My Latest Blog Post
Please visit The Women in Jesus’s Past to read my latest blog post. This is posted at my “beta” blog site, where I am tinkering with a possible new design for my blog. Enjoy!
The Atheists’ Gift to Christmas
An interesting column: a Rabbi reflects on atheists who are unhappy with public nativity scenes. Thoughtful and compassionate in its tone, and well worth reading: The Atheists’ Gift to Christmas.
Help me name my new column
First of all, some exciting news. I have been in conversation with the good folks at Patheos about writing a weekly column for their website. If all goes well, my new column could launch early in 2012. It will be the first column for their site specifically oriented toward contemplative spirituality. We talked about this and figured that I’m too interfaith to be a strictly Catholic columnist; I’m too much of a Catholic to be a strictly progressive Christian columnist, and I’m too much of a progressive Christian to be a strictly interfaith columnist! So since I don’t neatly fit into any of those boxes, my contact at Patheos agreed that I probably just need to be labeled a “contemplative” and leave it at that.
Anyway, the column will explore what it means to be a contemplative in today’s spiritual landscape, while trying to maintain a sense of groundedness within a particular tradition (that’s the Catholic part), a willingness to consider alternative voices within that tradition (that’s the progressive part) as well as a willingness to learn from practitioners of other paths (that’s the interfaith part) — but it all, always, goes back to contemplation at the heart.
So now, here’s the next question: what should I name the column? And this is where you, my dear readers, come in.
Obviously, contemplation means silence, so I want “silence” to be a key descriptor of this column. But what else can I say about it?
My first thought was to play with the paradox of language (after all, a column is fashioned of language) and silence. Language means word, contemplation means silence… perhaps I could call the column “WORD TO SILENCE.” That seemed to have a nice ring.
But then, a few days later, I thought about the verse in Habbakuk (2:20): “The Lord is in his temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.” The phrase “EARTH KEEP SILENCE” jumped out at me. Immediately I thought it had a nice ring as well; the fact that it is a Biblical allusion seems to be a nice nod to my home tradition, while the use of the word “Earth” speaks both to the humility that is at the heart of Benedictine spirituality — as well as providing an oblique reference to my own history of exploring Earth-based spiritual paths like Celtic paganism.
So, which should it be: a celebration of language and silence? or of earth and silence? Or, perhaps, is neither of these a winner?
If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll take a moment and vote for your preference. While I cannot guarantee that the results of the poll will determine the name of the column — that remains, ultimately, my decision in partnership with my editor at Patheos — having your input will certainly help me in making my final selection.
So thank you!
Is God dead? Or perhaps just hiding?
Carl McColman and Thomas J. J. Altizer, December 6, 2011
Today I had an unexpected treat — theologian Thomas J. J. Altizer, renowned (some would say notorious) in the 1960s because of his association with the “Death of God” controversy, visited the monastery and stopped by the Abbey Store. Although I can’t claim to be that well read in regard to his work, I do have a sense that his notion of “Christian atheism” may have many points of connection with my notion of “holy agnosis” and, of course, the apophatic tradition within Christian mysticism. Anyway, it was an honor to meet him — he’s quite a charming and affable fellow.
