Matthew Fox: The Man, The Controversy
Matthew Fox: Then and Now Matthew Fox is a literary groundbreaker in the world of theology, in particular the doctrines of the Catholic Church. His 1983 first-book, Original Blessing is a solid look at the blessings of life rather than the concept of original sin. The notion of Original sin is a central tenet to the Catholic Doctrine, and in 1989 the Vatican silenced Fox for one full year because of his teachings from Original Blessings.
In Original Blessings, Fox divides his book into four sections, befriending creation (the via positiva); befriending darkness, letting go, and letting be (the via negativa); befriending creativity, befriending our divinity (via creativa); and befriending new creation: compassion, celebration, and erotic justice (the via transformativa). He states that awe and goodness will be the greatest counters to our society's predominantly pessimistic and fearful mood.
Fox believes that Jesus teaches us to live the 'beautiful life'. What he means by this is that deeds, which are done for good and moral reasons, are beautiful and are the best parts of creation. He has numerous outspoken viewpoints on such areas as the environment, humanity, good and evil, and the concepts of compassion and work. To Fox, living a spiritual life is not a matter of religion but a matter of actions. For the purposes of this report on Matthew Fox, his views on the above mentioned subjects have been divided into sections including referenced supportive quotations.
Background
Although much is known about Fox's public personae as a former Priest, Dominican and now Episcopalian Priest, it is hard to find much information about his current life - interests, hobbies, and family life. Perhaps the best way to know Matthew Fox is through his books, his classes, and his interviews.
He is candid at all times, and seems open to the concept that his ideas are not mainstream. He has been quoted as saying that he realizes his ideas are new, and some have called him the "Maverick Priest."
Born in 1940 at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin Fox contracted polio as a youth and the experience began to change him, he appreciated more the spiritual parts of life and the wonderfulness of creation. In his autobiographical work Confessions: The Makings of a Post-Denominational Priest Fox describes his early years as a television culture from Ed Sullivan and Bishop Sheen to Elvis Presley and the Beatles, JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., Vietnam and Watergate, and Pope John XXIII to Pope Paul II. He goes on to explain this concept by stating:
My generation was bold enough to question many things and to seek spirituality over religion."
Perhaps it was this boldness, and the times in which Fox grew up and viewed the world, which enabled him to feel comfortable in the role of 'radical theologian'. Fox was dismissed from the Roman Catholic Dominican Order in 1993 and later became a Protestant Episcopal Priest. Fox continues to speak about Original Blessing and other topics of relevant to his theological followers from the pulpit of the University of Creation Spirituality (which he helped to found in June of 1984 through an organization he created called Friends of Creation Spirituality, Inc.
Fox Responds to the Outcry
Fox's response to the questions people have about his change of 'faith' can be best summed up in a series of letters which he is compiling into book format to be titled Letters to my Catholic Brothers and Sisters.
Never have so many Catholics been set so far adrift, desperately searching for answers at a time when the Church has lost much of its moral authority."
In his work Original Blessing, however Fox seems to foreshadow his own fate when he explains his theologian's view on the Western world. (33)
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