I have two announcements to share, one this Monday morning and one on Tuesday. The first is this. I am going to be taking about a month off from the DM, beginning Wednesday morning (my final DM for this week will be tomorrow, Earth Day).
This is so that I can work on a new book I am writing, which has me very excited, namely a new interpretation of John of the Cross’s poetry using the four paths of creation spirituality. Almost every translator of his poetry I consult tells the reader to ignore his commentaries but to focus on his poetry. I too derive a lot more from his poetry than from his commentaries.
Why is that? I think I have figured it out. Because he was stuck with the three paths of purgation, illumination and union as a hermeneutic or structure to talk about our spiritual journey. However, those are not Jewish or biblical and can distort his poetry. In fact, his spirituality was very biblical and creation-centered.
Thus, by applying the Four Paths of creation spirituality to his poetry, one can expect to get a very different theology than the three paths gave John. Remember too that the Inquisition was looking over his shoulder his whole life. In his prose writings, he had to be very circumspect and cautious due to that reality.
I have taught courses applying the Four Paths to John’s spirituality, and now it is time to share it with others. So I am taking time to focus and write on that. Cosmologist Brian Swimme, with whom I taught a 7-week class on the Four Paths this past fall, recently said to me, “the Four Paths are revolutionary.”
In my absence, I have asked my friend and colleague Gianluigi Gugliermetto (GG to me) to fill in for me on the daily meditations. I know he will do a great job. GG is a theologian and Episcopal priest who is a native of Italy. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Religion from Claremont Graduate University in California, where he specialized in feminist and process theology.
He has been collaborating with me for several years, beginning with translating several of my books into Italian, organizing tours within Italy, and creating workshops such as the one we hosted last summer in June in Orvieto on the 800th anniversary of Aquinas’s birth. It was he who led me to the Cathedral that housed Luca Signorelli’s fresco on the Antichrist, that in turn inspired my book of some notoriety on that subject this past fall.
GG is the founder of Creation Spirituality Italy, and most recently of Mistica Evolutiva www.misticaevolutiva.it
In his recent book, La danza del sacro, he explores the connections between the four paths of CS and the four types of Jungian psychology. He taught a class last year on that book in English. After many years in California, which included being a rector at a church in the LA area, he recently returned to his native Italy. He is available for spiritual counseling online. See www.gianluigigugliermetto.com
I will continue to offer my weekly video however. My second announcement I will share tomorrow morning on Earth Day.
To be continued.
See Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart.: A Centering Book
And Fox, Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart.
And Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: A scribe at work on a book. Portrait of Jean Miélot by Jean Le Tavernier, 15th century. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Have you found the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality useful for your own spiritual journey, but also for interpreting the spiritual writings of others?
Recommended Reading
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.
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
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.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book
A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died.
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.
Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart
Matthew Fox’s comprehensive translation of Meister Eckhart’s sermons is a meeting of true prophets across centuries, resulting in a spirituality for the new millennium. The holiness of creation, the divine life in each person and the divine power of our creativity, our call to do justice and practice compassion–these are among Eckhart’s themes, brilliantly interpreted and explained for today’s reader.
“The most important book on mysticism in 500 years.” — Madonna Kolbenschlag, author of Kissing Sleeping Beauty Goodbye.
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way.
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake
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