Richard Rohr – The Wisdom Way (Part Eight)

About this sermon

“The Wisdom Way: Scripture, Tradition, and Experience” was a week-long retreat held at the Center for Action and Contemplation for students from Fuller Seminary in April and May 2013. The week of teaching was designed with the goal of “understand[ing] scripture and tradition and experience in a critical way.” Ultimately, Father Richard Rohr and the Fuller students sought to develop a working definition of wisdom for those seeking contemplative spirituality. In this first session on day 3 of the Fuller Seminary retreat, Fr. Richard Rohr begins by summarizing some points hit on the day before about scripture. He notes that particularly after the year 313 the Judeo-Christian scriptures were used to support empire, leading to a split in Christianity: the level of mainline imperial Christianity and the level of the monastic tradition beginning with the desert fathers and mothers. For most of Christian history the scriptures have been interpreted by those at the top—white educated males—until feminist and liberationist interpretations emerged in the 20th century. Because of this history of narrow, dualistic interpretation, the many nondualistic themes of the scriptures have gone misunderstood. “The Christ mystery,” Fr. Richard teaches, “forces nondual consciousness, or you can’t comprehend it. And the Trinity is made to order to teach nondualistic thinking.” Fr. Richard furthers the conversation by explaining various metanarratives found throughout the scriptures. The first theme is that “the truth is often more likely received and found at the bottom and the edges than the top and the center.” This is evident from the beginning of the scriptures, with the liberation of the enslaved people in Egypt, to the end, with Jesus’ consistent choice of the poor. The second theme points to God’s judgement as ultimately positive in that it frees us from the dualistic, harsh judgement of humans. God’s justice is restorative whereas human dualistic justice is retributive. The third theme reveals that God often breaks God’s own laws in the scriptures, and therefore law itself becomes “a mixed blessing.” The fourth theme is that God is beyond the control of humanity, which ties to the fifth theme: “God is always bigger than you imagine and better than you imagine.” Fr. Richard spends some time looking at René Girard’s concept of the scapegoat mechanism to point out that the scriptures as a whole are “an alternative reading of history” that “develops an empathy for the victim, not the victor.” This interpretation reveals the nature of God as ultimately relational: God “didn’t have to wait for Christianity to start loving what [God] had created.” Finally, Father Richard discusses the theme of incarnation in the scriptures, arguing that the concrete figure of Jesus is ultimately meant to point us to the universal: the Cosmic Christ. “That’s the only thing,” Fr. Richard argues, “that finally differentiates Christianity from the other world religions.” He concludes pointing out the inner authority displayed by the prophets which is ”plugged in to this Christ-mind, this bigger consciousness. . . . Without the prophetic instinct,” he says, “I don’t think in the long-term you can be a good pastor.” CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is an educational nonprofit introducing seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation. Founded by Richard Rohr in 1987, our programs and resources are designed to help deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world. https://cac.org Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3QypRgu Learn more about Who We Are: https://bit.ly/3D8TtdU Learn more about What We Do: https://bit.ly/3qrYFGc Learn more about Richard Rohr: https://bit.ly/3ozYdmP Learn more about Contemplation: https://bit.ly/3wNojGF

Topics

• Wisdom