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Relating Creation Spirituality
to Lutheranism
Doctorial dissertation by Marilyn E.
Jackson
VII. Old & New Ways: Finding a Way Through the Carnival
After writing most of this paper I created a table of contents which
reminded me of a carnival. A carnival might not have pleased my pious
Swedish ancestors, but a carnival is what the variety of choices in
society is like today and my paper seeks a way through them. In the past,
questioning authority was less commonplace and people often followed the
authority close at hand. Discerning truth in the United States is complex.
When we learn to question we realize this can be essential for survival.
By talking with one another to sort out and analyze, perhaps eventually
more of the carnival can be understood as we seek to follow the best of
religious teachings while averting potential disasters in order to find
our way forward in masterpiece that is Creation.
Matthew Fox has brought to our attention the stories of European
Christian mystics as well as how to relate to creation based traditions
around the world. N.F.S. Grundtvig from Denmark offered a place for both
religion and culture, with noncompetitive popular education as a way for
building cultural democracy.
Native and Nature Spirituality, Old and New
A book I have just begun to read, Nature Religion and America,
was written with encouragement from well-known Chicago Lutheran
theologian, Martin Marty. As the publishers say it, "This ground-breaking
study reveals an unorganized and previously unacknowledged religion at the
heart of American culture." Author Catherine Albanese writes that
throughout the history of Western culture, religious reflection has been
preoccupied with three symbolic themes: God, Humanity and
Nature. A main focus on God and Humanity, however, has overshadowed
Nature. In monotheism, God has been "clearly named" as the sole claimant
to the "religious throne."
But humans and nature, as creatures of God and objects of loving
providence, have shone in borrowed light. Thus, within the structure of
the symbols, the way always lay open not so much for a rejection of the
monotheistic God as for a more emphatic turn in another direction…. Like
the term "civil religion," which has become part of our academic language
in religious studies since 1967, "nature religion" is a contemporary
social construction of past and present American religion (Albanese 1990,
7-8).
Influenced by the environmental movement in recent decades, many have
decided against formal religion for various reasons. Neopaganism became
popular, in large part as a reaction to the lack of concern for nature
with mainstream religion. A song reflective of this movement, The Old
Ways, by Loreena McKennitt starts, "The thundering waves are calling
me home to you. The pounding sea is calling me home to you. In another
song of hers, Courtyard Lullaby, a voice from nature sings "’Come
to me…Hear the pulse of the land, The Ocean’s rhythms pull, To hold your
heart in its hand’". This song ends with "I heard an old voice say ‘Don’t
go far from the land, The seasons have their way, No mortal can
understand.’" There is an emotional, compelling, mysterious strength in
these words which give momentum to this movement.
Many have looked for leadership for what an Earth Faith means to Native
Americans and other indigenous cultures that have been around since before
history. It has been pointed out to me that one Native American tribe was
guilty of overgrazing and thus mismanaging the environment. Likewise you
could point out that some tribes have bought into the western system and
now have casinos. However, all people were once indigenous and the point
is the premodern lifestyle has not harmed the environment anywhere near
how developed western society has. Indigenous cultures are mostly a
victim. Perhaps their religions should not be forgotten just because they
were used by peoples who lived more closely to nature and not in an
apartheid relationship, as Rasmussen puts it.
We need to be careful how we go about trying to help cultures that may
be less developed but have lifestyles that are more connected to the
earth. Those of us in western society need to examine our motives in
trying to help others. It is wrong for privileged classes to project onto
poorer classes of people attributes which everyone has from their own
history. Often, white Americans as well as Europeans will look to people
of color for culture because their own culture has been homogenized with
Christianity or with technological society. When Americans whose ancestors
originated on other shores are blended into many families from other
backgrounds they easily lose track of their historical roots.
The mainstream American culture connects us all together and it is
important that we have a way to relate. The dominant culture Americans
share which is taken for granted is a legacy formed by English culture and
English language. Local cultures are perhaps the best way today to
organize our cultural connections in relation to the local environment as
well as by relating to local indigenous cultures if they still exist.
It is even possible to talk to some Native Americans who have been
relocated, who may still have stories about where their ancestors lived.
Where I grew up in Illinois, the Sauk and Fox returned annually for many
years to attend a Pow Wow.
As a result of my interest in native peoples as well as my cultivation
of my Scandinavian heritage, I have come in contact with Americans of
Saami (also spelled Sami) heritage, an older indigenous people frequently
called Lapps in Scandinavia. To their credit, the Saami have been a link
for white Europeans to understand that all people come from indigenous
roots. They have been successful in helping white Europeans take
indigenous issues more seriously in their work with international
indigenous organizations. "Even though the Sami probably are one of the
most modernized indigenous peoples in the world, their role as
communicators between an ever more estranged ‘Western’ conception of
Nature and the indigenous peoples’ preferred holistic view expressing the
statement that all creatures are fundamentally dependent on each other, is
important and steadily growing" (Gaski 1997, 24).
The book, The End of Drum Time is a scholarly study of the
persecution of the Saami religion. When one learns of persecution by
missionaries one wonders if it was worth it all and if the means justify
the ends. In Sweden and Norway and probably elsewhere, there was a
legalistic piety, where if one did not attend church with a certain
regularity, there were consequences by the authorities and this was the
case as missionaries targeted Saami for conversion. There were threats and
instances of floggings, corporal punishment, imprisonment and death to
noajddes, the spiritual leaders and others who practiced the old religion.
The author, Håkan Rydving writes that though newer ideas on how to convert
pagans came out of the Enlightenment in the mid 1700s, they had only a
limited affect on the actual practices of missionaries, many of whom were
of the opinion that "a good flogging is the most powerful means of
conversion" (Rydving 1993, 55). Saami drums, which were characterized by
symbols drawn on the surface for seeking spiritual guidance as I
understand it, in a trancelike state, were confiscated and burned.
Sacrificial sites were destroyed.
For a time, indigenous beliefs were combined with Christian ones and as
I have been told, aspects of the old religion have been incorporated into
the Laestadian Lutheran Saami tradition. Even those who attended church
were still treated badly and given a lower social status (1993, 74).
Rydving tells how some Saami would do a Saami ritual where they drank
water or other drink and ate bread or other food in honor of the Saami
goddess Saaraahkah on the way to church and apologized for what they were
about to do. During the church service they would apologize (silently) at
communion for the Saami ritual and on the way home they would drink
Saaraahkah’s cup again for reconciliation (1993, 130-131).
Drinking water in a sacred indigenous way was not only a Saami
experience. A Native American activist who used to speak frequently in the
Bay Area, Bill Wahpepah, often said he thanked the Creator when he drank a
cup of water. In the autobiography of one of his likely ancestors, Black
Hawk, as told through an interpreter, he states, "We thank the Great
Spirit for all the benefits he has conferred upon us. For myself, I never
take a drink of water from a spring without being mindful of his goodness"
(Jackson 1978, 94). With environmental destruction ever increasing today,
it seems that indigenous spirituality must have something to say about how
we think about our relationship with the created world. Black Hawk, the
Sauk and Fox Indian, lived in the Rock Island area where I grew up and
where Augustana College is and the original seminary was based. In 1988 I
helped organize the "Year of Black Hawk" in Rock Island, attempting to
help link the Sauk and Fox people, who were relocated to Oklahoma and
Iowa, with that area as well as linking issues of peace environmentalism
and spirituality.
Another Oklahoman, James Treat, author of Around the Sacred Fire,
Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era, researched the Indian
Ecumenical Conference which began in the late 1960s. This was an
experiment in grassroots organizing among native spiritual leaders who
hoped to transcend many of the antagonisms between tribal and Christian
traditions and to cultivate religious self-determination among native
people (Treat 2003, 2). Mr. Treat has both Native American and European
ancestry and his father was a Christian missionary. In his book he quotes
a study which said that the modern age in America died and the new
postmodern era was born in July of 1967. This was right about the time
when tribal traditionalists gathered from many tribes in North America, an
expression of a reawakening of native cultural tradition. Sixties
spirituality, according to the study, emphasized nonconformity, freedom,
relevance, and the natural world," suggesting that this decade was not an
aberration but a time of restoration of a classically American tradition.
The author of the study refers to the Sixties as recovering a more "fluid,
sentimental, charismatic, psychic, magical, communalistic, and
righteous-prophetic style" of the first decades of the Republic, referring
to early Western migration in the 1800s. What Treat’s work shows is
perhaps how this same movement gave Native Americans social sanction and
respect for their own efforts to get back to their traditions. While many
retrospective studies of the Sixties emphasize social change movements,
Treat quotes another author who says that "what was really going on was
not political but religious or spiritual revolution" (2003, 22-25).
Treat writes that scholarly interest in nonsectarian approaches to
interreligious dialogue is a recent phenomenon and result of postwar
ecumenism among Protestants in Europe and North America, Catholic reforms
at the Second Vatican Council and what he calls post-colonial
opportunities on several other continents. However, as he notes, most of
the emphasis has been on relationships between the "so-called world
religions; scholars have practically ignored the dialogical significance
of the religious traditions maintained by tribal communities." He hoped
his multidisciplinary interpretation of the Indian Ecumenical Conference
would speak to this "burgeoning-though still parochial-discourse on the
theory and practice of interreligious relations." He then speaks to what I
have written about in this paper, on the relation between religious
dialogue and political organization: "Religious contention is a root cause
of many current political disputes, and even religious differences that
stop short of provoking political division can frustrate community life.
Is peaceful coexistence possible in a world of divergent truth claims and
fierce competition over material resources?" (2003, 4)
Just Beyond The Lutheran Horizon:
Elaine Pagels, Another Protestant Current
Elaine Pagels is a scholar of Protestant upbringing who offers a
different perspective on Christianity based on her study of the early
religious texts found in recent years of other Christian books not
published in the Bible from the same era. The Gnostics (originally meaning
"to know") have been disregarded as being out of the mainstream because of
their other worldly focus. Pagels found in these other early texts,
diverse versions of the Christian story. She says in an interview with
PBS, that "in order to preserve Christianity, scholars believe church
fathers had to unify a fractious lot of competing voices" and found
Gnostic ideas intolerable. She has written about a different
interpretation of Gnosticism. One of the themes she brings out is that
"each of us can become connected to God without priestly intervention,"
which was a threat to authority. However, she understands that this
attitude may have been important for the survival of the early Christian
movement which was threatened by persecution.
She writes about The Secret Gospel of Thomas (known in the New
Testament at Doubting Thomas). She feels these new findings offer a
complementary view, not necessarily contrary, to the mainstream doctrine.
"The Gospel of Thomas speaks of Jesus as the ‘divine Light’ that comes
from heaven, but says, ‘and you, too, have access to that divine source
within yourself’—even apart from Jesus." The interviewer asks her if she
thinks Jesus as God has been overemphasized in Christianity to she
concurs. "It’s not all about what you believe. It’s about what values we
share. It’s about what commitments we have to the sacredness of life.…"
Pagels says that people have said this sounds like New Age teaching, which
she finds humorous, as "if 2,000 years is ‘new,’ than I suppose it is."
Today Pagels finds the spiritual dimension important for her life:
I was brought up to believe that that was some archaic relic that we
could live without. I don’t think that is true anymore. The sense of a
spiritual dimension in life is absolutely important and the religious
communities are also important. The question of believing in a set of
creedal statements is a lot less important, because I realize the
Christian movement thrived then and can now on other elements of the
tradition (Pagels 2003).
I find myself agreeing with Pagels analysis, though I have not yet read
all her books or studied ancient texts as she has. The Christian truths
and values are what are important to me and the stories we enact are
symbolic, like parables that Jesus taught. This doesn’t lessen the value
of religious communities or the nurturing of ethics that I have benefited
from in those contexts.
Lutheran Theological Response:
Keeping
the Book of Concord within Sight and Easy Reach
The Book of Concord is the collection of documents of the
"authoritative confessions of faith of the Lutheran Church, published in
1580, the 50th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession," (Columbia
Encylopedia 1995) "which is the first of the great Protestant
Confessions." "All orthodox Lutheran church bodies base their teachings
upon this treatise because they believe that it is faithful to Word of
God" (Smith 2003). "The Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds were
included with the particular Lutheran confessions that had appeared from
1530 to 1580. These were the Augsburg Confession, Apology of the Augsburg
Confession, Schmalkald Articles, Luther’s Larger and Smaller Catechisms,
and the Formula of Concord" (Columbia Encyclopedia 1995). I don’t intend
to describe all of these documents here, but they were written in the
formative years of the Lutheran church. I remember my dad discussing
various religious movements with me and then saying that he had been
taught that if there was ever any question about Lutheran belief, to
consult the Book of Concord.
I have covered much of Lutheran theologian Larry Rasmussen’s parallel
search for a creation centered faith perspective, though his terminology
is Earth Faith. I have kept an eye out over the years for responses
by Lutherans to these various movements. Some Lutheran theologians who
have written responses to Creation Spirituality and other spiritual
movements in publications such as the Lutheran magazine, seem to respond
to with a bit of a wary eye. I believe, however, that many think Matthew
Fox is right on in several ways, but may not have articulated a
comprehensive response. There is a lot of discourse by theologians about
what Lutherans believe, and a strong attempt to continue to articulate a
central doctrine, though what people actually believe is probably a
broader spectrum
I have an article in The Lutheran magazine from 1988, by a
Lutheran professor at a seminary in Berkeley, who warned against New Age
spirituality as not being the proper understanding of religion. He pointed
out a few good things about New Age movement, especially that it
challenges modern science and reintroduced acceptance of the spiritual
dimension, which theologians had abandoned while trying to make
Christianity more relevant. Though in this essay, I think Peters lumps a
lot of different philosophies together as New Age, I’m glad he responded
to the phenomenon, which I seldom see or hear from ministers and
theologians (Peters 1998).
I recently came across Lutheran theologian, Paul Santmire, who responds
to the "yearning of…Christians for resources in the faith that will equip
them for engaging environmental issues. In an era when the earth seems out
of balance, how can Christians commit themselves to socially and
environmentally responsible public policies and ecologically sensitive
individual and communal lifestyles?" He says that in recent decades this
has been a topic taken up by many theologians. Of several schools of
thought that have emerged, he names two "most formidable".
Reconstructionists look away from Christianity, including to Eastern
religions, "primal" religions, New Age spirituality. He writes:
This is happening with increasing frequency in numerous church camps
across the country, where Native American culture is a priority, and in
parish settings, where interest in "new" spiritualities is booming. These
protagonists blend such materials as Taoism from the East, alchemy from
the West, and a neolithic spirituality that they claim to find in various
Native American traditions.
He names Matthew Fox as the "most illustrious" of the
reconstructionists, drawing "extensively from mystical traditions in the
Christian West as well as from the spiritualities of primal religions." He
also mentions Thomas Berry, whose theological arguments are "based on
findings of the natural sciences that are sometimes enhanced by
philosophical or literary insights. in this context." He refers to
Rosemary Radford Ruether, who he calls an ecofeminist, and Mary Daly, who
calls for "total deconstruction". He writes that all reconstructionists
result in "conscious or unconscious rejection of the classical kerygmatic
and dogmatic traditions of Christianity as the primary matrix of
theological knowing."
The other group, he calls the apologists, consisting of those who have
an anthropological theology, encouraging Christians to turn to good
"Stewardship," which Santmire feels "is too functional, too manipulative,
too operational a term, and too tied in with money," being the name for
how the church collects donations from its members. It "does not allow the
faithful to respond to the earth and to the whole cosmos with respect and
with wonder." To be anthropocentric, he says, is not the same as being
theocentric or christocentric. The idea that "’managing our own
resources’" regardless of the mandates of God or the divinely ordained
rights of natural systems themselves," he says, has been outlived.
Santmire writes that
The reconstructionists fail to connect with the core convictions of the
Christian community, while the apologists fail to address that community’s
need for a theology of nature shaped by central Christian faith
commitments.
Santmire seems to join another school of thought, the Revisionists, who
believe that re-forming is needed. Just as the theology of justification
by faith was needed for reformation in the early 16th century, a theology
of nature is need of reformation in the 21st century.
He writes:
The reemergence of creation theology in biblical studies has been
paralleled and partially sustained by an expansion of scholarly interest
in Old and New Testament biblical theology of wisdom. That interest helped
set the stage for new developments in theological reflection about nature
(Santmire 2000).
Paul Santmire is one of the few Lutherans I have happened upon who
responds to and critiques Matthew Fox from someone connected to the
Lutheran establishment. Though I personally don’t follow his path
completely, I can understand his dislike for the trends which go beyond
traditional teachings and his desire for reformation from within the
tradition, based on Biblical and theological debate and dialogue by
Lutheran scholars. I have been personally drawn to the questioning of
tradition and some of the dusting off and relooking at older earth based
tradition.
One of the main points of critique of Fox seems to be his concept of
Christ as expressed in The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. I came
across of review of this book in the Lutheran Partners magazine.
While I agree with the reviewer, as I stated earlier, in that I had
trouble understanding this book, I don’t recommend reading it as the only
representation of Fox’s work, as obviously it is one of many. I have felt
that Original Blessing is the best representation of his work and
it’s subtitle describes it a Primer of Creation Spirituality.
Pastor Galen Tinder’s review states that as a response to the
ecological crisis, Fox says we need a renewal of the Cosmic Christ
principle, which is more or less than the historical Jesus Christ. Part of
Pastor Tiner’s critique is that for Fox, the historical Christ is of less
importance than the Cosmic Christ, "except as one embodiment of a larger
Cosmic Principle for which Fox looks for salvation of Mother Earth and
humanity." The author does not overly recommend this book but writes that
it is an:
"example of how Lutheranism’s devotion to Reformation principles could
be enriched by a more creation-centered outlook. If anything, some recent
trends in the church suggest that these principles need renewed attention
and dedication. It is a pity, though, that Fox’s position is so extreme
because his characterization of a contemporary mysticism is not without
its virtues. If we focus on this aspect of Fox’s work, perhaps he can at
least inspire us to re-evaluate our allergic reaction to the synergistic
potentialities of mysticism and wonder how this rich lode of spiritual
wisdom might leaven rather than threaten our Lutheran identity. For
example, does our affirmation of the justification principle really
proscribe meaningful conversation about Christian experience and the
spiritual life? The example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for one, suggests not
and points the way to a deep integration of creation and redemption themes
and of justification by faith and spiritual questing.
So, despite its serious flaws, perhaps some Lutherans should be reading
Fox—as long as we keep the Book of Concord within sight and easy reach
(Tinders 1989).
Fox’s book on the Cosmic Christ may have gotten the attention of the
theologians, perhaps because it takes on a mainstream theological theme
and because he makes a serious critique of this theme, which theologians
perhaps question more than his critique of the theme of Original Sin.
Though I find this article a little hard to understand, I believe I get
the gist of and I find it a classic and theological response. Fox crosses
away from some traditional ways of thinking at times and not everyone
wants to follow or is able to connect the same dots. On the other hand, I
agree that he doesn’t speak to mainstream Lutherans theologians in this
book, in a way that fits with their traditional ways of thinking. However,
a large part of his work has been enriching for many, clergy and lay
alike, with themes that apply to all of Christianity.
Just as in Martin Luther’s day when many forces were at work for
change, so today, many forces are at work and some leaders come to be
better known than others. I doubt we will have a "Foxian" or a
"Rasmussenian" church. Fox for me was a force in getting me to relook at
Christianity at a time when I was drawn to part from it, along with many
others. I feel there could have been more emphasis in his educational
programs to point students back to their own traditions and communities, a
theme this paper has brought out, though where Fox teaches now, the
doctoral programs may point to more of this kind of individualized study.
Fox has encouraged the spiritual movements of lay people. It is a
source of creativity where the dominant hierarchical tradition is
prevented from dictating every single belief. Lay people will spread the
word and come up with new ideas in a way that church leaders can’t do on
their own. Grundtvig talked about the importance of the living word: real
people communicating, person to person. That is the task of education for
social change. In Martin Luther’s day, and since, the written word has
carried much authority. Today many learn to question authority. Hopefully
our society will encourage that, as Grundtvig also taught. Again, folk or
popular education can be a means to develop the building blocks for a
society reflecting the best of our spiritual beliefs and
guidance.
Larry Rasmussen’s Search for an Earth Ethic/Earth
Faith
In a recent interview, Matthew Fox says we have 10 years left to change
our ways as a species (Dykema 2001). It seems I have been hearing there is
not much time left for decades now. We don’t have to go far to find such
quotes of gloom and doom. I don’t mean to discount these messages; they
seem to be the signs of the times, so why shouldn’t religion take up the
cause as well?
Larry Rasmussen writes that in the thirteenth century, the Germanic
people had stripped many woodland areas while clearing land and use of
wood. Though one bishop felt the woodland was no use, his two successors
did, and vowed to place the people and also the forests under the
protection of Christian faith and the church. Rasmussen wonders what would
happen if "churches worldwide were suddenly to pledge the security of both
people and the rest of nature and resolve to order all relations in accord
with the integrity of creation" (Rasmussen 1996, 270). He says that
"religions altogether will not save the planet… yet neither will earth be
saved without them" and not one should be overlooked in this pursuit in
healing the planet. Earth stands to benefit from religions rallying to its
cause, yet earth’s distress challenges these traditions to their cores.
Since most of Christianity has been human and male-centered from its
conception and in its leadership, it has been dysfunctionally and
destructively dualistic, including… splitting spirit from matter, mind
from body,… humanity from the rest of nature. It has encouraged earth-and
world denying spiritualities bent on "incanting anemic souls into Heaven."
And …it has been deeply ambivalent about the body and sensuality. Much of
it has…contributed mightily to modernity…supporting an industrial,
technological and urban world deeply at odds with the rest of the planet
(1996, 271).
Rasmussen says that Earth’s distress is a challenge to the conniving in
the murder of Creation. Christianity’s fundamental symbols and theology
are put to the test, although he questions whether all religious
traditions are open to being reformed by a concern for the earth.
Otherwise, their claims to be redemptive ring hollow (1996, 271-272).
Larry Rasmussen has been looking for cultures all over the world who
celebrate an earth faith. He has a research project called Song of Songs:
Christianities as Earth Faiths," to find expressions of Christianity that
contribute to earth-honoring ways of living. In a sabbatical year, he
searched around the world for Christian communities already living with
an earth-oriented, earth-enhancing ways of life. He says that it is wrong
to start a brand new tradition of eco-church. Rather, we need to draw
upon deep traditions that have been around a couple of millennia. He asked
the communities he visited, what deep traditions of Christianity they
drew upon and what they were doing with them. He found Maryknolls drawing
on Catholic sacramentalism and mysticism and traditions of contemplative
life. A Coptic Church in a desert in Egypt drew upon traditions of greening
the desert, creating Eden on the home turf of death itself. An African
Association of Earthkeeping Churches in Zimbabwe are trying to regain
lost lands and reclothe the earth. When they celebrate Eucharist, they
plant trees or gather harvest or dedicate seed. They also work toward
land rights reform in which is controversial in a colonized country. In
the Iona Community of monks in the Inner Hebrides off the coast of Scotland,
they practice creation-filled asceticism. They say no to one way of life
and yes to another and live it out with disciplined spiritual practices.
This intrigued him as so much of asceticism has been earth-denying and
body-denying. The Orthodox Church in Alaska, founded by the Russians,
is overwhelmingly Alaska Native. One of them said to him that Earth is
the icon that hangs ‘round God’s neck." They take a particular symbol
of earth, a plant, a saint’s face, a raven, a wolf, and say they "are
all ways of looking at the reality of earth in order to "enter into the
mystery of God and the cosmos."
Rasmussen would tell each community about the ones he had visited
before. This excited them as they met with a lot of opposition in their
own churches. They were criticized that their attention to the environment
detracted from peoples’ issues. This of course goes against what Rasmussen
wrote throughout his book, that it is neither either the environment or
the people, the experience of environmental degradation is part of the
same dynamic of human oppression. In an earlier section I wrote about
Rasmussen’s discussion of Ecumenism as derived from the Greek, Oikos. In
contrast to the coming together of ecumenism, Rasmussen also places
importance on Christian pluralism because to be rooted and honor earth
means doing so in a particular place. You can’t do that in a general way
as flora and fauna have to do with specific geography and geology. The
dessert spirituality mirrored the desert, the mountain spirituality
mirrored the mountain and so on. The images in their prayers are images of
the world around them. Thus Christian pluralism must allow churches to
resonate in people and place together (Arbogast interview
2000).
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