Matthew Fox

One River, Many Wells
$18.95
One River, Many Wells is a book that made me think outside the box. It is a liberal view of religion and is well written. Some would see it as too liberal but I feel it forces us to see other religions in a respectful way. WCS

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Presented in Four Paths, Twenty-Six Themes, and Two Questions
$16.95
Like Hans Kung, Matthew Fox has troubled Vatican officials with the unorthodox views he has espoused. I generally to share the Vatican's critique of his works, but (since I rather enjoy diverse perspectives and off-the-wall characters) I've read and appreciated various of Fox's works, including Original Blessing and The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. In Fox's defense, he is one of the few Christian thinkers who has dared to fully incorporate what he calls "creation spirituality" into theological endeavors. This book emerged from an imposed year's silence, during which Fox undertook a study St Thomas Aquinas, seeking to find streams of "creation spirituality" in the Angelic Doctor. Fox is a Dominican, so his interest in his order's chief theologian is understandable. He explored un-translated as well as familiar works, especially Thomas' biblical commentaries, and has published his findings in Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality (San Francisco: HarperCollins, c. 1992).
Following an extensive introduction, Fox engages Thomas in an imaginary dialogue. All the quotations ascribed to Thomas are, Fox insists, Aquinas' own words. (In his translating, however, one must assume Fox chooses words such as "Godself" rather than "Father" and "humankind" rather than "man" to suit his own ends. Fox openly flaunts his heterodoxy, his contempt for hierarchical authority, but he'd never violate the strictest canons of politically correct language!) All too frequently Fox forgets his role as interviewer, slipping into the pulpit to espouse his own notions, so I found myself skimming over Fox's proclamations so as to focus on Aquinas, whose words are what makes this book worthwhile. Thus, in this review, I'll cite Aquinas' works as well as indicate appropriate pages in Fox.
The first conversation addresses the "Via Positiva," suggesting that creation affords us positive, even propositional knowledge of God. To Aquinas, "Sacred writings are bound in two volumes--that of creation and that of the Holy Scriptures" (Summa Contra Gentiles, II,iv,5; Fox, p. 59). Anyone reading Aquinas finds how fully Scripture saturated all his thoughts--he quotes texts more incessantly than most Fundamentalist preachers! But he also insisted that creation itself reveals truth concerning the God who created and sustains it. "God is an artist and the universe is God's work of art" (Summa Theologica, I, q.45, a.6; Fox, p. 65). Thus God is everywhere, in all things as their universal cause, continually present wherever anything is. God must never be reduced to his handiwork, as in pantheism, but He must be clearly recognized as the source of its being. "God is above all things by the excellence of the divine nature; but God is in all things as the cause of the being of all things" (Summa Theologica, I, q.8, a.1; Fox, p. 71). In short: God's transcendence must be balanced with His immanence.
Since God is, in fact, present in creation, "One meditates on creation in order to view and marvel at divine wisdom" (Summa Contra Gentiles, II,ii,2; Fox, p. 78). We know God and His ways by the careful contemplation of creation. "All creatures confess that they are made by God. Human beings ask questions of creatures when they consider them diligently" (Commentary on Job, 12, 2; Fox, p. 81). "Just as someone looking at a book knows the wisdom of the writer, so when we see creatures, we know the wisdom of God" (Commentary on the Psalms 44, 31; Fox, p. 81).
Attuned to a living world, we recognize God as the Source of life itself. "When we say 'God is Spirit' we say God is a life-giver, because our entire life is from God, as its creative source" (Commentary on John 4.24, n.615; Fox, p. 142). As humans, we receive our spiritual life directly from God, but we are, soul and body, a tightly bonded blend which must be understood holistically. Our souls need bodies, and throughout eternity we will remain embodied souls, attaining our perfection as human beings, not disembodied angelic beings. God himself, as the living Word, entered fully into our humanness in the Incarnation of Jesus. Prompted by His great love, "The son of God became human in order that human beings might become gods and become the children of God" (A Compendium of Theology, I, 214; Fox, p. 154). Through Christ's work, grace is imparted to us, and "Grace renders us like God and a partaker of the divine nature" (On Truth, q.27, a.6; Fox, p. 156). "Grace does not destroy nature but completes it" (Summa Theologica, I, q.l, a.8; Fox, p. 156). Certainly St Thomas celebrated the goodness and revelatory powers of creation, the glorious illumination of the Incarnation, and the graciously communicated co-naturality with God we enjoy as partakers of the divine nature. Thus his confidence in the "via positiva" shines throughout the extensive conversation Fox conducts.
Turning to the second conversation, "On the Via Negativa," we encounter another side to Thomas. Though we know some things, most divine dimensions transcend our intellectual capacities. Some "secrets of Divinity can be reached only through a spiritual rebirth" (Commentary on John, 3.1, n.431; Fox, p. 194), but others can never be known by man. Indeed, "The mind's greatest achievement is to realize that God is far beyond anything we think" (Commentary on Dionysius' De divinus nominibus, n.83, p. 28; Fox, p. 196).
Like Job, Aquinas discovered that God cannot be reduced to tidy human categories. It is, in fact (as he discovered at the end of his life) impossible to describe the incomparable glory and goodness and holiness of God. While he did not focus on the Via Negativa as much as thinkers such as the Pseudo-Dionysius, he certainly make it clear he understood the limits of human reason. Turning to the third conversation, "On the Via Creativa," Fox finds Aquinas encouraging our cooperation in the divinely inspired work of creation. Here, perhaps more than anywhere, one must question Fox's selections and editorial work, for he continually strives to force Thomas to celebrate man's "creativity" when in fact the quotations seem at least open to other interpretations. Nevertheless, it is clear that Thomas believed in a kind of synergism, man's free responses to God's creativity resulting in human creations. God not only created things in the past. He continues to create through "secondary causes," granting "the dignity of causality" to His creatures. In view of that divine strategy, we are privileged to join Him in bringing life, goodness, and beauty into His world. We're called to be artists!
"Art," to Thomas, "is nothing else but the right reason about certain works to be made" (Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 57, a. 3); Fox, p. 308). Like virtually all good work, teaching can be an art, for "The ability to teach belongs to people who are wise and who know something inasmuch as they can express their inner thought in words, so that they can lead somebody else to an understanding of truth" (Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, I, L. 1, p. 15; Fox, p. 286). The finest of all arts, however, is the art of living virtuously. To work with God, empowered by His grace and truth, enables one to cultivate and perfect the virtues. Like the health which comes from proper diet and exercise, sanctity comes from good teaching and discipline. Indeed: "It is essential to virtue to be about the difficult and the good" (Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 129, a. 2; Fox, p. 350).
In addition to creativity, Fox presents quotations from Thomas "On the Via Transformativa." Here he shows how God seeks to remold us, both individually and collectively, into compassionate, righteous persons. In this section Thomas' deep concern for salvation from sin and its scars shines through, despite Fox's efforts to minimize the importance of the deliverance-from-sin salvation motif. To be transformed, by God's grace, into Christ-like, holy persons is, in Aquinas' teaching, the central concern of Christianity.
This book provides a refreshing compilation of quotations, mined from an incredible amount of material, which provides us with new insights into the philosophy of the most magisterial of the Medieval schoolmen. Had Fox limited himself to asking good questions and arranging Thomas' responses, the book would have been both shorter and better, since he routinely abandons the role of interviewer and assumes a prophet's mantle. But for all its deficiencies, I found the book most interesting and enlightening.

Behind the Mask
$9.98
Dr. Robert Shushan (Donald Sutherland) is a workaholic leader of a clinic helping and giving useful work to mentally handicapped and developmentally disabled adults. His overwork leads to a heart attack. Shushan's reaction to a heart condition and work is typical--I know--I lived through it myself. Sutherland does a masterful work in displaying the emotion and drive, as well as a new look at life and what is important for a heart attack survivor. He must have had a real heart attack, or he talked to some men that did. Of course he was likely coached by one of the writers, the real Dr. Shushan.

His new lease on life awakens him to a need to get closer to his son Brian (Bradley Whitford) who, after years of a civil relationship, questions the need or desire for more of the emotional and loving kinship.

Unfortunately, during the heart episode's recovery time, the board of the clinic developed by Dr. Shushan has decided he needs to step down. Shushan takes one desperate stab at making a difference before he must leave. A mentally handicapped client and maintenance worker, James (Matthew Fox) becomes Shushan's focus. James had initially saved Shushan by being at the scene of the heart attack and responding appropriately. Shushan's enhanced effort to help this young man, lead to an attempt to find his father. James one great need/wish is to find his father, and that this father be proud of him. What an amazing portral of this young man who begins to see the doctor as his father.

Of course, the father is found. That is no surprise. It really happened. It is the reaction to the situation by all four, 2 sons and 2 fathers, that makes the ending. Powerful drama, and knowing it was real, makes the emotional adventure of this DVD all the better. Father and son bonds are powerful to watch.

Perhaps this is one for all fathers and sons to watch. Perhaps finding more important and realistic goals for life might be approached without the need to have the life-altering heart attack by many viewers.

I'm a little slow in coming across this DVD--but so pleased I finally did.
It's a love story of sorts, of real men, and real lives, and how men can desire and find a father/son relationship that works.

Creativity
$14.95
If you are an artist or studying any aspect of creativity... this book is a must have.
I took it with me on a trip to Bali and brought the highlighter on the plane to select good sections.
Practically half the book was highlighted as there were so many juicy well put quotes about the power of creativity.
There is certainly a spiritual standpoint at the foundation (he is a previous priest after all) but it is well rounded in it's perspectives and very passionate. If anything, I would almost say overstated.

Great Read for Creativity Lovers!