

the present order, s/he also offers an alternative vision

of a different order of peace/justice/love.

In a different order, the shadow is integrated

tenderness of the awakened heart

is always accessible,

and as in Buddhism,

Christians celebrate caring/appreciation/gratitude

in poetry/dance/sculpture/music/all art.

In joy and sorrow

losing our small ego

results in seeing the pain and beauty of the world

and a never-ending creative outflow

of ecstasy and grief is liberated.

SPIRITUALITY CONQUERS HARDNESS

The ascetic Desert Mothers and Fathers

passed their lives in silence/harsh penance/

solitude/prayer/manual labor.

The ascetics were called “Athletes for Christ”

because in Greek “askesis” means “athletics.”

Similarly, the Crusades were meant to be super-pilgrimages

and so the pilgrim Crusaders fasted/prayed

before battles/lived lives of austerity/poverty.

It is not that they were against sensual living

but like John of the Cross, they considered

the natural appetites to be like little children

always whining to their mother for this or that –

the ascetics/crusaders felt we must purify ourselves

of these restless urges so we can be empty

to be filled/fulfilled/in union with God.

Our culture’s rejection of the spiritual life of simplicity/poverty

for the relentless pursuit of material wealth

meant that when Vivekananda, a Hindu holy man

came to the West in 1893 to teach Asian mysticism

and give an address to the first Parliament of World Religions

he found westerners dissatisfied with orthodox/traditional religion

like sheep without a spiritual shepherd.

Two keys to mastering spiritual practices:

find yourself a good shepherd/teacher/spiritual director

find the time to practice as much as possible.

Whether it is western meditation with Father Thomas Keating

or eastern meditation with some holy woman or man

meditation can help us take ourselves wherever we are:

in confusion/conflict/peace/sanity –

as we rest in the Divine

contemplation allows us to be

in complete acceptance and unconditional friendliness

with ourselves – whether we are broken and lost

or whole and rejoicing in the Lord –

either way Psalm 36:8 says “They shall drink their fill

of the river of Thy delights.”

EASTERN AND WESTERN WAYS TO GOD

Buddhists should not leave the Sangha, the community

just like Christians should not leave the Church

for it is hard to practice the faith without others.

The Sangha has arhats similar to Christian saints –

both arhats and saints can help us live fully.

But Sangha and Church leaders can serve or dominate you –

dominator hierarchies such as caste systems

exploit people and prevent individual/collective growth.

Growth/developmental/actualization hierarchies

lead humans from ego/ to ethnic/ to world/ to cosmos-centrism.

Many people, particularly men, are stuck in their lives:

afraid of introspection/pleasure/repressed emotion

disconnected from their bodies

asleep in patriarchal theocracies

but starting to wake up to their vulnerability/sensitivity.

Fear of being human

and information overload, a total head trip

is making Western Civilization neurotic –

the Asian belief in the richness of silence/

wordless wisdom/human wonder

is necessary and appealing

but fast disappearing.

However, bad discontent and good discontent exist in the West –

discontent with never having enough possessions/

always wanting more

and discontent with all the injustices in the world

that call one to take action.

In the East there are three main ways to God:

the way of the head – the way of intellect/knowledge/truth

the way of the heart – the way of emotion/devotion/beauty

the way of the gut – the way of will/action/goodness.

To Jurgen Moltmann, a European theologian

Christ’s death and resurrection, according to Colossians

reconciles and unites all three ways/all Creation/all creatures

so that the Cosmic Christ flows through all

and Creation, as Eastern Orthodox theologians say

is deified/filled with/fulfilled through

the Divine.

WAR AND PEACE

In the Torah, Koran, and Aztec records

God was interpreted as being on our side

and therefore, when we go to war

it is a holy war and God’s will.

In the Trojan (Greek) and Mahabharata (East Indian) wars

God is on both sides, but you are called upon to do

your marital duty to free or reclaim a stolen spouse.

Humans always come up with some excuse

to make things better by killing other humans

therefore, we are always in a state of perpetual warfare.

Achieving justice and peace within major institutions

and religions cannot be achieved by individuals

it requires rigorous networking with others.

If not achieved that way, eventually there will be

serious revolt/storming of the barricades that protect power.

In spite of constant warfare and injustice

our lives are a process in which God

transforms us into holiness in ordinary ways –

holiness is God’s work

but requires our constant prayerful attention.

The two Saint Catherines: Genoa and Siena

made it clear that severe penance does not delight God

but rather unflagging reliance on God’s mercy.

The greatest gift of mercy to someone suffering

is your presence – full presence comes from either

Buddhist mindfulness or the Holy Spirit.

Mindfulness is like the Holy Spirit

in that both allow us to touch Ultimate Reality:

Trinity in Christianity and Nirvana in Buddhism.

Christ on the Tree of Redemption

and Buddha under the Bo Tree

are archetypal counterparts of the World Savior.

Whereas scientific truths are communicable

religious truths are not – they must be experienced

in silence and solitude. The solution to perpetual war

is to quietly promote the nonviolence of the Buddha

and the Prince of Peace.

A TIMELY ASSESSMENT OF TWO POPES

March 13 was the 10^th anniversary of the pontificate of Pope Francis, and since Emeritus Pope Benedict passed away just a few months ago (December 31), it seems like a good time to reflect on what they achieved.

Pope Francis has made it a hallmark of his reign to lead by example, walking his talk as a living embodiment of the church’s preferential option for the poor and marginalized. One of his first actions was humbly washing the feet of prisoners in a jail. He also has taken refugees into the Vatican and welcomed LGBTQ+ people.

He has extended this sensitivity to women by promoting them to key positions in the Vatican, and seriously considering the “sensus fidei,” (sense of the faithful), that God speaks through lay people as well as the ordained hierarchy. He has called for several synods where the 99% of the church who form the laity can speak their minds freely.

He has emphasized the church as a pastoral organization rather than a dispenser of dogma, that is, its first calling is to be compassionate toward all those who suffer. His visit and apology to Canadian Indigenous who suffered from residential schools was his attempt to make amends for misguided church abuse.

Francis has been committed to interreligious dialogue, particularly with Muslims, visiting Islamic leaders in their own countries to discuss how these two major religions can get along and work together for the benefit of all.

His major encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home” represented the first attempt by a pope to integrate environmental concern into the theology of the church. Published just before the Paris Climate Accord in 2015, it had an impact on the deliberations there.

A major achievement recently was developing a new constitution for the church, which reformed the Curia (church administration) by replacing Vatican congregations with “dicasteries,” that is, departments meant to help the pontiff govern the church by implementing changes instead of resisting them.

However, it has not been all roses. Francis has been attacked as a “socialist pope” by several conservative bishops, who even suggested he should resign. And he has been criticized by the left due to their disappointment he has not ordained women as clergy.

Except for two notes, I won’t say much about the legacy of Pope Benedict (2005-2013) since so much has already been written by others. His reign was not nearly as substantial as that of Francis, and I agree with some that the best thing he did was step down when being pope became overwhelming.

However, on a positive note, it amazes me that everything I have read has missed Benedict’s greatest achievement, the development of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Before he became pope, Cardinal Ratzinger chaired a commission of 12 cardinals assisted by seven diocesan bishops as well as experts in theology.

The Catechism is a synthesis of the essential contents of Catholic doctrine on faith and morals in light of the Second Vatican Council and two thousand years of church tradition. Its main sources are sacred scripture, the liturgy, writings of the saints, and the church’s “magisterium” (teaching office). A first draft was sent out to all the world’s Catholic bishops who made thousands of suggestions, all of which were incorporated in the final draft promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992. This was the first major catechism in over 400 years and will be a model for all local catechisms for the foreseeable future. Reminiscing about this, Pope Benedict stated in 2011 that it seemed like a miracle they were able to pull all this together into a contemporary catechism.

However, all was not roses in this case either. The Catechism became very popular among lay Catholics, some of whom weaponized it in the way some Protestants have weaponized the Bible. In other words, it has been used to shut down debate, mature reflection, and interpretation, instead of facilitating it. I have heard Catholics say, “The Catechism says it, and so I believe it.” End of discussion.

It has been extensively studied in parishes, but it should be read along with books such as Adult Faith by Diarmuid O’Murchu. Otherwise, lay Catholics run the danger of being trapped in an adolescent faith that thinks it has all the answers. Still, the Catechism is a masterpiece of Christian thought, and Benedict deserves full credit for it.

CAST YOUR NETS INTO THE DEEP

The growing gap between theology and science

for five centuries meant religion got relegated

to the backburner of fixed abstract concepts

which couldn’t cope with a universe of dynamic change –

Isaac Newton believed God’s living commands

would be replaced by mathematical laws

and Darwin’s theory of universal evolution

destroyed the immutable world of religion.

We either accept our fixed views/beliefs/assumptions

about reality, or we challenge them –

to remain open and curious, according to Buddha

is the best use of our lives.

Evolution entails a continuous revolution

in consciousness that eventually expresses itself

in deeper religious understanding –

most Christians today are rethinking Augustine

who gave way too much weight to one verse:

“I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin

did my mother conceive me” Psalm 51:5.

The idea we all are sinners

right from the moment of conception

gave birth to the prevailing paradigm of Original Sin

and convenient communal amnesia about the verse

that God originally created everything

including us humans “very good” (Psalm 1:31).

Religious ideas in western Christianity

are now in flux/diverse/non-dogmatic

even in religious America only .05% believe

they or their neighbours will go to hell

and 70% believe many religions lead to eternal life –

contemporary atheists now seem to know more

about traditional Christian beliefs

than most Catholics and Protestants!

The request of Peter by Jesus

to cast his nets into the deep

was a symbolic invitation to us to go deep into our souls

and haul up a treasure of self-knowledge –

that, and communal remembering

and becoming mystics as Karl Rahner advocated

are the only ways we will make Christianity work again.

THE EROTIC UNIVERSE

In early Christianity, theology and prayer

were never divorced. Evagrius of Pontus (345-399 CE):

“The theologian is the one who prays

and the one who prays is a theologian.”

Later on, Thomas à Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ

“If you look at Creation, the Creator

withdraws his gaze from you.”

So, Christians have had an anti-Creation/

anti-body/anti-sexuality spirituality

which is ironically contrary to the Creation-centered

spirituality of the Bible.

But the theory of evolution changed all that –

evolution does not degrade humans

it shows us we are an integral part

of a vast web of earthly relationships.

But science only tells us ‘how’ we got here –

we need religion to tell us ‘why’ we are here – our purpose.

The idea of Christian cosmology

is in the Greek Fathers of the Church

particularly Irenaeus, who wrote that, in Christ,

the universe finds its meaning and goal.

The Uni-Verse, the One Verse, the One Poem

is thoroughly relational/communal/erotic –

wanting union even at the molecular level –

‘gravity’ is ‘mutual attraction between bodies’ – ‘eroticism’ –

its all part of the love that makes the Universe go round –

to ‘be’ is to ‘be with’ – the ‘we’ always precedes the ‘I’

just as the sexual union of a man and woman precedes children –

no one can say “I did it all on my own”

or “I did it my way – alone.”

Mantras are not words that mediate rational meaning –

they are vehicles that carry the spirit to one’s depths

and give us solitude to make us ‘uselessly present’ to God

which connects us to love in our depths

which connects us to others –

solitude is thus the erotic foundation

upon which community is built –

the purpose of life is the same as the purpose

of the Universe – to make love.

A TIMELY REVOLUTION IN CHRISTIAN THINKING

There is a revolution slowly happening in Christian thinking and it is very timely as it focuses on the sacredness of the planet. This revolution has come about due to the theory of evolution and the rediscovery of a 14^th century mystic, Meister Eckhart.

The theory of evolution has been integrated into Christian thinking by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest, and the rediscovery of Eckhart has been largely due to Matthew Fox, a former Dominican priest whose radical ideas caused Cardinal Ratzinger (before he became Pope Benedict) to force Fox to leave the church. Fox is now an Episcopalian (Anglican) priest, and still has a huge following.

The revolution has been the gradual replacement of “fall/redemption theology” with “creation spirituality.” Fall/redemption theology in brief is the idea that human beings are broken due to original sin and need a redeemer to save them. Creation spirituality in brief is the idea that the universe is glorious, an original blessing, and that should be our starting point, not the fall of humanity.

I think Fox’s mistake, and the reason creation spirituality has only gradually caught on, is that he put it in opposition to fall/redemption theology. Fall/redemption theology has a lot of backers since it is realistic about human sin and our five-thousand-year history of wars and corruption; it has been the dominant theology for the whole history of the church; and the Bible and most church services are full of it.

On the negative side, it starts with the negative – we are fallen; it is based in Augustine’s warped theology (according to Fox) of original sin; and if we don’t repent of our sin, we are cut off from God and bound for hell. So, it is guilt and fear-inducing.

Based on Meister Eckhart, Fox by contrast starts off with the goodness of creation as witnessed by the first chapter of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, in which God created everything as “very good,” including humans. Fox’s creation spirituality is joyful, focused on our fourteen-billion-year-old universe, instead of on human sinfulness, and is realistic about four “vias” or ways of spirituality that are found in Eckhart.

In summary, the “via positiva” is about our universe as an original blessing and our awe when we contemplate it; the “via negativa” is about our fallenness, evil, and suffering; the “via creativa” is our recovery from sin and destruction; and the “via transformativa” is about communal social justice.

A breakthrough occurs when one realizes that it is not the case that fall/redemption theology is not true, it is just that it is too narrow. We are broken and need a redeemer, and creation spirituality includes that but is much broader in its scope.

Not only that, but creation spirituality is thoroughly biblical. The via positiva takes in not only Genesis 1, but also the celebration of nature throughout the Bible and by Jesus – his parables are full of the flowers, birds, animals, and harvest. The via negativa is not only in Genesis 3 but also throughout the Bible in the Jewish people’s subjection to slavery and exile, and in the crucifixion of Jesus. The via creativa is in the ongoing recovery of the Jews from hellish situations and in the resurrection of Jesus. And the via transformativa is in the social justice teachings of the Jewish prophets and in the era of the Holy Spirit after Christ’s resurrection, which formed a church community built on the sacred value of each person and on social justice.

Creation spirituality is found, according to Fox, not only in Eckhart. It is latent in Thomas Aquinas, who was the major Christian theologian for centuries. In the past sixty years it is clearly in prolific writers like Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, Ronald Rolheiser, Elizabeth Johnson, and Ilya Delio. It is obvious in “On Care for Our Common Home,” a major encyclical by Pope Francis. It is also in popular Protestants such as John Philip Newell’s rebirth of Celtic Christianity which is very creation-centered.

Rather than putting creation spirituality in opposition to fall/redemption theology, Fox should have noted it does not negate it, but rather includes and transcends it. Creation spirituality is simply a broader, more biblical theology than fall/redemption.

Bruce Tallman is a London spiritual director and religious educator of adults. brucetallman.com

HOW RELIGIONS CAN LIVE IN PEACE

If we want world peace, it is becoming increasingly crucial that Christianity and Islam get along. However, how can any religions get along? Religion, by its very nature, tends to take things to the limit, to globalize its beliefs and absolutize its truths. If my truth is absolutely true, your different truth must not be true.

This attitude generates conflict not only between religions, but also within religions. For example, Sunnis and Shiites have a long history of conflict in Islam, as do Protestants and Catholics in Christianity.

One attempt to solve this dilemma is the annual World Day of Prayer wherein the major Christian denominations try to pray together. Another effort is World Religion Day, usually in mid-January, in which the major religions get together and speak their truth about peace.

However, these approaches, while salutary, do not address the basic problem of how to handle conflicting truth claims. On the one hand, the Koran tells us that Islam is the true faith, Buddhism maintains the Buddha taught the true path, Christianity claims the absolute truth is Jesus Christ is Lord, and Hinduism asserts that Lord Krishna was divine.

On the other hand, every world religion also teaches wisdom, compassion, prayer, fasting, taking care of the needy, and avoiding evil. Given this, no one can say that every major religion is all wrong or all evil. All of them have at least some truth or goodness in them. So, how do we reconcile all this? There are four basic approaches to truth.

The first approach is that all religions are equally true and valid. However, this choice has to be rejected when you compare say rabbinic Judaism to Aztec religion with its human sacrifices in order to keep the sun-god rising, or when you compare say Voodoo cults with the sublime theology of Thomas Aquinas.

The second approach is that no religions are true. This is the stance of the atheist or the person who cannot reconcile all the competing assertions of absolute truth, and therefore decides that all religion must be nonsense.

However, this choice is not very satisfying either. Religion expresses the deepest insights of the human heart. To say there is no truth in any religion is to leave humanity in a truly hopeless situation.

The third approach is black and white religious truth. This is the attitude of “we are saints, you are sinners,” “we have all the answers, you don’t have any,” “only Catholics will be in heaven” or conversely “all Catholics are going to hell.”

This approach, when taken to its limit can result in self-righteousness and endless division, hatred, and war between religions and within them. Truth as black and white eventually disintegrates when you start to notice the shortcomings and sin in your own community and the virtue in others.

The fourth approach is degrees of truth. This choice has as its basic premise that there is truth in all the major religions, but some religions are truer than others.

This choice forces you to really study and weigh where you can honestly find the most truth, rather than just accepting or rejecting everything wholesale. This approach also allows you to be completely committed to your own tradition while at the same time being open to whatever degree of truth you find in other traditions. In fact, everyone could enrich their own tradition with the truths they found in other traditions.

Catholics could learn a lot about humble service and justice from the Salvation Army, peacemaking and community from Mennonites, preaching and Bible study from Baptists, and joyous worship from Pentecostals. Protestants could learn from Catholics about the riches of the sacraments, contemplative prayer, the saints, and church history.

Christians in general could learn from non-Christians: love of God’s law from Jews, detachment from Buddhists, a spirit of poverty from Hindus, and zeal for God from Muslims. These traditions could similarly learn a lot about forgiveness from Christians.

An objection from evangelical Christians might be “If we admit there is truth in all the major religions, why reach out to them with the good news of Jesus Christ?” The answer is simply that, if you believe Christianity to be truer than other religions, you will want to reach out to them with your greater truth. In the process you might learn why they believe they have the greater truth, and so understand each other better. This can only be good.

In a degrees of truth approach, every person is given the human right of freedom of religion and is free to believe that their religious tradition is truer than other traditions without absolutizing their tradition as the one and only truth.

“All religions are true” has great tolerance, but no commitment; “no religions are true” has no religious commitment or tolerance; “black and white religious truth” has commitment but no tolerance; only the “degrees of truth” approach has both the religious commitment and religious tolerance which together can lead to world peace.

Bruce Tallman is a spiritual director and religious educator of adults. btallman@rogers.com