July 9, 2009
I’ve been tagged in yet another Facebook meme. This one asks me to list fifteen books that I would like to read. That seems to be a pretty cool list to draw up; in fact, it seemed worthy enough to publish to my blog as well as to Facebook. Of course, fifteen seemed impossible, so I have taken the liberty of listing twenty books.
So here goes. This list is presented alphabetically by title, and of course it represents only a tiny fraction of the books on my “to read” list. If you want to read any of these books yourself, follow the links to purchase a copy at Amazon.
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O’Brien — A legendary comic Irish novel that is said to be as much of a masterpiece as anything by Joyce or Beckett.- The Cloud of Unknowing with the Book of Privy Counsel: A New Translation by Carmen Acevedo Butcher — Dr. Butcher lives near Atlanta and is friends with my good friend Darrell, who says this new translation has helped him to fall in love with The Cloud all over again.
- The Complete Julian of Norwich by Father John-Julian, OJN — an annotated edition of Julian’s Revelation of Divine Love by the former superior of an Anglican contemplative order devoted to Julian.
- Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by Paul Louis Metzger — This book is one of several titles on my to-read list that connect the dots between the Holy Eucharist and the subversive promise of Christian social thought.
- Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party) by Rod Dreher — I might love this book or I might hate it, but either way I’m interested in the greening of the Republican party, which is what this book explores.
Deification and Grace: Introductions to Catholic Doctrine by Daniel A. Keating — deification is usually associated with Eastern Orthodoxy; this Catholic-oriented survey by a respected scholar (and published by a conservative press) looks interesting.- The End of Food: How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Food Supply—And What We Can Do About It by Thomas F. Pawlick — The politics of food production is something I think we all should be concerned about. It’s far beyond just being sure to buy organic: between GMOs and agribusiness, our health, our economy, and the ecology of the planet are all at risk.
- Faithful Dissenters: Stories of Men and Women Who Loved and Changed the Church by Robert McClory — A reminder that there’s more ways to be a good Christian than just blindly following the rules.
- The Gethsemani Encounter: A Dialogue on the Spiritual Life by Buddhist and Christian Monastics edited by Donald W. Mitchell and James Wiseman, O.S.B. — Christian-Buddhist dialogue emerging from a historic interfaith gathering of contemplatives at Gethsemani Abbey, where Thomas Merton lived.
- The Gifts of the Christ Child & Other Stories and Fairy Tales by George MacDonald — Recommended to me by the abbot of the Monastery where I work, the fiction of this 19th-century Scottish mystic is saturated with his Celtic, optimistic worldview.
God Speaks in the Night: The Life, Times, and Teaching of St. John of the Cross edited by Silvano Giordano, OCD et al.; translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD — Lavishly illustrated biography of one of the Christian tradition’s greatest mystics, assembled by members of his Discalced Carmelite Order.- The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor by Flannery O’Connor, selected and edited by Sally Fitzgerald — Beneath the southern gothic weirdness of O’Connor’s fiction is an intelligent, perceptive, and devout Catholic artist, who shines through in this anthology of her correspondence.
- Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology by Michael J. Gorman — There’s been quite a buzz about this book on Twitter; I’m particularly interested in it because it’s a Protestant exploration of deification.
- Joyce’s Book of the Dark: Finnegans Wake by John Bishop — I’m not sure if this book will make Finnegans Wake any more comprehensible, but it looks like a fun exploration of the mythic dreamscapes found within that most enigmatic of Irish novels.
- King of Mysteries: Early Irish Religious Writings by John Carey — anthology of the treasures of ancient Celtic Christian literature, edited by one of the most perceptive scholars of the field.
Merton & Hesychasm: The Prayer of the Heart (The Eastern Church) edited by Bernadette Dieker and Jonathan Montaldo — A generous anthology of writings by and about Thomas Merton, concerning his interest in Eastern Orthodox spirituality and the Jesus Prayer tradition.- Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism by Grace M. Jantzen — Jantzen’s book on the theology of Julian of Norwich was wonderful, so I’m curious to see what she has to say about mysticism as a whole.
- Quest for the Grail by Richard Rohr — I love Rohr’s work on emergence Christianity and contemplation, so I figure I’d enjoy seeing what he has to say about masculine spirituality.
- Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker — Not sure if I buy this book’s thesis or not, but I’m willing to give it a try: the authors argue that early Christian art (and, therefore, theology) was far more positive and life-affirming than the obsession with the crucifixion that emerged in the middle ages.
- Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community: Eight Essays by Wendell Berry — A book recommended to me by a spiritual director years ago, but which I never read: arguing for the link between authentic/healthy faith, community, small-scale agriculture, and living in harmony with the earth.
So there you go. Now, what’s your list?
2 Comments | 
Books | Tagged: Books, books I want to read, Facebook, memes | 
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Posted by Carl McColman
July 9, 2009
I don’t normally venture into politics in this blog. I believe that contemplative prayer and Christian mysticism are for everyone, across the political spectrum. However, a blog post that I have just read, critiquing a prominent Catholic pundit who appears to have let his partisan politics cloud his assessment of Papal teaching, is, I believe, worth passing on, and contains a lesson for all of us.
George Weigel, who has made a career for himself exploiting the relationship between Catholic teaching and conservative politics, has shot himself in the foot, now that Pope Benedict XVI has issued an encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), which in part dares to challenge Mr. Weigel’s ideological right-wing political agenda. After praising Pope Benedict for years — ever since his days as Cardinal Ratzinger, in service to Pope John Paul II — now Weigel is suddenly attempting to deconstruct (and, thereby, discredit) the Pope’s message, blaming it on internal intrigue at the Vatican rather than simply rushing to defend it (which is what Weigel usually does, whenever a Papal document is sufficiently conservative). Thankfully, the blogosphere is taking him to task for this about-face, and none more eloquently than the Evangelical Catholicism blog, in this post: On the Sheer Implausibility of George Weigel’s Story.
As someone who has long been uncomfortable with the way that politically-conservative Catholics attack those who are left of center for alleged disloyalty to the church, it’s satisfying, if not entirely consistent with Christian charity, to see a prominent conservative get a dose of his own medicine.
Particularly illuminating are the comments that readers have left in response to the Evangelical Catholicism piece. I think this one pretty much says it all:
My less than charitable opinion of George Weigel has always been that he is 75% neocon and 25% Catholic with an unfettered ego bordering on arrogance. I believe this piece proves me correct. And don’t expect him to retract it. It would be much more in character for Weigel and his fans in the Neocon Alternate Universe to attack anyone who dares to attack him (for attacking the Pope).
Now, what is the lesson here? I believe that it is both foolish and unchristian to denounce our political (or theological) opponents for being defective in their faith. It’s one thing to say “I disagree with you, and here’s why,” but it’s another thing to say “Not only do I disagree with you, but you are therefore a bad Christian.” If we want to challenge one another’s politics, fine; if we want to critique each other’s theology, well, all’s fair in love and war (and blogging). But for too long now, when liberal and progressive Catholics dare to criticize church teaching or Papal pronouncements, the right has rushed to attack the left for being “disloyal” to the church. But by doing that, the conservatives have unwittingly painted themselves into a corner: for if a document like Caritas in Veritate comes along that displeases the right, how can conservatives critique it, without laying themselves open to the very charges of “disloyalty” that they have so frequently hurled at progressives?
The moral of the story: vigorous debate and thoughtful criticism are essential components of liberty — even in a hierarchical church. “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). But in order to serve God in truth and integrity, we all — regardless of our political position — need to refrain from applying double standards to our search for truth. Celebrating Papal teaching as beyond criticism when we agree with it, but then trying to explain it away when we don’t, simply doesn’t work — no matter how you vote.
1 Comment | 
Catholicism, Current events | Tagged: Cafeteria Catholics, Caritas in Veritate, Current events, George Weigel, Politics, Pope Benedict XVI | 
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Posted by Carl McColman
July 8, 2009
The following quotation landed in my email inbox this morning from my good friend and co-conspirator Phil Foster, who in turn found it on Facebook… I traced it back to a wonderful website run by a Zen Quaker organic farmer in Virginia. The farm is called White Flint Farm and you can visit the website here. The quotation actually comes from an essay by Wendell Berry called “Christianity and The Survival of Creation” which can be found in his book Sex, Economy, Freedom, Community: Eight Essays. That’s when I had a “could’ve had a V8″ moment, complete with forehead-slapping. You see, a spiritual director of mine, back in the 90s when I was still an Episcopalian, recommended I read this book. Of course, I never did, more’s the pity. It would have been to my benefit to become familiar with Berry, who — based on this quote — is clearly a prophetic voice about Christianity’s responsibility to the environment. Anyway, it’s better late than never and so now I’m eager to (finally) read this book. Meanwhile, if you want to know what the fuss is about, here’s the quote:
“Despite its protests to the contrary, modern Christianity has become willy-nilly the religion of the state and the economic status quo. Because it has been so exclusively dedicated to incanting anemic souls into heaven, it has, by a kind of ignorance, been made the tool of much earthly villainy. It has, for the most part, stood silently by, while a predatory economy has ravaged the world, destroyed its natural beauty and health, divided and plundered its human communities and households. It has flown the flag and chanted the slogans of empire. It has assumed with the economists that “economic forces” automatically work for good, and has assumed with the industrialists and militarists that technology determines history. It has assumed with almost everybody that “progress” is good, that it is good to be modern and up with the times. It has admired Caesar and comforted him in his depredations and defaults. But in its de facto alliance with Caesar, Christianity connives directly in the murder of Creation. For, in these days, Caesar is no longer a mere destroyer of armies, cities, and nations. He is a contradictor of the fundamental miracle of life. A part of the normal practice of his power is his willingness to destroy the world. He prays, he says, and churches everywhere compliantly pray with him. But he is praying to a God whose works he is prepared at any moment to destroy. What could be more wicked than that, or more mad?
The religion of the Bible, on the contrary, is a religion of the state and the status quo only in brief moments. In practice, it is a religion for the correction equally of people and of kings. And Christ’s life, from the manger to the cross, was an affront to the established powers of his time, as it is to the established powers of our time. Much is made in churches of the “good news” of the gospels. Less is said of the gospel’s bad news, which is that Jesus would have been horrified by just about every “Christian” government the world has ever seen. He would be horrified by our government and its works, and it would be horrified by him. Surely no sane and thoughtful person can imagine any government of our time sitting comfortably at the feet of Jesus, who is telling them to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you…” (Matt. 5:44).
— Wendell Berry
5 Comments | Activism, Christianity, Quotations, nature, spirituality | Tagged: Christianity and the Survival of Creation, nature, prophetic voices, Quotations, Sex Economy Freedom Community, Wendell Berry | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
July 6, 2009
If you’re interested in the future of monasticism and other forms of consecrated religious life, read this article by Jose Maria Vigil, CMF: A Call To Religious Life Worldwide
Father Vigil argues that the collapse of religious life in Europe (and, by extension, in North and South America) is due not only to the secularization of society, but also to problems related to institutionalization: to excessive control by the church heirarchy and to the tendency that religious bureaucracy has to stultify prophetic and charismatic movements.
Even for those of us who are not “in” monastic or consecrated religious life, but who look to the traditions of monasticism and religious orders for our own spiritual guidance, there’s plenty to chew on here.
6 Comments | Catholicism, Christianity | Tagged: A Call to Religious Life Worldwide, CMF, future of monasticism, future of religious life, Jose Maria Vigil | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
July 6, 2009
Last night I had a dream, and most of the details I now can’t recall. But I do remember that someone in the dream offered this nugget of wisdom:
In marriage, when you keep score, nobody wins. Frankly, that also holds true for miniature golf.
1 Comment | 
Family, humor, spirituality | Tagged: dreams, folk wisdom, humor, Marriage, spirituality | 
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Posted by Carl McColman
July 5, 2009
A friend of mine wrote me this note:
I struggle at times to see the point of non-mystic relationships with our Abba. I don’t want to judge but it feels as if mystics connect with God and all else is religion. Even as I prepare to go to a contemporary church service where many enjoy the worship and talking, I would rather just be somewhere quiet with my Source and Lover of my soul.
You’ve written somewhere on your website about the connection between mystics / contemplatives and INFP’s. Do we all connect with God in different ways and only a few of us are wired to be contemplative or are non-contemplatives living Martha lives busy doing for God instead of sitting at His feet?
Is it wrong to encourage others to this life because they are wired differently than me?
Here’s my reply:
My first thought is that I think we need to keep as broad a definition of “mysticism” as possible. My own spiritual director (a Trappist monk) has a very strong bias toward apophatic prayer, and I’m continually teasing/reminding him that the kataphatic path can be just as blessed by God. Based on what you’re saying, it sounds like you share my director’s natural affinity for the apophatic path. Alleluia. What is tricky, of course, is learning to accept those whose path is different from our own, especially when they seem to be hostile/critical in their assessment of our path.
As for your Mary/Martha question, I think the answer is “It depends.” Discernment is essential here. I do believe that even the most Martha person is occasionally called to Mary moments, and vice versa. If you come to the edge of a river and someone is drowning and there’s a rowboat with a life preserver there, “praying about it” is the wrong response. Those of us who are naturally apophatic/contemplative are continually being taught that loving service/work is a form of prayer — just as the natural activists have to learn that quiet contemplation is a form of action. I know this may sound like I believe ultimately we’re all called to some sort of uniform integration, but I don’t think that’s the case. The “Mary’s” of the world will always be more Mary than Martha, and vice versa. Incidentally, I believe that when Jesus tells Martha that “Mary has chosen the better part” it is NOT meant that contemplation is somehow “higher” than action — no matter what the Cloud of Unknowing says. Rather, I believe Our Lord is praising Mary for her presence and serenity — Mary could have been sitting there feeling guilty for letting Martha do all the work. Likewise, if Martha had been centered in joy as she served the guests, she too would have had “the better part.” Of course, I’m guilty of eisegesis here, and who knows, maybe Mary was a habitual slacker.
Back to you. I think the most telling statement in your letter is confessing your struggle to see “the point” of non-mystical religion. That’s worth investigating. I think several lines could be followed:
- Isn’t it possible that many people are what Thomas Merton called “masked contemplatives” — they engage in a contemplative practice without realizing it, or naming it as such? The Anglican theologian Martin Thornton wrote admiringly of the woman who got closer to God cutting up lettuce for a salad than did the monk busy with his Psalms and Rosaries (now there’s an inversion of the Mary/Martha story).
- Another thought is more evolutionary: today’s churchgoers are, at least potentially, tomorrow’s contemplatives. We don’t begrudge a seven-year old because they haven’t figured out calculus. Now, the problem with this analogy is that many churches try to inhibit the onset of contemplative consciousness, but that’s an obstacle to be overcome, not an ontology that can’t be avoided. And perhaps it’s up to us contemplatives to evangelize those who are only potential contemplatives?
- Finally, to quote my friend Bob Hughes, in his wonderful book Beloved Dust: “Indeed, because love of God cannot be seen reliably, the only visible measure we have for someone’s progress in the spiritual life is an increase of effective love for the neighbor.” In other words, God gives us people to love so that we can grow in both love of God & love of neighbor, and sooner or later this means learning to love those we see as hard to love or unlovable. For contemplatives, those who are frenetic and activist in their religious observance are often trying and tiring. But those are precisely the people God has made our neighbors. We have our marching orders…
As for your final question: no, I don’t think it’s wrong to speak of contemplation with others; as I say, maybe we are called to evangelize those who have not yet tasted refreshing waters found at the well of contemplation. But just as ordinary evangelists can backfire if they come on too strong, I think discretion is essential here. Maybe rather than encouraging others, we simply should be in the business of inviting them when we feel led to do so. And then leave the “encouraging” to the Holy Spirit. Also, I do think that learning to love non-contemplatives just as they are is a necessary pre-requisite to effectively sharing contemplative spirituality with them. If people get an intuitive sense that we’re trying to “fix” them or somehow make them more like us, they will naturally (and probably justifiably) defy our efforts, no matter how well-intentioned. As always, humility is a strong ally here.
I hope these thoughts are helpful in some small way. Stay in touch!
3 Comments | Christian mysticism, spirituality | Tagged: Christian mysticism, Contemplative Life, contemplative prayer, Mary and Martha, Spiritual Direction | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 27, 2009
Tonight veteran Christian singer/guitarist Phil Keaggy gave a benefit concert at a Baptist Church in Lilburn (just north of Atlanta) for the Gwinnett County Special Olympics. I’ve been a fan of Phil Keaggy since the mid-1970s when a friend introduced me to his albums What a Day and Love Broke Thru. Keaggy is a masterful guitarist whose virtuosity is straight out of the classic rock/jam band era, and his vocals and musical styling are reminiscent of Paul McCartney. This is the third time I’ve seen him in concert. We purchased “Artist’s Circle” tickets this year, which enabled us to attend a reception before the concert, meet Phil, and have our picture taken with him.
Here’s the setlist:
Just the Same
Thank You For Today
Strong Tower
The Wind and the Wheat
Little Star
John the Revelator
What a Day
Here Comes the Sun -> Jesus is Just Alright
Shades of Green
Look Deep Inside
Rockin’ in a Hard Place
Little Ones
Love Broke Thru -> Jam -> Amazing Grace
Love Divine
Reunion of Friends
Salvation Army Band
If I Fell
Jam
You Have My Heart
County Down
Let Everything Else Go
This is the second year that Phil Keaggy headlined a benefit concert for the Gwinnett Special Olympics, and there’s already talk about doing it again next year. If you are in or near Atlanta, plan on being there — we certainly will.
4 Comments | Christianity, Family, Music | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 21, 2009
There is no need to be peculiar in order to find God. The Magi were taught by the heavens to follow a star and it brought them, not to a paralyzing disclosure of the Transcendent, but to a little boy on his mother’s knee.
— Evelyn Underhill, The House of the Soul
Leave a Comment » | Quotations | Tagged: Evelyn Underhill, Quotations, Quote for the Day, The House of the Soul, Underhill | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 14, 2009
My own experience in a variety of contexts suggests that the number one problem, the most common source of resistance to both evangelization and spiritual growth in Christian terms, is the angry, punishing father-god of patriarchal oppression. It is something of a mystery to me that this God concept, so foreign to the actual contents of the gospel and Jesus’ picture of his Abba, should be assumed by so many to be what in fact Christianity offers, and the degree to which it remains embedded in Christian literature and art. Furthermore, I find this problematic image deeply infecting all “brands” of Christianity, from the most anti-ecclesial charismatic/evangelical to Catholic to liberal. I do not mean they all deliberately teach it, but rather that all are somehow infected by it, one way or another, indeed have embraced it, even in rejection of it. Many have abandoned or rejected Christianity because their affective and intellectual development has rendered this notion of God intolerable, and they do not know and indeed often cannot imagine that Christianity has something else to offer. Intellectual conversion will mean, as Shug says to Celie in The Color Purple, first, you gotta get that angry old white man out of your head. It will then mean finding truer images of God in the tradition itself. For most of us this will obviously also include some psychological sorting out of our own family/childhood issues.
— Robert Davis Hughes III, Beloved Dust:
Tides of the Spirit in the Christian Life
4 Comments | Christianity, spirituality | Tagged: Beloved Dust, Bob Hughes, images of God, patriarchal images of God, Robert Davis Hughes III | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 12, 2009
Friends, here are the two events I have coming up, that may be of interest to folks who read this blog. The first is a a retreat on Christian mysticism that will be held at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia; the second is a class on world mysticism through the Evening at Emory Continuing Education Program at Emory University in Atlanta. Space is limited at both these events, so if you’re interested, please register soon. Hope to see you there…
Wisdom of the Christian Mystics
Retreat Weekend at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, Georgia
July 17-19, 2009
(Retreat leaders: Fr. Tom Francis, OCSO and Carl McColman)
From the Desert Fathers to Julian of Norwich to Thomas Merton, Christian history is filled with stories of men and women who experienced a profound sense of God’s presence in their lives. Can the teachings of the mystics still speak to us today? The mystics themselves would say “yes” – and furthermore, that their message is not just for priests or monks or nuns, but is indeed meant for the entire people of God. With this in mind, during this weekend we will look at several ways in which the wisdom of the Christian mystics can provide insight and inspiration for our age. This will include the universal call to holiness – St. Paul ’s directive to “pray without ceasing,” and the promise from the Psalms to “be still and know God.”
Suggested donation $120 – $200 (sliding scale) includes room and board for two nights
For more information or to register, call 770-760-0959 or visit www.trappist.net/retreat/
Introduction to World Mysticism through Emory University’s “Evening at Emory” Program.
Wednesday Evenings, July 22-August 12, 2009; 7:00-9:00 pm
Instructor: Carl McColman
Madonna is studying the Kabbalah.
The Shack is a runaway bestseller. Centuries after he died, everyone’s reading Rumi. Yoga, Buddhism and other eastern practices are more popular among Americans than ever. So what gives? At the heart of all these cultural trends is mysticism, a vague word that can be translated as “the spiritual principle at the heart of religion.” Many people believe mysticism is the golden thread that unites all the world’s religions. Others scoff at the idea. Come decide for yourself in this class as we explore major themes and writings from the world’s great mystical traditions. Using Andrew Harvey’s
The Essential Mystics as our textbook, we’ll examine the world’s great wisdom traditions — Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as pagan and philosophical forms of mysticism — acknowledging both the common ground and the distinctive qualities of each mystical path. Class is taught from an academic/nonsectarian perspective.
Textbook:
The Essential Mystics : Selections from the World’s Great Wisdom Traditions.
Tuition: $130
Click here to register
Carl McColman is the author of several books, including 366 Celt: A Year and a Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore and Spirituality: A Postmodern, Interfaith Approach to Cultivating a Relationship with God. He blogs at www.anamchara.com. Carl is working on a book about Christian mysticism to be published in 2010.
1 Comment | Announcements, Mysticism | Tagged: Mysticism, Upcoming Events | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 11, 2009
I haven’t read this yet, but it sure looks tasty… and I wanted to go ahead and post a link here, since I know some of my readers are interested in C. S. Lewis and some are interested in the doctrine of deification (in the Greek, theosis). So here’s a chance to ponder how this Orthodox doctrine figures in the thought of the most popular of Anglican authors…
Shine as the Sun: C. S. Lewis and the Doctrine of Deification
Which is actually part two of a two part essay; here is part one: The Orthodox Worldview and C. S. Lewis (Part I)
This essay originally appeared in Road to Emmaus: A Journal of Orthodox Faith and Culture. So many journals make you pay for PDF copies of essay reprints; it’s refreshing to see this one offer articles like this one free of charge (I’d encourage you to make a donation if you download the PDF — a link is provided).
2 Comments | Christianity, Writing, spirituality | Tagged: C. S. Lewis, deification, Orthodoxy, Road to Emmaus, theosis | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 9, 2009
I just stumbled across a rather fun blog, particularly for those who love Christian books and/or anything English:
UKCBD: The Christian Bookshops Blog (UKCBD stands for “United Kingdom Christian Bookshops Directory”)
Leave a Comment » | Books, Other people's blogs | Tagged: Books, Booksellers, England | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
June 3, 2009
Sacred Heart Church, Milledgeville, GA
The Georgia Bulletin — the weekly newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta — has an interesting article this week about an endowment left to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Milledgeville, GA, by Regina O’Connor, the mother of Flannery O’Connor, one of the most renowned Catholic (and native Georgian) authors of the twentieth century. The endowment will preserve the current sanctuary of the church, even if the parish at some point needs to build a new church building. Read the story here: New Endowment Will Preserve Flannery’s Church.
Also check out Sally Fitzgerald’s eulogy for Regina O’Connor, which also appeared in this week’s Georgia Bulletin: A Bow to Miss Regina.
2 Comments | Catholicism, Writing | Tagged: Flannery O'Connor, Milledgeville, Sacred Heart Church | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
May 28, 2009
One of my best friends from college, who is now a UCC minister in Vermont, has begun a blog. He’s posting his sermons, mostly, although he told me that at some point he might post audio files of his sermons, which I think would be way cool. Pay him a visit, and if you leave a comment, tell him Carl sent you…
The Reverend Mark Pitton’s Blog
1 Comment | Christianity, Emergent, Other people's blogs | Tagged: Mark Pitton, Other people's blogs, sermons | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
May 23, 2009
The tragedy of modern man is that his creativity, his spirituality, and his contemplative independence are inexorably throttled by a superego that has sold itself without question or compromise to the devil of technology.
…
The contemplative seeks to liberate his soul from all external control, to purify and detach it from material, sensual, and even spiritual compulsions, and to surrender it to the truth and creative freedom of the Holy Spirit.
7 Comments | Quotations | Tagged: Contemplation, Quotations, Quotes for the Day, technology, Thomas Merton | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
May 21, 2009
If you haven’t already been there, go visit www.Patheos.com. I think the best way to describe this site is “Facebook meets the Library of Alexandria.” It’s a Web 2.0 social networking site embedded within an evolving, peer-reviewed library of articles about the world’s major wisdom traditions, covering beliefs, spiritual practices, ethics, history and organizational structure. Basically, all you need to know to get a basic understanding of major wisdom and religious traditions from the world over.
I contributed to the content for the Paganism section — the first major Pagan-oriented project I’ve worked on since 2004! It felt like old-home week. Even though I’m no longer a practicing Pagan, Patheos’ commitment to fair and objective exploration of all the world’s wisdom traditions gave me a structure in which I could write about nature-based spirituality in a congenial and balanced way. Of course, there are other contributors to Patheos’ Pagan pages who are current practitioners. Meanwhile, although I did not contribute any of the peer-reviewed content on Catholicism or Christianity in general, I’ve begun a few discussions on the Catholicism page, and it would be lovely if some of my blog readers popped in to contribute a thought or two.
When you set up your Patheos profile, send a friend request my way. My Patheos profile name is (of course) Anamchara. I’ve also created a group on Patheos for conversation on Christian Mysticism that needs members — how about you?
3 Comments | Announcements, interfaith dialogue | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
May 18, 2009
A friend of mine who is a theology student at Emory asked me this weekend how I understood John 10:10: In which Jesus says that he came so that we may have life, and “have it abundantly.”
This is my reply to her…
Regarding your question, the Greek word for ‘abundantly’ is, as you know, perissos, related to peri from which we get words like “periphery” and “perimeter.” This seems to have a connection with place and location, and my Greek dictionary suggests that it has connotations related to “neighborhood” or “vicinity.” This makes me think of the Irish word tuath, which has a rich meaning related both to “community” but also to “land” — since a tribe or community is, in Indo-European cosmology, intimately related to the land on which they dwell. There is a symbiotic relationship between a people and their land, a consciousness which I fear we have lost in our society, where land is seen as a commodity to be exploited, owned, used, or bought and sold, rather than something teeming with life, in which we are bound in living trust (think “Garden of Eden” or “New Heaven and New Earth.”) All this is to say that I see Our Lord’s notion of “life abundant” has to do with this idea of a fully enriched life, lived with loving and joyous relationship with land, where we consciously and intimately nurture the land entrusted to us, to its (her?) maximum fertility, not only feeding us but also feeding all the wonderful living beings with whom we are privileged to share the land — and in our care for the land, we actually contribute back to the land’s ongoing fertility so that as we grow in our health and “wealth,” so too does the environment in which we live in a conscious and spiritual relationship.
I put the word “wealth” in quotation marks because I think wealth has become a dangerous word, mainly because we tend to think of wealth in terms not of living in harmony with our environment, but rather in terms of what we can extract from the land to our egoic advantage. Whether this means mining shiny metals to adorn ourselves, converting non-renewable resources into consumable fuels, or transforming other resources into objects that we will rather quickly discard into landfills (!), we have, I think, a horribly impoverished notion of what constitutes wealth in our society. See www.thestoryofstuff.com for more on this topic. So I think we won’t have any idea of what Jesus’ vision of perissos (abundance) is, until we perform radical surgery on our current ideas of wealth and prosperity, built as they are on competitive economics (the rich get richer and the poor get poorer) and on unsustainable exploitation of the environment.
Ironically, I believe the abundant life that Jesus promises may actually entail a simplifying of the life that many of us Americans have become accustomed to living. I think true abundance will mean a society based on sustainability, simplicity, and shared wealth — not in a Marxist, managed economy sense, but in a relational, familial/tribal, we-love-each-other-so-we-naturally-take-care-of-each-other sense. I don’t believe “abundant” life means everyone has exactly the same amount of “wealth” or “stuff” — I suspect there will always be ambitious types and then others like me who are too busy having fun to bother with making money! 
But I think in Jesus’s vision for abundant living, the difference between the haves and the have-nots will be far less dramatic than what we see today.
Now, lest I come across as too much of a materialist in my reading of John 10:10, I should also add that I understand “abundant Christian life” in terms of the joys of spiritual practice — from contemplation to the Divine Office to lectio divina — and so, when I talk about the “abundant living” of a network of right relationships (human to human, and human to environment) it’s important to remember that the key to this abundance is Christ’s presence in the midst of all our relations: the “human to God” relationship which holds all other relations together.
If you’d like a far more eloquent exploration of these ideas, look at Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change.
6 Comments | Bible, Christianity | Tagged: Abundance, Bible, environmentalism, John 10:10, justice | Permalink
Posted by Carl McColman
