Following are some of the books and themes Matthew Fox developed since
writing Original Blessing. Since then he was forced out of his
Catholic Order and joined the Episcopal church to continue his work as
a priest still involved in creation spirituality, working to make spirituality
relevant to younger generations.
The ICCS program flourished and Fox became well known from speaking tours,
workshops and many publications as well. He became so popular with his
fresh perspectives on Christianity that the Roman Catholic hierarchy caught
up with him. In response to the Dominican Order to go silent for a year,
that is, no public speaking, publishing, etc., and before he complied
(beginning on 12/15/88), he wrote a public letter called "Is the Catholic
Church Today a Dysfunctional Family?" referring to the work of Anne Wilson
Shaef and others, on dysfunctional organizations and families. It is a
valid question to ask of any religious organization, as they tend to have
strong leadership which emphasize their correctness over the opinions
of lay people. In the past people have been more afraid to question the
authority of religion. With popular psychology and other movements today,
this is all being questioned and does rock the boat a bit. A book signing
party for The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, which was published
at the same time of the order for silencing, occurred shortly after that
and in his autobiography Fox writes:
An enormous crowd of about nine hundred people packed themselves into
the Skyroom there and were obviously offering moral support for my stand.
The media were there also. During the question-and-answer period a large
man with a long white beard strode up to the microphone, waved in the
air a copy of the magazine containing my public letter, and said in a
prophetic, sonorous voice, "Tell us, Dr. Fox, why this letter is not to
be compared to that of Dr. Luther’s Ninety-five Thesis nailed on the church
door." It was an amazing moment for me. I had never consciously made connections
between what we were doing at ICCS and beyond and what Martin Luther had
done. My reply was to diffuse the personality comparison as I pointed
out that indeed our times were as tumultuous culture-wise and therefore
religion-wise as those of Dr. Luther and we could expect some deep changes
to occur in our religious loyalties and structures (Fox 1996, 171-172).
Fox filled in the year with meditation, a Native American vision quest,
and pilgrimage trips to other countries, including a visit to liberation
theologians in Latin America. From that experience he realized that there
is a difference between liberating South and Central Americans and liberating
North Americans, as the historical, sociological, religious and economic
and political contexts to be liberated from are different. The addictions
and demons of the north are different. The over consumption and addiction
in the successful north that is oppressive are a different kind of bondage,
though it is the "western" civilization that is seen as an oppressive
culture to much of the rest of the world. In 1990 he published the book,
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth,
as a result of his experiences in the south and to express appreciation
and solidarity for their work. Some years later, while teaching in the
Philippines in the spring of 1995, he was shocked by the level of ecological
devastation and its relation to the colonizing of indigenous people and
others. There are frequent floods and temperatures are rising because
of the destruction of the forests (1996, 200).
He revisited France and traveled to "goddess shrines, including Chartres
and Reims cathedrals and others like them dedicated to the goddess Mary.
Then on to Italy to visit Florence and Assisi and finally to Rome. There
he felt not like a Roman Catholic as much as a 12th century French
Catholic.
It was Chartres that kept me in the church; not Rome. It was the goddess,
not the inquisitors fighting to keep their version of "God" enthroned
on high, legitimizing their clerical privileges and lifestyle. It was
panentheism and the entire mystical tradition of our saints, not theism
and its tradition of crusades, pogroms, which burnings, gay burnings,
and inquisitions.
…The ruins of the –re-Christian Empire are everywhere, shouting at you
from every lone brick. But then there are also the ruins of the Christian
era. Two churches per block seems to be the rule. Yet how many are used
today other than as museums to relocate the past? And of these churches,
how many depict any architectural truth other than triumphalism and egoism
and defensiveness? (1996, 201-202).
The era when all roads lead to Rome has ended, he writes in his journal.
Today’s martyrs are not Christian scapegoats but "ministers, women, homosexuals,
third-world peoples—thrown to the lions of our church and society." Fox
felt our new spiritual centers need to be not places for ecclesial bureaucracy
but where the "new cosmology is being articulated and celebrated" (1996,
202).
In the final parts of this journey to goddess shrines he visited Greece
and the island of Crete where he "stood next to six-thousand year old
statuettes of a woman priestess leading a circle dance of worshipers—‘just
like ICCS,’" he remarked. "We were involved in something very ancient,
very real…a great remembering. It must not be allowed to fail; it must
not be snuffed out still another time by patriarchy’s fears and power
games" (1996, 204), He renewed his commitment to keep the work of ICCS
going.
In the 11th month of the 12 month silencing, he received a letter from
a woman who said that she left the Catholic church over its treatment
of women but had returned after reading Fox’s work. Now that he was silence
she felt silenced all over again. She was so upset that it had taken her
those eleven months to be able to write him a letter of support (1996,
206).
However, the Roman Catholic church did not choose to defend or follow
where Matthew Fox wanted to lead. Not long after the silence order ended,
he was given an ultimatum to return to Chicago or be expelled from the
Dominican order of priests. Synchronistically, he was writing his next
book, The Reinvention of Work, when he received the official letter
from his provincial informing him he was out of the order in March of
1993 (1996, 212-213). Around this time also he published a book on Thomas
Aquinas and Creation Spirituality.
I recently heard an interview on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air
of a priest, John Dominic Crossan, who had left the priesthood and is
now an author and professor. He commented that the church teaches priests
to think but often doesn’t want to hear what they have to say after they
have received their education.
University of Creation Spirituality & Cosmic Mass
In 1996, Matthew Fox published the book Confessions, The Making of
a Post-Denominational Priest, an autobiography from which I got most
of this information on his life’s story. At the beginning he says he tells
his story to assist others who find themselves either passing from religion
to spirituality or trying to integrate spirituality back into religion
(1996, 1). After expulsion by the Dominicans, Fox found himself to be
a postmodern postdenominational priest. He became involved in a new type
of worship experience, called Planetary Mass, started by young English
artists, who designed worship using multi-media and dance, patterned after
Rave, a popular multi-media dance phenomenon begun in England. In the
years since then he brought this form of worship to Oakland, joined the
Episcopal church which supported it. Difficulty with the administration
at the home of ICCS pushed him to start a new school in downtown Oakland
in the late 1990’s, called the University of Creation Spirituality which
seems to thrive several years later and has regular Techno Cosmic Mass
events (Dizzy 2001).
I can’t say that I’ve been to one this new type of ritual/Mass. One definition
for Rave on the internet, explains it as:
a social event, a phenomenon of modern youth culture. In most cases a
rave is a dance party in which the participants experience a sense of
community and elevated consciousness through the hearing of music and
the responding to music through (1) free physical motion or dance, (2)
a positive change of mood, and (3) both spoken & unspoken interaction
with other participants.
Although this is not an exhaustive list, it can generally be said that
raves today tend to include the following dominant elements:
- a venue which may be a warehouse, open field, dance club, or other
exotic location
- at least one large amplified stereo sound system
- skilled disc jockeys (DJs) who provide a continuous mix of dance oriented
electronic music, usually "techno," "house," or "jungle" music
- colorful moving lights, lasers and/or strobes
- nighttime hours, usually from 10pm or 11pm until sunrise
- attendance of at least 50 people (varies widely from region to region
around the world; some European cities routinely attract over 10,000.
American - raves average 500 to 1,500, with exceptions)
- use of recreational drugs among a percentage of the participants (varies
widely from rave to rave; some raves are substance-free)
- non-use of alcohol (varies from rave to rave)
- vending of non-alcoholic "smart drinks", t-shirts, and DJ mix tapes
- retro and "little kid" fashions
- "chill out" areas or rooms featuring ambient music
- (DMix420 2002)
As described in a flyer/press release from the Techno Cosmic Mass:
As electronic dance music sounds, lights and images paint the wall, a
mass of humanity moves rhythmically in a seeming world of their own, entranced
by their senses. Eyes shut. Arms raised. They chant in primordial tones,
and then break into spontaneous dance. To the uninitiated, this may seem
like the underground, Ecstasy-fueled world of a Rave. The difference,
is that along with young people, there are also baby boomers and grandparents.
And, drugs are nowhere to be found.
Welcome to the newest form of worship, now catching on in America. The
Techno Cosmic Mass is the creation of Reverend Matthew Fox, one of the
world’s most published, scholarly theologians. His techno Cosmic Masses
have stirred recent interest from media across the world. A mystical blend
of ritual, dance and ceremony, the Masses combine the sweaty appeal of
Raves with connections to just about every major religion. Hindu hymns
are changed along with Hebrew prayers. A young African American man raps,
while a sitar player sits cross-legged in a corner. Once a month, some
400 people line up to attend the Mass, which is given in a former Big
Band ballroom in a struggling neighborhood in Oakland, CA.
(University of Creation Spirituality, 2003 flyer)
The themes for each event varies. One at Thanksgiving has a Native American
theme, as well as Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the announcement says there
will be a DJ, live music, dance, spoken word and ritual theatre.
The Cosmic Mass has been a way for Matthew Fox to continue to make spirituality
relevant to young people, and though I am open to experiencing a Techno
Cosmic Mass some day to have a better opinion about it, I identify more
with his earlier work, which I think is most relevant and inspiring, especially
for those still involved with their family’s traditions. I am as aware
as ever of my own heritage, as well as the distinct heritage of others
and where they blur. What calls me is to dialogue about the issues and
what they mean. I don’t believe in ritual for ritual’s sake. I prefer
simpler rituals for communing with people and nature, with limited technology
that feature the health and safety of earth ‘s natural life processes
as well as peaceful human relations as ideals to strive for. I have enjoyed
some of the rituals led by Starhawk with a focus on the spirit in all
people and in nature and I believe in Lutheran Christian teachings about
love. I don’t, however, need to invoke the name of Christ in ritual to
have a meaningful spiritual experience. However, I do feel revived after
enduring a traditional Christian service, partly perhaps because I have
gotten through it, but I think there is more than meets the eye, that
for me it can be a good time for reflection and a healing experience for
my emotions and spirit.
Summary of Matthew Fox’s Work
Certainly Matthew Fox’s life has been a response to changes at the cutting
edge of society. How this rocking of the boat will contribute to constructive
change is what future generations will show. My favorite quote from On
Becoming a Musical Mystical Bear, is of E.B. White, who wrote, "I
arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world
and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan
the day." The spirituality that Fox teaches does encourage us to both
savor and save the world (Fox 1972, 97).
A main theme developed by Matthew Fox is the Creation Spirituality
versus Fall/Redemption theology. The latter focuses on salvation
from sin while Creation Spirituality emphasizes the goodness of our earthly
life to create more balance with concern for sin and life after death.
In other words, he maintains that we are born into Original Blessing
rather than Original Sin. In the section on panentheism in the
Original Blessing, he described the process of moving from Fall/Redemption
to Creation Spirituality as a sign of maturation (OB, 92). Often we are
presented with one way to look at Christianity from mainstream sources.
Fox has challenged some theological ideas and suggested other ways to
understand our spirituality.
Fox transformed the dualism of Blessing vs. Sin or Positive
vs. Negative by adding two new paths, Creativity and Transformation,
totalling four spiritual paths, added more dimensions. Four or more directions
is a spiritual concept used by many indigenous peoples. Four points can
hold a circle in place much better than two. The circle is an ancient
universal spiritual symbol.
Fox took the theme of mysticism and contemplation and developed
parallel concepts of spirituality and compassion. He developed
art as meditation to relate to the spirituality of ongoing creativity
as a process. He responded to the trend of younger generations toward
Eastern spirituality by bringing to the West’s attention, many Christian
mystics who emphasized spirituality, including the Beguines, Meister
Eckhart and Hildegard of Bingen. He emphasized realized eschatology,
that the Kingdom of God is a process that is happening now, not
just something to wait for at some end of time after death. He questioned
the established concept of Christian religion and didn’t get away with
it completely, as far as his Catholic Church "fathers" and Dominican "brothers"
were concerned. However, he responded to lay people and gave faith and
trust to lay spiritual movements. He could not interact with the
religion handed him and live in the world without trying to make it relevant
to himself and his contemporaries and those that follow. He has tried
to make the world more meaningful and to bring the Kingdom closer to us
on Earth, the path of a true mystic, as I have come to understand.