The Passing of My Brother, Tom Fox, an Educator Par Excellence

In the past week, I have experienced the loss of two brothers in my life.  One being Michael Lerner, co-founder of TIKKUN magazine, author, rabbi, champion of a politics of meaning and of solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian wars—solutions based on each side recognizing the humanity in the other and therefore the dignity of an independent state for both parties.  (DM 8/31/2024)

Tom Fox, Matthew’s brother, shortly before going to the hospital and hospice in Reykjavik, where he died. Photo courtesy of Matthew Fox.

The second loss was my blood brother, Tom Fox, who died this past Monday in Iceland where he and his wife “retired” after many years living in Chicago.  She is an Icelandic native and artist of considerable accomplishment who graduated from the Chicago Art Institute. 

Tom was the first-born in our family of seven children and he played an outsized role in our lives as a leader and a pioneer.  My brother’s passion was education.  Or “edGe-ucation” as he put it in his book that appeared just weeks before his death.  The book being On becoming edGe-ucated: how uncertainty can link the frontiers of expert inquiry to the education of all.*

It is a fitting summary of his life’s work that began with 8 years of teaching sixth graders but doing so in uniquely creative ways and with uniquely striking results.  

Here are a few examples.  To teach physiology, he had the students build skeletons—but first study the body in depth.  Result?  He received a phone call one night from a father of one of his students that went something like this: “What did you do, teaching my daughter?  I teach in the medical school at the University of Wisconsin. I quizzed her today and she knows more about the human body than my students do after their first year of med school.”

To teach about the Middle Ages, he had them convert the school room into Chartres Cathedral and the students chose their particular interest: stain glass or flying buttresses or sculpture, etc., to contribute to the building. He went to the library, came back with a stack of books on flying buttresses, left them on his desk and said nothing.  The next day they were all gone.  Three weeks later, he quizzed those students on the flying buttress team and concluded that they knew as much about flying buttresses as any engineer in America.

G. Thomas Fox, Matthew’s brother, with his book, On becoming edGe-ucated: how uncertainty can link the frontiers of expert inquiry to the education of all. Photo courtesy of Matthew Fox.

He had a day each week called “Think Day.”  On that day there were no rules but one: Jot down your thoughts to share with the class the next day.  One student around 10 AM said, “Mr. Fox, I think I could think better today if I went home.”  Tom said, “Okay, but bring your thoughts to share tomorrow.”  Arriving home, his mother said, “What are you doing home from school?”  “I’m thinking,” he said. 

He decided he could think better downtown, took a bus, walked through the capitol building and now walking on the other side of town at about 2 in the afternoon, a cop car pulled up.  “What are you doing?” asked the policeman.  Said he, “I’m thinking.”  “Thinking?  You’re supposed to be in school,” shouted the cop who put him in the police car and raced him to the principal’s office. 

The principal was ready to fire my brother who called a meeting of this student and parents in the class who had heard of the ruckus as a last-ditch effort to save his job. (This was a public school after all.)

At the meeting he had the boy get up and tell the story and when he came to the punch line, “Thinking? You’re supposed to be in school,” the parents got the message.

And my brother wasn’t fired until two years later when the janitor was working in his classroom late at night with bad lighting in the room.  He stumbled over the sandbox (built by the kids to re-created civil war battles) and, falling, he instinctively reached out and grabbed—you guessed it—a skeleton, one of many that was hanging over the sandbox. 

My brother was fired soon after and went on to get a PhD in education and ultimately to teach teachers for many years in the US, UK and Iceland.

Tom Fox, Matthew’s brother, celebrating when Iceland defeats England in big soccer match. Photo courtesy of Matthew Fox.

Those who know my work in spirituality know how foundational  new pedagogies are to our spirituality programs: art as meditation, body prayer, and ultimately the Cosmic Mass.  This, and the emphasis on science and cosmology in my work, I owe in great part to my very inspired and inspiring brother, Tom. 

Thank you, Tom.  For your imagination and creativity and love of science and art and all elements of a living culture—and your love of teaching.  And, what lies at the foundation of all these stories, your trust of the human mind to follow curiosity and come to truth.  One might even call yours, a pedagogy of original blessing. 

To be continued.


*G. Thomas Fox, On becoming edGe-ucated: how uncertainty can link the frontiers of expert inquiry to the education of allThe art on the cover of the book is by Tom’s wife, Anna Joelsdottir.

See also, Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 49-69, 327-383.

See Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.

And Fox, The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time.

And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.

Banner image: Matthew Fox with his brother, Tom Fox, on right. Photo courtesy of Matthw Fox.


Queries for Contemplation

Do you find stories in my brother’s creativity that inspire your own approach to learning and teaching and living?


Recommended Reading

Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)

Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self

The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human

The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
An awe-based vision of educational renewal.Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.


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24 thoughts on “The Passing of My Brother, Tom Fox, an Educator Par Excellence”

  1. Matthew, very sorry for the passing of your brother. I appreciated the sharing of the stories of his Grade 6 teaching experience. Most teaching today and back then is/was delivered in a mode of conformity and one-size fits all, due to institutional learning structures.

    Will ‘edGe-ucation’ be found on Amazon soon? This question comes from someone who has a difficult time reading a full book, as I like to contemplate salient passages and not the filler. — BB.

  2. Mary Elizabeth Heins

    Dear Matthew, I’m very sorry that your brother has left this earth to be with God, leaving a hole in your soul probably. Thank you for sharing these very inspiring, human stories. His enthusiasm must have been contagious. How fortunate you are to have such memories which will always stay with you. You too are indeed an original blessing!

  3. Your brother was quite the educator! After listening to Joesph Campbell, you and your brother’s efforts teaches me that we are one pursuing the same truth. May his transition be well.
    Peace
    Don

  4. Thank you Fr. Mathew. Your brother Tom certainly was a great blessing to so many … and to many more today as you share his beautiful story. The two Fox brothers clearly navigated their lives true to their core and tuned in to powerful truth and wisdom. Bless you! Love from Jeanne

  5. Yes, but first, my condolences to your loss in this physical realm of the passing of your two spiritual brothers. They both seem to represent and inspire, like yourself, the Spirit of our mystical traditions such as Creation Spirituality. That Living Loving Spirit is Being Aware~Conscious / Being~Becoming the Divine Flow of LOVING Healing Creative Diverse Wholeness~ONENESS in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT in our daily human lives with others and with Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth/Her living creatures/Her graceful essential abundance with-in Our Evolving Spiritual COSMOS… COSMIC CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS….

  6. How difficult to lose two beloved people in one week. Your brother Tom sounds like an amazing person–creative, innovative, rule-breaking, and caring like you. He saw what his students needed and he rose to meet them. I was an eighth and ninth grade teacher for only three and a half years before I went into textbook writing. And because of the Summerhill-oriented master teacher I had as a student teacher I also used innovative techniques–methods that would get me fired in a New York minute these days. Because of that, I totally understand how very, very powerful your brother’s creative teaching methods were. It makes me very sad, causes me a lot of distress, when the best teachers are undermined or fired. This is why our schools are failing our students. Your brother, as you well know, was one of the best–not only as a teacher (but certainly that) but as a brother, friend, creative force, innovator, and I’m sure many other things. God bless you and your family.

  7. I’m so sorry for your loss!
    Hearing you describe your brother made me smile as I thought about how similar you seem to be… your brother gets fired as a teacher, you are silenced as a priest…clearly your ideas and his ideas are bigger than can be contained within these systems! It is sad, but also very inspiring that neither of you remained silent and were able to find ways to challenge these systems from outside of their rigid walls!!

  8. Thank you, dear Matthew, for your loving and inspirational tribute to your amazing brother, Tom🙏. May your heart be soothed by the thought that both your brothers who died this week are entering the next realm together…they sound like folks who will be causing quite a stir and having quite some fun! Thank you so much for sharing them with us❤️.

  9. RIP Tom Fox and thank you Matthew for sharing some of his wonderful, creative adventures in the area of edgucation. Kiaora from Aotearoa/New Zealand.

  10. My dear Matt, Thank you for sharing your brother Tom with us. Like you, he was a consumate educator and so very creative. I’m sorry for your loss of your oldest brother, and for some reason am reminded of having the privilege of meeting your mother when I was your student assistant. I have delighted in following your fabulous path over the years since then and sharing you with new friends. Peace and consolation to you, dear Matt. A voice from the distant past with love, Kay Kosinski Duren

  11. Thinking of you in this time of reflection, nostalgia, and appreciation. I, too, have a brother in Iceland and four more in the US. Brothers are so important to each other. Wishing you many moments of meaning and gladness.

  12. Matthew, I was moved by your sharing about your brother and his passing. His creativity in the classroom was wonderful; unfortunately, it is uncommon. Your creativity is also such a stimulus for spiritual exploration and growth. Thanks to both of you Fox brothers for the gifts you share.
    Roz

  13. I have felt the sadness of losing loved ones. Thank you for sharing glimpses into the lives of your loved ones. I’m a teacher and your brother’s book looks very interesting. Is it possible to purchase it? I couldn’t quite figure out the monetary exchange when I explored the link . If not, that’s okay. Thanks again for telling us a bit about him. I held your grief in my heart during my contemplative time this evening.

  14. I’m sorry for your double loss. And thank you for sharing the stories of your brother’s brilliant teaching assignments. I wish I had a teacher like him. He brought out so much more from his students than just textbook memorization. He trusted his students to be intelligent, creative, and insightful. That’s a rare but glorious gift.

  15. Martina Nicholson

    Dear Fr. Matt, Thank you for this meditation on bullying and the anti-Christ. And especially thank you for mentioning Rabbi Michael Lerner, who was a prophetic voice and wonderful person who invited all of us to deeper understanding of the best of Judaism. I had immense respect for him.
    And thank you for the reflection on the work of your brother Tom. What a wonderful teacher! I wish I had gotten to take a class with him!
    I wanted to let you know what I thought was interesting this week, was in regard to the campaign of Kamala Harris for the presidency. Heather Cox Richardson, a history professor from Boston College who has been giving us reflections since the onset of the first Trump presidency, said that the way she thinks Harris is differentiated from President Biden, is that she is recognizing communities, and the needs of communities, in her thinking about ways to help unify Americans, and strengthen the middle class. She also says “Diversity is our strength!”. So her recognition of Veterans for Harris, Teachers for Harris, Physicians for Harris, and even Women Physicians for Harris, is a way to see how we are coming together in communities of loyalty and feeling comfortable together, which is different from how organizations and political liasons happened in the past. We can look forward to ways to incorporate the needs of different groups, because of this communitarian approach. Best to you, Martina Nicholson, MD.

  16. Charles Lambillotte

    I just learned of Tom’s passing. Tom was my professor for nearly two years at NLU in Chicago. His compassion, kindness and brilliance made me and those in our cohort better educators, citizens, and parents. His teaching and caring continue to make the people he taught kinder and more inquisitive. He changed the world for better. Thank you for his tribute.

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