The Coming of the Cosmic Christ by Matthew Fox

First published: San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Subgenre(s): Meditation and contemplation; theology

Core issue(s): Jesus Christ; mysticism; wisdom

Overview

In The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Matthew Fox addresses mysticism as an essential part of spirituality and Christian faith. The prologue, “A Dream and a Vision for a Global Renaissance,” underscores the importance of the language of mysticism in communicating spiritual matters beyond physical reality.

The book is organized into six parts with several subheadings. Each begins with quotations or citations from the Bible and writers who have captured the ecstasy of experiential mysticism in their works, including Christian saints (such as Hildegard von Bingen and Thomas Aquinas), poets (such as Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Kabir, and Walt Whitman), and other writers (such as Henry David Thoreau and Dorothea Soelle). At the end, an epilogue sums up the book’s ecumenical scope. It relates a dream about the Third World nations and the United Nations’ plans to prepare for the year 2000 as a jubilee year, when spiritual leaders from both West and East will gain appreciation for cosmic wisdom in their relationships. The new era will be marked with possibilities for experiential mysticism and excitement and will dismantle the institutions of abusive power. Old divisions of race, gender, and culture—often promoted through religion—will cease to exist.

In part 1, Fox interprets the Crucifixion story in a modern global context by using Mother Earth to represent the primal elements of humanity, which are threatened in many ways. He then shows how separation from the primitive cultures and primeval elements of religion deprives humanity of “Mother Love.” He adds that universal wisdom is dying along with native peoples, their religions, and their cultures.

In part 2, Fox describes mysticism as the expression of renewal and resurrection for our times. He deplores the rise of pseudomysticism in Christianity, which separates the mystical experience from the natural state of a living creature. Taking a more inclusive approach to mysticism, he suggests “twenty-one experiential definitions of mysticism” that embrace the changing conditions of human life and cultural diversity without losing the balance between the parts and the whole being through universal connections. Experiential mysticism resists a compartmentalized approach, blends human reasoning with emotional understanding, includes both the right and the left brain, and resists reductive visions. Fox refers to the historical Jesus as a mystic, a storyteller whose preferred form of teaching through parables encouraged his followers to seek wisdom by connecting natural contexts to spiritual understanding.

In part 3, Fox shows that a quest for the Cosmic Christ requires a paradigm shift: a search for the renewal of fixed traditions of the past, traditions that have promoted exclusion based on gender, race, culture, and religious differences. This paradigm shift is necessary to understand various biblical references to the Cosmic Christ as the ruler of the universe and the embodiment of the wisdom of all world religions.

In part 4, Fox takes a close look at the Cosmic Christ’s role as the redeemer of humankind in the “Third Millennium of Christianity.” Christ’s suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection represent the mystery of faith that connects the human condition to the power of divine will and word. Fox proposes that pain and suffering are an inevitable part of human life on earth; however, sensitivity to pain not only teaches compassion but also leads to a realization of the need to explore possibilities for relief from pain through creative means. The Cosmic Christ is the mediator between God the Creator and his creation, especially human beings. The Cosmic Christ inspires creativity among humans and restores the connection between mind and heart through spiritual experiences. His divine wisdom shows new connections between world religions that have remained distant and unexplored because of factionalism based on cultural differences. Instead of promoting anthropocentrism and rationalism, the Cosmic Christ moves religion toward spirituality, from rationalism to mysticism, from asceticism to the aesthetic, for art, like science, is transcultural.

In part 5, Fox concludes with an optimistic vision for a global renaissance and the beginning of a healing process with the Second Coming of the Cosmic Christ, when deep divisions will give in to deep ecumenism. This transformation will require a change in human outlook and a new worldview. For example, as a starting point, Fox refers to sex as a topic that must be dissociated from a negative frame and reconnected to its primal roots of a mystical experience of love. Sexual love must be part of a cosmic context in which justice becomes the ultimate test of mystical experience. Fox acknowledges the complexity of connecting sexuality and questions of justice, but the key is to take a balanced approach through a sacramental stance; there is a need to learn how to embody the sacred and the physical together again in human relations.

The book concludes with three appendixes. Appendix A contains the text of an apology to Native Congregations by the United Church of Canada. Appendix B includes a joint letter of apology to Tribal Councils of Indians and Eskimos of the Northwest. Appendix C is an apology for “religious imperialism” to the Indian Community of the United Church of Christ by the United Church of Christ, which expresses penitence and hope for reconciliation. Appendix D is a litany of deliverance from patriarchy that separates parts from the cosmic whole.

Christian Themes

Fox’s reference to Mother Earth furnishes a powerful image for a creation-centered theology; it is also an acknowledgment of the significance of the maternal attributes of God, who has traditionally been imaged as a male patriarch. Fox argues for a theology that embraces maternal love as a sustaining force in God’s creation on earth. He begins with the ecological surroundings of humans and connects Mother Earth to the process of renewal and new birth. He regrets Western societies’ emphasis on science and rationalism and their disregard for the role of mysticism in natural phenomena, which underscores unity and interconnectedness in God’s creation. Since reverence to Mother Earth is lacking, humans have abandoned Mother Earth to a painful condition of toxic contamination. “The maternal is the place of new birth” and new beginnings, but instead of connecting to the possibilities for a healthy and wholesome future, humans are inflicting pain on Mother Earth by polluting the holy water, which is symbolic of spiritual rebirth during baptism.

Fox describes the historical Christ as a mystic who would retreat to quiet places for prayer. Christ fasted in the wilderness for forty days and overcame Satan’s temptation. His miracles are evidence of his human compassion, but as a mystic he also knows God’s will and carries it out to the point of death. However, his death was an apocalyptic event, culminating in his resurrection with the promise of his Second Coming.

Fox aims to revive the experiential mysticism of the early Christian saints and martyrs; he contrasts it with modern pseudomysticism (found in nationalism, consumerism, asceticism, and fundamentalism), which “lacks integrality of justice,” promotes divisions, and is deficient in the prophetic energy and ecumenical wisdom of the Cosmic Christ.

Sources for Further Study

Fox, Matthew. Creativity. New York: Penguin, 2002. After breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church, Matthew Fox became the founder and president of the University of Creation Spirituality and serves as an Episcopalian priest. This book reiterates his argument for combatting the ecological and spiritual crisis. He suggests that humans need to assume the role of co-creators to preserve and to enjoy God’s creation.

Fox, Matthew. A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2006. This book includes Fox’s ninety-five theses that Fox nailed to the church door in Wittenberg, Frankfurt, Germany. He emulated Martin Luther (who in 1519 had nailed his ninety-five theses on the same church door). The ideas expressed in Fox’s theses have already appeared in his books: for example, “Religion is not necessary, but spirituality is” (Thesis 11) and “Cosmos is God’s only temple and our holy home” (Thesis 58).

Fox, Matthew. One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. New York: Putnam, 2000. In this book, Fox discusses the common aspects of world religions while acknowledging the diversity of sources for spiritual wisdom. He strings together excerpts from various religious books to emphasize the power of spirituality to inspire reverence for the natural order.