Out in the Mountains . "Blessing" Offers Hopeful Approach to Christianity! “Original Blessing." Matthew Fox, Bear & Company, Santa Fe, NM, 1983. by: Carrie Coy “Original Blessing” is an an ambitious and timely book. Its message is that Chris- tianity as a religion has feminist, creation- centered roots that are more ancient than those of its modern day patriarchal incama- tion. Matthew Fox, the book’s author, has embarked on something of a crusade to revive creation-centered Christian spiritu- ality, a religion which emphasizes the di- vinity of creation, and has been preserved by poets and mystics through centuries of overt repression. Original Blessing, which he describes as a Creation spirituality primer in “four paths and twenty-six themes”, is his most thorough effort to date. The book’ s message seems particularly relevant in light of the increasingly lop- sided view of Christianity presented by right-wing fundamentalists. I unearthed “Original Blessing” from my pile of unfin- ished books after I attended the public hearing for S.278. Reading Fox’s gentle message helped me redirect my anger toward its proper target and reaffirmed my conviction that there is little true Christian- ity in the rantings of militant fundamental- ists. The sense of hope in breaking a long- held conspiratorial silence permeates the book, particularly as Fox recounts the reac- tions of people to his lectures. ~ Fox, who is a Dominican scholar and educator at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names Col- lege in Oakland, California, has authored several books on Christian creation spiritu- ality. In all of them fall/redemption Chris- tianity is his target. He notes that today’s patriarchal, ascetic approach to Christian- ity is comparatively new. The attitude that suffering is wages for sin, and that all life begins with original sin is the legacy of St. Augustine (354—430 A.D.) whereas the creation-centered tradition traces its roots to. the ninth century B.C. with the very first author of the Bible, the Yahwist. Comparing the two spiritualities, Fox says the fall/redemption ideology, in con- trast to creation-centered spirituality, “...does not teach believers about the New Creation or creativity, about justice-mak. _ ing and social transformations, or about Eros, play, pleasure, and the God of delight It fails to teach love of the earth or care for the cosmos, and it is so frightened of pas. ‘ sion that it fails to listen to the impassioned pleas of the anawim, the little ones, of human history. This same fear of passion ‘ prevents it from helping lovers to celebrate their experiences as spiritual and mystical. ‘ This tradition has not proven friendly to - artists or prophets or Native American peoples or women.” Creation-centered spirituality is a spiri- , tuality of the powerless, the anawim, he ’ writes, fall/redemption spirituality is a ide . ology of the powerful. Fall/redemption ideologies help to keep the poor poor.‘ “They do not encourage the trust,” he _ writes, “the creativity, the moral outrage, the prophetic call and bonding that the‘ oppressed need to her.” In fall/redemption ideologies, one group, namely the domi- nant political group, sets itself up as the , criterion of what is natural and whatis creation, as God meant it to be. Gays and I‘ (Continued on next page) The Passion of Pearls We ’ve got a new look Come in and Check it out. 135 Pearl Street Burlington, Vermont