Original Blessing

Here is a reissue of the critically acclaimed bestseller, named one of the "20 books that changed the world" in New Age Journal's Annual Source Book for 1995. Maverick theologian Matthew Fox provides a daring view of historical Christianity and a theologically sound basis for personal discovery of spiritual liberation. In this revolutionary work, Fox shows how Christianity once celebrated beauty, compassion, justice, and provided a path of positive knowledge and ecstatic connection with all creation.

Preface to the 2000 Edition

3

(6)

Introduction: Two Questions Apropos of Wisdom and Human/Earth Survival

9

(26)

PATH I BEFRIENDING CREATION: THE VIA POSITIVA

Dabhar: The Creative Energy (Word) of God

35

(7)

Creation as Blessing and the Recovery of the Art of Savoring Pleasure

42

(15)

Humility as Earthiness: Our Earthiness as a Blessing along with Passion and Simplicity

57

(9)

Cosmic, Universalist: Harmony, Beauty, Justice as Cosmic Energies

66

(15)

Trust: A Psychology of Trust and Expansion

81

(7)

Panentheism: Experiencing the Diaphanous and Transparent God

88

(5)

Our Royal Personhood: Our Dignity and Responsibility for Building the Kingdom/Queendom of God. Creation Theology as a Kingdom/Queendom Theology

93

(10)

Realized Eschatology: A New Sense of Time

103

(5)

Holiness as Cosmic Hospitality: Creation Ecstasies Shared Constitute the Holy Prayer of Thanksgiving and Praise

108

(9)

Sin, Salvation, Christ from the Perspective of the Via Positiva: A Theology of Creation and Incarnation

117

(15)

PATH II BEFRIENDING DARKNESS, LETTING GO AND LETTING BE: THE VIA NEGATIVA

Emptying: Letting Go of Images and Letting Silence Be Silence

132

(8)

Being Emptied: Letting Pain Be Pain: Kenosis

140

(8)

Sinking into Nothingness and Letting Nothingness Be Nothingness

148

(9)

Sin, Salvation, Christ in the Perspective of the Via Negativa: A Theology of the Cross

157

(21)

PATH III BEFRIENDING CREATIVITY, BEFRIENDING OUR DIVINITY: THE VIA CREATIVA

From Cosmos to Cosmogenesis: Our Divinization as Images of God Who Are Also Co-Creators

178

(10)

Art as Meditation: Creativity and Birthing as Meditation, Centering, a Return to the Source

188

(13)

Faith as Trust of Images: Discipline---Yes! Asceticism---No!

201

(7)

Dialectical, Trinitarian: How Our Lives as Works of Art Spiral Beauty Back into the World

208

(12)

God as Mother, God as Child: Ourselves as Mothers of God and Birthers of God's Son

220

(9)

Sin, Salvation, Christ in the Perspective of the Via Creativa: A Theology of Resurrection

229

(21)

PATH IV BEFRIENDING NEW CREATION: COMPASSION, CELEBRATION, EROTIC JUSTICE, THE VIA TRANSFORMATIVA

The New Creation: Images of God in Motion Creating a Global Civilization

250

(7)

Faith as Trusting the Prophetic Call of the Holy Spirit

257

(8)

A Spirituality of the Anawim: Feminists, Third World, Lay, and Other Oppressed Peoples

265

(12)

Compassion: Interdependence, Celebration and the Recovery of Eros

277

(9)

Compassion: Interdependence and Erotic Justice

286

(7)

Sin, Salvation, Christ in the Perspective of the Via Transformativa: A Theology of the Holy Spirit

293

(14)

Appendix A: Toward a Family Tree of Creation-Centered Spirituality

307

(9)

Appendix B: Fall/Redemption and Creation-Centered Spiritualities Compared at a Glance

316

(5)

Appendix C: An Annotated Bibliography in Creation-Centered Spirituality

321

(7)

Additional Bibliography for the 2000 Edition

328

(7)

Notes

335

(22)

Index

357

(8)

Acknowledgments

365

(2)

About the Author

367

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