Creation Spirituality

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Creation Spirituality is a socially conscious, earth-centered, unorthodox Christian spiritual system formulated in the 1970s by Matthew Fox, then a Catholic priest. Fox identifies Creation Spirituality in the Old and New Testament, ranging from the prologue to the Gospel of John to the Book of Revelation. Creation Spirituality is also found in the teachings of the Greek fathers of the Church. The high point of the Creation Spirituality development was from the 12th to 15th centuries with the theories and practices of mystic-prophets such as: Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart, and Nicholas of Cusa.

Theologian and Episcopal priest Matthew Fox, formerly a Roman Catholic priest of the Dominican Order claims that revelation is found in two places: the Bible and nature. Therefore, the bulk of his teachings and texts lie in these two foundations. It is a mystical philosophy that celebrates the universe, emphasizes creativity as a key component of the universe, and believes that all people have a divine creative impulse. It espouses a panentheist view of God.

The history of the ideology of Creation Spirituality Fox says, "is the oldest tradition in the Bible, and the way of indigenous peoples." Fox contends that Creation Spirituality is not a new religion, but is concerned with renewing theologies and practices within religion and culture that promote personal wholeness, planetary survival, and universal interdependence.

Creation Spirituality begins with the notion of creation as an original blessing as opposed to original sin. For Fox sin results not so much from disobedience with God's laws as it does from disconnectedness to God's creation. He compares the seven traditional sins to seven principles of Creation Spirituality: cosmology, feminism, liberation, compassion, prophecy, creativity, and community.

Fox formulated his beliefs in several books, including The Coming of the Cosmic Christ and Original Blessing.

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[edit] Response of Catholic Church

In December 1988, Fr. Matthew Fox was silenced by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), in his capacity as head of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, citing his refusal to condemn the lifestyle and practice (as distinct from the mere inclination) of homosexuality, among a host of other issues. Fox was later expelled from the Dominican order in 1992. In correspondence with Fox, Ratzinger confirmed the pre-Vatican II spiritual three paths of purgation, illumination and union, rejected the four paths of the creation spiritual tradition: the via positiva (joy, awe, wonder), via negativa (letting go, silence, darkness), via creativa (creativity) and the via transformativa (justice and compassion) as “dangerous and deviant.” Fox's views on “Original Blessing” vs. Original Sin, were also rejected as heretical. Fox has retorted that both the fourfold path and original blessing are Biblical in nature, whilst "original sin" was a Neo-Platonist concept, adopted by Saint Augustine from the work of Plotinus.

[edit] Basic Beliefs

A good summary of the main tenets of Creation Spirituality can be found in the 2004 book Who Is My God?, which lists ten major principles.

  • The universe is basically a blessing, that is, something we experience as good.
  • Everyone is a mystic--born full of wonder and capable of recovering it at any age.
  • Everyone is a prophet, a mystic in action, who is called to interfere with anything that interrupts authentic life.
  • Humans have to dig and work at finding their true self.
  • Salvation is best understood as "preserving the good."
  • The journey that marks that digging can be named as a fourfold journey: 1) via positiva: delight, awe, wonder, revelry; 2) via negativa: darkness, silence, suffering, letting go; 3) via creativa: birthing, creativity; and 4) via transformativa: compassion, justice, healing, celebration.
  • Everyone is an artist in some way, and art as meditation is a primary form of prayer.
  • We are all sons and daughters of God; therefore, we have divine blood in our veins, the divine breath in our lungs; and the basic work of God is: Compassion.
  • Divinity is Mother and Father, Wife and Husband, Son and Daughter, Creative Mystery, History of God, and is as much encompassing all beings as filling all beings and aspects of Creation.
  • We experience the Divine in all things and all things are in the Divine.

Much of this summary is drawn from 95 Theses of Matthew Fox, which can be found here: www.matthewfox.org

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