Reviews for Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

The average rating for Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-02-07 00:00:00 Jim Eads I was hoping, though not expecting, something more practical, but I found this theoretical read rewarding. I am quite drawn to the concept of Creation Spirituality as I am to Celtic Christianity, and this exploration helped validate the path I feel I am walking, as I become increasingly drawn to work for justice for animals. If you feel that deepening spirituality would naturally incline a person to activism, Fox would agree with you. But read more on it anyway, to gain some solid insight into the historical aspect of the injustice and imbalances we try to correct in our day. ______________________________________________________ MY "HIGHLIGHTS" We can face down fear through/with solidarity. Awe leads to liberation; nonaction to action. Recognition of enslavement is followed by paths of action that include creativity and acts of passion and compassion, celebration, and justice-making. No either/or: In the struggle for justice, justice toward the rainforest cannot wait until justice among humans is accomplished We are too interdependent for that. Christianity is Trinitarian; those who think otherwise (i.e. it's all about Jesus) are heretical. Creator, Liberator, Sanctifier ... to focus on liberation only is anthropocentric. Interconnectedness/ context of First vs Third World liberation issues. Example: drugs: First World pathos desires drugs as important to dismantle -- if not more so -- than Third World's supply of it. USA = 2% world population uses 60% of world's illicit substances. Thinking about God is no substitute for tasting God. Talking about God is no substitute for giving people ways to experience God. There is nothing so natural to the human heart than the desire to give thanks. With wonder & awe renewed, the yearning for occasions to praise & give thanks will flow along with opportunities for effective compassion. When the Spirit is allowed to flow, our religious traditions are reanimated! Poverty of the soul: in the First World, apathy is usually actually a cover-up for despair, so counter this by reminding people of their capacity to create. If this poverty goes unabated, it gets passed on to the next generation through violence and institutional structures that condone violence. Any liberation movement must possess the power to awaken moral indignation among its citizens for within that indignation lies the power to liberate! Creation spirituality strikes at the very jugular of the pathology of addiction. Instead of deadening our internal processes, it awakens them! Rather than deny anger, pain, & depression, it names it as Via Negativa, a process every mystic must imbibe. In contrast to codependence, CS teaches interdependence, emphasizing Original Blessing, not Sin. We need to live life fully; asceticism can be a distraction from this project, actually. Learn to let go rather than control, which causes stress and depression. Also a characteristic of addiction is perfectionism, upheld by sin-based shaming religions. With Via Creativa we accept, even celebrate mistakes, for from them come diversity and new possibilities! Perfectionism is objective, but excellence, subjective, is doing the best we can, and healthy. Wonder, creativity, and empowerment counter boredom and passivity. All fundamentalism is based in fear -- of science, universe, self, etc -- but if Jesus redeemed us from anything it is from fear. No religion based on fear can lay claim to following Jesus. Prayer is about making the heart strong so that fear / evil cannot penetrate. This idea is not unique to CS but is emphasized by native peoples all around. Fear of the Lord just means awe of being in the universe. Eckhart: "Every creature is a word of God and a book about God." CS can help men to reawaken their mystical consciousness, to let go of the wounded boy who was once a mystic playing in the universe.... Just as the slave master is the victim of slavery, so the overdeveloped world is a victim of its own worldview. Because it is ecumenical and yet names the mystical journey that is all of ours, because it is not elitist but is found in ordinary persons' deepest experiences of joy and sorrow, creativity and compassion, creation spirituality can be utilized as an umbrella kind of movement to get artists and scientists, psychologists and street people, justice and ecological activists, native and black and white peoples, artists and mystics, together to form a larger constituency. Spirituality can ground us all! Emerging base community groups in the First World include hospice, AA, and support groups. Although there is less likelihood that moral boldness will result in death these days, there are other "deaths" we risk when choosing to stand for justice: loss of reputation or job, misunderstanding, rumors, envy, projection, imprisonment, ecclesiastical attack.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-01-29 00:00:00 Gary Pyle I love Matthew Fox's approach to theology. This book was brilliant. I enjoyed Original Blessing more than this piece, as this book felt a bit too brief at times, but the ideas are so compelling nonetheless.