Retrieving the Empty Tomb of Jesus as a primary Christian symbol has many facets, including exploring deep ecumenism. Symbolically, the Empty Tomb is identical with the cave, which has an enormous relevance in earth-based spiritualities.
When patriarchal cultures — such as Judaism at the time of Jesus — bury the dead in caves, they perform a paradox, symbolically speaking. The cave symbolizes the body of the mother, from which a new life will be born. Thus, burying someone in a cave is by itself an affirmation of faith in the resurrection. But “mother” and “woman” in the patriarchal mind are also connected to “the body” and thus to decay and death, while “male” is seen as eternal, connected to the life of the mind, thus free from earthly bonds.
Can the Empty Tomb be experienced as a symbol of rebirth that does not put down women? Christianity did not start off as a clearly pro-woman movement, even though scholars have uncovered deep contributions made by women in its early stages, including amazing elements of anti-patriarchal thought.
Earth-based spiritualities, on the other hand, can boast an array of symbols that have been connected to “woman” as well as the omnipresent spiral-symbol, which is universally recognized as pointing to rebirth, reincarnation, and new life. The ivy and grapevine, both spiral, are symbols of rebirth and resurrection among the Celts, and in the Mediterranean the vine that represents Dionysus is meant to imply a dying with the grape in order to rise through the vine. The main role of women in contemporary retrievals of earth-based spiritualities is, of course, pretty obvious.
Overcoming the dualism between body and mind, thus between “female” and“male”, may seem a quaint enterprise when the house is burning down. One of the deep roots of the present crisis in American society is, however, the fear of powerful women. And patriarchal phantasies are not so hidden behind almost every presidential pronouncement of late.
For Christians, then, exploring deep ecumenism with earth-based spiritualities is even more necessary than it ever was. This may mean several things, including recovering those parts of one’s own tradition that are already enmeshed with other faiths. For example, celebrating Easter with a spiral dance commemorating the King’s resurrection from the tomb, as it is the tradition in rural England and France. As a rule of thumb, whatever the powers-that-be see as quaint — but in reality make them deeply upset — that’s probably the right thing to do.
Deep ecumenism is explored in several of Fox’s publications, including One River, Many Wells.
The overcoming of dualisms is discussed in several of Fox’s writings, but especially in A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice, pp. 79-87.
Fox quotes from A Spirituality Named Compassion, p. 117
Banner Image: The Inchnadamph Bone Caves, in the high limestone cliff walls of Creag nan Uamh, Scotland, where evidence indicates Paleolithic humans buried their dead. Wikimedia Commons
Queries for Contemplation
What are you doing, or planning to do, that upsets the established order of patriarchal power-over?
Recommended Reading
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
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
