Matthew Fox
A Conversation with Dr. Theodore Richards on Cultivating Compassion in the Wake of Apocalypse for the Reimagining Podcast
Click here the Reimagining Podcast episode with Matthew Fox
More than ever before, we are confronted with apocalyptic catastrophes in environment, health, and government. How can we still cultivate compassion and care for one another in the wake of apocalypse? For decades the loving wisdom of the Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, one of the United States greatest moral leaders, has given hope to thousands.
The Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox is is a spiritual theologian, an Episcopal priest and an activist for gender and eco-justice. He has written 30-plus books that have been translated into other languages over 70 times. Among them are Original Blessing, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, A Spirituality Named Compassion, The Reinvention of Work, The Hidden Spirituality of Men, Christian Mystics, The Pope’s War, Naming the Unnamable, and The Tao of Thomas Aquinas.
He has contributed much to the rediscovery of Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart and Thomas Aquinas as pre-modern mystics and prophets. Fox holds a doctorate in the history and theology of spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris. The founder of the University of Creation Spirituality in California, he conducts dozens of workshops each year and is a visiting scholar at the Academy for the Love of Learning.
In joining the Episcopal church over 20 years ago, Fox has been working with young people to reinvent forms of worship by bringing elements of rave such as dance, dj, vj and more into the Western Liturgy. The Cosmic Mass has been celebrated over 100 times and in dozens of cities in North America.
Fox is recipient of the Abbey Courage of Conscience Peace Award (other recipients being the Dali Lama, Mother Teresa, Ernesto Cardenal and Rosa Parks), the Ghandi King Ikeda Award, the Tikkun National Ethics Award and other awards.
Seeking to establish a new pedagogy for learning spirituality melding the ancient Western wisdom tradition with contemporary scientists and modern mystics, Fox founded the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality that operated for seven years at Mundelein College in Chicago and twelve years at Holy Names College in Oakland.
Cardinal Ratzinger — later Pope Benedict XVI — silenced Fox for one year in 1989 and forced him to step down as director. Three years later he expelled Fox from the Order, thus terminating the program at Holy Names College.
Fox went on to establish the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, CA, where it thrived for nine years and closed in 2007.
Fox believes that “by reinventing work, education and worship we can bring about a non-violent revolution on our planet” and has committed himself to this vision for many years. His 2006 book, The A.W.E. Project: An Educational Transformation for Post-Modern Times, lays out the elements of an educational revolution for young people that is based on his 40 years of educating adults with an alternative pedagogy based on cosmology, creativity and contemplation.
Fox implemented this pedagogy in a project for inner city teenagers in Oakland called YELLAWE: “Youth and Elder Learning Laboratory for Ancestral Wisdom Education,” with the goal of reinventing education from the inner city out.
Dr. Theodore Richards, an award-winning author, philosopher, and educator, is the Founder and Director (CEO) of the Chicago Wisdom Project and the Co-Director (Co-CEO) of Wisdom Projects, Inc. Click here to learn more about his work for the Wisdom Community.
If you like this episode of the Reimagining Podcast, CLICK HERE and become a Patron (for just the cost of a few cups of coffee a month) of the Wisdom Community and Wisdom Projects, Inc. on Patreon.
