From Rowland: I recently had the privilege of listening to Diarmuid O’Murchu, and have just done a quick-step through his ‘Quantum Theology’ (see the review/summary elsewhere on this site)

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First, from his website:

The purpose of this web page (http://www.diarmuid13.com/) is to share wisdom in the service of: ADULT FAITH DEVELOPMENT.I use wisdom from many sources, and in doing so, I want to begin by acknowledging some of those on whose shoulders I humbly stand:

1. If we don’t understand creation correctly, we can’t hope to understand God correctly. St. Thomas Aquinas.

2. “What does God do all day long? God lies on a maternity bed giving birth all day long.” Meister Eckhart

3. “The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, humankind will have discovered fire.” Teilhard de Chardin

4.”In the post-modern world the wall of dry rationalism has cracked and crumbled.” Elisabet Sahtouris

5.”Postmodernity has reunited energy, imagination and matter.” Melissa Raphael

6. “It is possible to prepare for the future without knowing what it will be. The primary way to prepare for the unknown is to attend to the quality of our relationships and how well we know and trust one another.” Margaret J. Wheatley

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What is Adult Faith Development ?

“No anthropology can yet be written because humanity is not yet human.” Walter Wink.

All religions and churches emphasise that humans are:

– weak and sinful while God is strong and holy – totally dependent on the all-providing God, – servants of God to whom we owe absolute allegiance, – children of a Father God and a Mother Church – called to be humble and obedient to the parent-like divine power.

The metaphor of the child is extensively used in conventional spirituality. Phrases like “childlike trust,” “loyalty,” “obedience,” “under authority” all denote a sense of dependency that is not congruent with adult maturity. The tendency to structure religion in patriarchal-type institutions, with a strong focus on those who govern from on high, breeds co-dependency rather than mutual interdependence. Such metaphors and systems militate against the emergence of wholesome, adult people.

Much more serious and less obvious to the na ¯ve observer, is the tendency of religions to alienate people from the planetary and cosmic web of life. The dualism of the sacred v. the secular truncates nature’s invitation to live in a convivial, cooperative relationship with the earth and its living systems. Properly understood, earth-life systems function best when humans treat other life-forms with a sense of adult care and responsibility. But this experience of being human, in an integrated planetary and cosmic way, is largely unknown to people of our time.

Context

Adult Faith Development wishes to reclaim our integral place in creation:

– There is a cosmic dimension to our lives, elegantly illustrated in the fact that stardust is essential to our existence and all sources of nourishment ultimately belong to sunlight.

– There is a planetary/earthly dimension: our very existence is dependent on the healthy functioning of the earth’s bio-systems.

– There is an organic dimension, highlighted in the bacterial foundations of all life, thriving primarily on cooperation, not via competition.

– Our own human existence belongs to an amazing creative story of some 6,000,000 years, often dismissed by academics as primitive and barbaric.

Contextually, we are an integral part of a greater whole that confers on us our integrity and dignity, forever calling us to mutual engagement with the evolving life-forces of cosmic and planetary life. Because of our disconnection from the larger context, we end up condemning ourselves to a contrived, minimalistic, childish participation in the great enterprise of universal life.

At Home in Creation

All the religions try to persuade us that we really don’t belong here, that our earthly habitat is merely a “vale of tears” ’til we reach the “real” life after death. This belief system is itself alien to God’s creation which thrives on the cycle of birth-death-rebirth.

Creation is our true, authentic home, the houshold of all life, including those who have gone before us. The afterlife does not exist outside creation, but within it, a realm in which our departed loved ones inhabit a different level of being within the one cosmos.

Religion’s negative regard for the created order is responsible for much of the meaningless suffering in the contemporary world. Because this suffering is often so overwhelming, many people throw themselves at the mercy of God. Although an understandable response, and often the basis of survival against heavy odds, this is an abdication of our call to be co-creators with God in enhancing the growth and development of God’s creation.

Reclaiming Adult Faith

Faith in our time requires us to grow up and learn to relate with god in a new way. As co-creators with our creative God, we are invited and challenged to relate as adults to an adult God, modelled for Christians in the adult life-example of Jesus. This requires that we replace:

— The patriarchal sky-God with the divine life-force we encounter in the miracle of God’s creation. – Hierarchical top-down dependency with a sense of mutual equality and interdependence – Power-over with power-with (empowerment). – Parental-type, controlling relationships with those based on mutuality (as modelled in the Trinity). – A product mentality in which everything is essentially predetermined with a process outlook that respects the divinely inspired evolutionary nature of life. – Faith communities where the focus tends to be on control and top-down governance (priest, imam, rabbi), to one centred on people and programmed for mutual empowerment.

Principles of Adult Faith Development

In contemporary cultures – secular and religious – calling forth the adult is either construed as a non-issue because, allegedly, adulthood is already fostered and protected, or it is subverted as dangerous propaganda. For the religions, in particular, it is quite a new concept with consequences that are likely to be perceived as threatening and dangerous for the status quo. In promoting a culture of adult faith the following principles are crucial:

1. Faith is a process of life-long learning, not some magical, divine product bestowed by church or religion.

2. Grace builds on nature (St. Anslem; St. Thomas Aquinas); consequently, appropriation of faith at different life-stages needs informed attention (see the pioneering work of James Fowler).

3. Adults learn by doing in a dynamic, interactive and co-operative endeavour in which educator and learner are equal partners.

4. In adult learning, everybody is endowed with wisdom and all are beneficiaries of divine revelation. Both educator and learner have joint responsibility for the awakening and appropriation of faith.

5. Story-telling is a central strategy in articulating a meaningful faith. Discernment skills arise from this context.

6. Adult faith matures when life experience is honoured, and the ensuing challenges are explored through mature adult conversations (stories).

7. Adult faith tends not to be incapacitated by perfectionism. It is much more at home in soulful realism in which paradox is honoured , vulnerability is protected, questions are respected and dogmatism gives way to trust and dialogue.

8. Adults commit to faith-based structures in which power is shared equally and justly at the service of empowerment.

9. Adults desire transparency through open dialogue, pursuing truth that is always in the process of being realised.

10. Adults seek to change co-dependent metaphors, images and language into more imaginative and intuitive constructs that challenge people to act as adults, faithful to an adult God, modelled on the adult life-example of Jesus.

Useful Webpages: http://www.lifespirals.com; http://www.sonlifeafrica.com/model/faith2.htm; http://www.ionparadox.homestead.com/stages.html

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Occasionally one comes across a book that proves to be an inspiring read. I guess such gems should not be kept for oneself. So, I will happily share a few from time-to-time. The books I recommend will be of interest particularly to those of us with an intellectual hunger, although we may have little or nothing to do with the academic world. By the same token, they probably will be books that academics – scientific or theological – may not feel too comfortable with.

WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT? is a quarterly journal associated primarily with the work of futurist Andrew Cohen (http://www.wie.org). Issue 35 (Jan-Mar,2007)

provides an excellent overview on contemporary thinking on EVOLUTION, including the spiritual perspective. Scientifically sound, spiritually well-informed, and easily accessible to the average reader.

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Ray Kurzweil (2005), THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR: WHEN HUMANS TRANSCEND BIOLOGY: A seminal, thought-provoking read – for a more extensive coverage, see my “Short Essays”.

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Judy Cannato (2006), RADICAL AMAZEMENT. A courageous and inspiring attempt at integrating the New Cosmology and Christian Faith. An easy read, yet quite profound.

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Jeremy Carrette & Richard King (2005), SELLING SPIRITUALITY: THE SILENT TAKEOVER OF RELIGION. This is a blistering attack on current popular trends in Spirituality in which the authors write authoritatively on the subtle psychological and commercial manipulation of the current desire for spiritual meaning. This is a valuable and timely critique, with one major weakness (in my opinion), namely, that the authors assume that only the formal religions can offer the hope and meaning sought by contemporary seekers. Their powerful critique of spirituality needs to be matched by a correspondingly informed critique of religion. Nonetheless, a valuable and informative read.

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De Waal, Frans (2005), OUR INNER APE. World renowned primatologist offers some fascinating and reassuring insights into our primate ancestors, illustrating how a better understanding of them could have substantial implications for how we understand ourselves today, positively and negatively.

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Denis Edwards (2004), BREATH OF LIFE: A THEOLOGY OF THE CREATOR SPIRIT. A good read on a contemporary understanding of the Holy Spirit, including the role of the creative Spirit, not just in human life, but also in earthly and cosmic life.

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John Fuellenbach, “The Kingdom of God: Jesus’ Principle of Action in the World,” Sedos Bulletin, Vol.38 (Jan-Feb.2006), pp.223-231. One of the best theologians on the topic of the Kingdom of God provides an excellent, readable summary on this key theological subject.

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Harris, Sam (2005), THE END OF FAITH: RELIGION, TERROR AND THE FUTURE OF REASON. A balanced and informed analysis of how religion justifies and even rewards violence. His call to address this dilemma with more informed reason, is realy a calling forth of the adult in each one of us vis-a-vis this complex and urgent issue of our time. Very readable on such a bewildering subject.

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Herzog, William R. (2005), PROPHET AND TEACHER: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL JESUS. Revisiting many of the themes of his ground-breaking 1994 book, Parables as Subversive Speech, Herzog has written one of the best books I know on the prophetic, subversive Jesus. Scholarly and inspiring, a book to be read slowly. Full of provocative and original insights.

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Jan Phillips (2006), THE ART OF ORIGINAL THINKING. Drawing on experience from the corporate world and from ordinary daily life, this is an inspiring and challenging read for all seeking to create a better world.

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Jane Schaberg (2004), THE RESURRECTION OF MARY MAGDALENE, Of all the books on Mary Magdalene, and there are many around at the present time, this is one of the most scholarly and inspiring. Best known for her controversial work, The Illegitimacy of Jesus, (1987), she is obviously an author of provocatively original insights.

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Mark I. Wallace (2005), FINDING GOD IN THE SINGING RIVER. A radical new approach to understanding the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit is the “soul” of the earth – the wild, life-giving breath of creation – empowering all lifeforms to enter into a dynamic relationship with the greater whole. In turn, the earth is the “flesh” of the Spirit – the living landscapes of divine presence – making God palpable and viscous in nature’s ever widening circles of seasonal changes. . . . The Spirit is the hidden, inner life of the world, and the earth is the outward manifestation of the Spirit’s sustaining energies.” (p.127). A provocative and inspiring read! More on his web page: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/mwallac1/index.html

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Walter Wink (2002) THE HUMAN BEING: JESUS AND THE ENIGMA OF THE SON OF MAN. Not an easy read but worth staying with. Combining Biblical exigesis and the archetypes from Jungian psychology, Wink claims that Jesus used the title “Son of Man” to explore and explain the radical new way of being human to which he was bearing witness in his life and mission, illustrating that divinity and Godliness can only be accessed and appropriated through this quality of engagement with the human. While reading this book, a phrase from Gregory Baum kept coming to me: “God is what happens to a person on the way to become human.” A courageous and original piece of work.

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More recommended books etc.:

TOPIC 1: THE NEW COSMOLOGY: Its scientific, cultural and spiritual sigificance today. KEY TEXTS: 1. Brian Swimme & Thomas Berry (1992), THE UNIVERSE STORY 2. Terence L. Nichols (2003), THE SACRED COSMOS. 3. Rosemary Radford Ruether (1992), GAIA and God Excellent web page:http://www.evolutionarychristianity.org

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TOPIC 2: EVOLUTIONARY FAITH: How the story of evolution, – in terms of cosmos, earth, and humanity – unravels the benign mystery within which everything is held in being. KEY TEXTS: 1.John F. Haught (2000), GOD AFTER DARWIN (2003) DEEPER THAN DARWIN 2.John Stewart (2000), EVOLUTION’S ARROW 3. Lynne Margulis & Dorian Sagan (1995), WHAT IS LIFE ? 4. WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT? (Jan-Mar, 2007)

Excellent web page: http://www.evolutionarychristianity.org

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TOPIC 3: MYSTICISM FROM A COSMIC PERSPECTIVE – exploring the awakening sense of mystery in the contemporary world. Key texts:

1. William Johnston (1995), MYSTICAL THEOLOGY 2. John Horgan (2003), RATIONAL MYSTICISM 3. Chris Clarke (2005), WAYS OF KNOWING: SCIENCE & MYSTICISM TODAY http://www.wccm.org

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TOPIC 4: THE CHANGING NATURE OF CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY – and the implications for how we understand religion today. KEY TEXTS: 1. Robert Forman (2004), GRASSROOTS SPIRITUALITY 2. Matthew Fox (2000), SINS OF THE SPIRIT, BLESSINGS OF THE FLESH Dreyer, Elizabeth & Mark Burrows. Editors (2005), MINDING THE SPIRIT. Carrette, Jeremy & Richard King (2005), SELLING SPIRITUALITY Web page: http://www.integrativespirituality.org

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TOPIC 5: The KINGDOM OF GOD: The heart and soul of our Christian Faith KEY TEXTS: 1. John Fullenbach (1995), THE KINGDOM OF GOD

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TOPIC 6: UNDERSTANDING JESUS IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP: The challange of Christology today – theoretically and pastorally. (sometimes combined with topic 5 above). KEY TEXTS: 1. Cunningham, Philip J. (1999), A BELIEVER’S SEARCH FOR THE JESUS OF HISTORY. 2. Powell, Mark Allan (1998), JESUS AS A FIGURE OF HISTORY 3. Isherwood, Lisa (1999), LIBERATING CHRIST 4. Wink, Walter (2002), THE HUMAN BEING: JEUS AND THE ENIGMA OF THE SON OF MAN

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TOPIC 7: JUSTICE-MAKING, including an oversiew of globalisation: an exploration of the challenge to work for justice today, the spirituality underpinning it, and a review of practical strategies. KEY TEXTS: Rosemary Radford Ruether (2005), INTEGRATING ECOFEMINISM, GLOBALIZATION AND WORLD RELIGIONS. John Cavanagh (Ed.)(2002), ALTERNATIVES TO ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION. WEB PAGES: International Forum on Globalization: http://www.ifg.org Excellent Resource on Ethical Investment: http://www.eiris.org

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TOPIC 8: QUANTUM THEOLOGY: “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts” is a cental principle of Quantum Physics with major implications for every filed of learning including theology.

KEY TEXTS: Ervin Laszlo (2004), SCIENCE AND THE AKASHIC FIELD Jan Phillips (2006), THE ART OF ORIGINAL THINKING Mark I. Wallace (2005), FINDING GOD IN THE SINGING RIVER

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TOPIC 9: BEYOND TRIBALISM IN RECLAIMING OUR HUMANITY.

KEY TEXTS: Chris Stringer & Robin McKie (1996), AFRICAN EXODUS: THE ORIGINS OF MODERN HUMANITY. Jason Hill (2000), BECOMING A COSMOPOLITAN.

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TOPIC 10: The GREAT EARTH MOTHER GODDESS: A fiction of our ancient past, or an enduring archetype haunting the contemporary spiritual imagination? I opt for the latter interpretation and explore its context and meaning for our time. KEY TEXTS: Carol Christ (1997), THE REBIRTH OF THE GODDESS. Rosemary Radford Ruether (2005), GODDESSES AND THE DIVINE FEMININE FEMINIST THEOLOGY, Entire Volume (Vol 13.2, Jan.,2005)

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TOPIC 11: THE SPIRIT AT WORK IN CREATION, exploring the meaning of the Holy Spirit through a synthesis of energy>>field-influence>>spirit-power>>Sophia-wisdom. KEY TEXTS: Marc I. Wallace (2005)FINDING GOD IN THE SINGING RIVER. Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza (2002), WISDOM’S WAYS. Denis Edwards (2004), BREATH OF LIFE.

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TOPIC 12: PARADIGM SHIFTS, exploring the nature and mpact of contemporary change in terms of both systems and persons. KEY TEXTS: Margaret J. Wheatley (1994),LEADERSHIP AND THE NEW SCIENCE. Web-page: http://www.paradigmshifts.iwarp.com

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TOPIC 13: CONSCIOUSNESS & THE POWER OF INTENTION: The psychic energy that underpins everything in creation. As conscious beings, humans appropriate consciousness from the conscious universe. 1 KEY TEXTS: Wayne W. Dyer (2004), THE POWER OF INTENTION Jan Phillips (2006), THE ART OF ORIGINAL THINKING http://www.theintentionexperiment.com

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TOPIC 14: BEING ADULT IN OUR FAITH. Passing on the faith is widely seen as a pedagogy with the focus on children and youth, but one of the most urgent needs of the present time is a faith pedagogy for Adults honouring the principles of Adult Education. KEY TEXTS: James Fowler (1982), STAGES OF FAITH Nicola Slee (2004), WOMEN’S FAITH DEVELOPMENT Edmund O’Sullivan & Alia (2002), EXPANDING THE BOUNDARIES OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING.

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TOPIC 15: INTIMACY & HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS TODAY. Reflections based on my 20 years of Relationships Counselling, exploring implications for the present time. KEY TEXTS: J & K Hendricks (2004), LASTING LOVE Thomas Moore (1998), THE SOUL OF SEX.

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TOPIC 16: EUCHARIST FROM A PEOPLE’S PERSPECTIVE: The prevailing theology and liturgy of the Eucharist is largely framed in terms of the central role of the male priest. Other models and approaches are possible, even within the inherited tradition. Key texts: 1. Susan Ross (1998), EXTRAVAGANT AFFECTIONS: A Feminist sacramental Theology. 2. Anne Primavesi (2004), MAKING GOD LAUGH

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TOPIC 17: EMBRACING THE IMAGINAL: (“One can never speak often enough of the evil which literal interpretation has done to Christianity,” Paul Ricoeur)

Literalism, rationalism, hard fact and objective verification charcaterise every field of learning today. We need to reclaim the that which honours the deeper nature of humans and creation: imagination, intuition, story, creativity and the mystical. Key Texts: Henry Corbin in Benjamin Sells (ed.) (2000), WORKING WITH IMAGES. Arnold Mindell (2000), QUANTUM MIND: THE EDGE BETWEEN PHYSICS AND PSYCHOLOGY. Jan Phillips (2006), THE ART OF ORIGINAL THINKING Michael Conforti (2003), FIELD, FORM, AND FATE: PATTERNS IN MIND.

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TOPIC 18: THE TRANSFORMATION OF DESIRE: Desire is a word with several ambiguous meanings, an aspect of human existence which we need to reclaim and rehabilitate as we grow more deeply into a fresh sense of our planetary and cosmic identity. KEY TEXTS: 1. Wayne Dyer (2004), THE POWER OF INTENTION 2. Wendy Farley (2005), THE WOUNDING AND HEALING OF DESIRE 3. Veronica Goodchild (2001), EROS AND CHAOS.

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TOPIC:18: THE RELIGIOUS-MONASTIC LIFE (The vowed life)Modules:

MODULE 1: Historical Insights to the Current crisis in Religious Life.

MODULE 2: Major Issues Facing Apostolic Religious Today

MODULE 3: Liminality and the Prophetic Horizons of the Vowed Life.

MODULE 4: Understanding the Vows in the contemporary World.

MODULE 5: Coping With decline and the death of an old model.

MODULE 6: Paradigm Shifts and the Future of Religious LIfe.

Key Texts: 1. Sandra Schneiders (2000), FINDING THE TREASURE (2001, SELLING ALL. 2. Fiand, Barbara (2001), REFOCUSING THE VISION. 3. Joan Chittister (2005), THE WAY WE WERE. 4. Michael H. Crosby (2005), CAN RELIGIOUS LIFE BE PROPHETIC?