THE MCJ

IT'S THE MATTHEW FOX SHOW!!

You have to give former Roman Catholic and current Episcopal priest Matthew Fox this much.  The old man's got a really impressive ego on him.  Matt thinks the Christian world needs a new reformation and, since he thinks he's a prophet, he's come up with 95 theses(get it?) to get things rolling.

He even went to Wittenberg, Germany recently to display his ideas in front of the Castle Church.  That's where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door in 1517 to start the Protestant Reformation only Matt couldn't nail his theses to the door since the doors are made of metal now which probably bummed Matt some.  Anyway, Matt's list starts out like this:

Like Luther, I present 95 theses or in my case, 95 faith observations drawn from my 64 years of living and practicing religion and spirituality. I trust I am not alone in recognizing these truths. For me they represent a return to our origins, a return to the spirit and the teaching of Jesus and his prophetic ancestors, and of the Christ which was a spirit that Jesus’ presence and teaching unleashed.

Uhhhhhhhhhh-huh.  I'll just hit a few of the more, um, interesting ones because if I tried to cover them all, my head would explode and I need my head.

At this time in history, God is more Mother than Father because the feminine is most missing and it is important to bring gender balance back.

So.  Matt knows "at this time in history" that the Creator of the entire universe and everything in it "is more Mother than Father."  And he knows that because "the feminine is most missing and it is important to bring gender balance back."  Really impressive deity you've got there, Matt. 

God the Punitive Father is not a God worth honoring but a false god and an idol that serves empire-builders. The notion of a punitive, all-male God, is contrary to the full nature of the Godhead who is as much female and motherly as it is masculine and fatherly. 

“All the names we give to God come from an understanding of ourselves.” (Eckhart) Thus people who worship a punitive father are themselves punitive.

I guess that means that the people who worship Matt Fox's vacuous deity must be gutless atheists.

Theism (the idea that God is ‘out there’ or above and beyond the universe) is false. All things are in God and God is in all things (panentheism).

My bottle of Jim Beam is a thing.  QED, my bottle of Jim Beam is in God and God is in my bottle of Jim Beam.  Don't think the cops would buy it.  But Matt has to stick that one in there because of this.

Ecojustice is a necessity for planetary survival and human ethics and without it we are crucifying the Christ all over again in the form of destruction of forests, waters, species, air and soil.

And this.

Sustainability is another word for justice, for what is just is sustainable and what is unjust is not.

Matt's never forgiven the Roman Catholic Church for breaking him off.

A preferential option for the poor, as found in the base community movement, is far closer to the teaching and spirit of Jesus than is a preferential option for the rich and powerful as found in, for example, Opus Dei.

Gene Robinson?  Matt's got your back.

Sexuality is a sacred act and a spiritual experience, a theophany (revelation of the Divine), a mystical experience. It is holy and deserves to be honored as such.

But let's get another blast or four at Rome in.

No matter how much the television media fawn over the pope and papacy because it makes good theater, the pope is not the church but has a ministry within the church. Papalolotry is a contemporary form of idolatry and must be resisted by all believers.

Creating a church of Sycophants is not a holy thing. Sycophants (Webster’s dictionary defines them as “servile self-seeking flatterers”) are not spiritual people for their only virtue is obedience. A Society of Sycophants — sycophant clergy, sycophant seminarians, sycophant bishops, sycophant cardinals, sycophant religious orders of Opus Dei, Legioneers of Christ and Communion and Liberation, and the sycophant press--do not represent in any way the teachings or the person of the historical Jesus who chose to stand up to power rather than amassing it.

Vows of pontifical secrecy are a certain way to corruption and cover-up in the church as in any human organization.

Fascism and the compulsion to control is not the path of peace or compassion and those who practice fascism are not fitting models for sainthood. The seizing of the apparatus of canonization to canonize fascists is a stain on the church.

Matt?  Let it go, buddy.  ECUSA?  Matt's down with your "it was a movement of the spirit because we voted that way" idea.

The Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of working through participatory democracy in church structures and hierarchical modes of being can indeed interfere with the work of the Spirit.

Not that church matters in the slightest, mind you.

The body is an awe-filled sacred Temple of God and this does not mean it is untouchable but rather that all its dimensions, well named by the seven charkas, are as holy as the others.

Thus our connection with the earth (first chakra) is holy; and our sexuality (second chakra) is holy; and our moral outrage (third chakra) is holy; and our love that stands up to fear (fourth chakra) is holy; and our prophetic voice that speaks out is holy (fifth chakra); and our intuition and intelligence (sixth chakra) are holy; and our gifts we extend to the community of light beings and ancestors (seventh chakra) are holy. 

The prejudice of rationalism and left-brain located in the head must be balanced by attention to the lower charkas as equal places for wisdom and truth and Spirit to act. 

The central chakra, compassion, is the test of the health of all the others which are meant to serve it for “by their fruits you will know them” (Jesus). 

Chakras.  Hinduism.  I think what Wishbone Ash is getting at here is that as long as you buy his books, Matt doesn't care how you spend your Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays.

The four paths named in the creation spiritual tradition more fully name the mystical/prophetic spiritual journey of Jesus and the Jewish tradition than do the three paths of purgation, illumination and union which do not derive from the Jewish and Biblical tradition.

The Anglican arugula must be kicking in.

The Holy Spirit works through all cultures and all spiritual traditions and blows “where it wills” and is not the exclusive domain of any one tradition and never has been.

God speaks today as in the past through all religions and all cultures and all faith traditions none of which is perfect and an exclusive avenue to truth but all of which can learn from each other.

Therefore Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism are a necessary part of spiritual praxis and awareness in our time.

Roman Catholics?  If you ever get Episcopal inclinations, fight them off with this: the Roman Catholic Church ran this guy off.  The Episcopal Church didn't.

All that is is holy and all that is is related for all being in our universe began as one being just before the fireball erupted.

Interconnectivity is not only a law of physics and of nature but also forms the basis of community and of compassion. Compassion is the working out of our shared interconnectivity both as to our shared joy and our shared suffering and struggle for justice.

Creation, Incarnation and Resurrection are continuously happening on a cosmic as well as a personal scale. So too are Life, Death and Resurrection (regeneration and reincarnation) happening on a cosmic scale as well as a personal one.

I'm guessing that Matt was really slamming the Doritos right about here.

Not all who call themselves “Christian” deserve that name just as “not all who say ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven” (Jesus).

Look in the mirror when you say that, Matt.

Jesus said nothing about condoms, birth control or homosexuality.

Or racism or sexism or "homophobia" or caring for the environment or arson or jaywalking or parking too close to a mailbox or...

Since homosexuality is found among 464 species and in 8 percent of any given human population, it is altogether natural for those who are born that way and is a gift from God and nature to the greater community.

Homophobia in any form is a serious sin against love of neighbor, a sin of ignorance of the richness and diversity of God’s creation as well as a sin of exclusion.

Racism, Sexism and militarism are also serious sins.

But Jesus never said anything about any of that stuff, Matt.  So I guess I can join the Klan and go gay-bashing whenever the mood strikes me.

Inner work is required of us all. Therefore spiritual practices of meditation should be available to all and this helps in calming the reptilian brain. Silence or contemplation and learning to be still can and ought to be taught to all children and adults.

"The reptilian brain?"  Give me the bong, Matt.  Now.

Matt's got himself one of them blog things all the kids are into these days.  And Matt's 95 theses post has a comments section if you want to tell the old fraud what you think about his ideas.  Tell him I sent you.

Posted on 6/2/2005 11:35:35 AM , 31 comments