Matthew Fox: 95 Theses for a New Reformation

I just discovered that Matthew Fox, theologian of Creation Spirituality, now has his own weblog. He recently nailed 95 Theses for a New Reformation at the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses some 500 years ago. The weblog has pictures of Matthew nailing his new 95 Theses near the door (which is now made of metal, so no one can nail anything on it anymore). If you scroll down, the weblog also lists, in both English and German, the "95 Theses or Articles of Faith for a Christianity for the Third Millennium." Here are just a few I especially like:

1. God is both Mother and Father.

6. 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).

33. The term “original wound” better describes the separation humans experience on leaving the womb and entering the world, a world that is often unjust and unwelcoming, than does the term “original sin.”

41. 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 chakras, are as holy as the others.

42. 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.

54. 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.

55. 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.

57. Since “ the number one obstacle to interfaith is a bad relationship with one’s own faith” (the Dalai Lama), it is important that Christians know their own mystical and prophetic tradition, one that is larger than a religion of empire and its punitive father images of God.

Others among the 95 Theses address the sins of homophobia, racism, sexism, and militarism. More about those in a future blog post.

Darrell
www.WildFaith.com