All are invited to the free Launch Party for Matthew’s new book on John of the Cross. Following are comments from 8 spiritual activists who have read it.
“Here we discover a mystic overflowing with love for creation and the natural world, on fire for justice, saved and transformed by his creative life as a poet. This book is a call to joy — not despite the obvious peril in and around us but rather through the fiery gate of reality. Matthew Fox fills us with hope that this darkness is transformative.” –Marabai Starr, from the Forward.
“This book is unputdownable. Truly brilliant. It is a wonderful love letter to the world. And with the insertion of the Via Positiva, it offers a vital fourth dimension, a great honoring, and a beautiful unfolding of San Juan’s great work.” —Robert Holden, author of Higher Purpose: How to Find Meaning, Inspiration and Purpose in Your Life
“In this extraordinary work, both of exegesis and prophetic passion, Matthew Fox presents us from the blazing heart of the Christian mystical tradition exactly the guide we need to steer us through the terrifying and all comprehensive dark night we are now enduring. Fox’s St. John understands with devastating lucidity all the stages of the dark night process, and how to live them as a birthing into embodied liberation and lived Christhood.” —Andrew Harvey, author of Son of Man and The Magdalene Revolution
“As someone whose heart burns for collective liberation, Matthew Fox’s truly original exploration of St. John of the Cross invigorated my soul. This eye-opening book introduced me to John the Activist and brought a more holistic vision of John into focus. By bringing John’s courageous justice efforts into the foreground and recasting John’s exquisite poetry as prison literature, Fox illuminates the often hidden path between activism and mysticism and affirms their cosmic unity.” —Christena Cleveland, author of The Black Madonna: Icon of Resistance and Nourisher of Souls.
“I celebrate Matthew Fox’s recurring efforts to resuscitate the mystics and relate their lives and work to the prophetic tradition. He does it again in this exciting reinterpretation of John of the Cross. He brings John of the Cross alive to us today and invites us all to drink from his well.” — Father Richard Rohr, OFM, author of The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage.
“Fox is not simply reinterpreting John of the Cross. He is helping return John to dimensions of his own experience that the theological framework of sixteenth-century Spain could not fully articulate. Reading John through the lens of creation spirituality, Fox reveals a mystic not only of the dark night, but also of beauty, creativity, love, and transformation. John becomes startlingly contemporary and a guide for navigating the social, ecological, and spiritual crises of our own time. Few books feel as urgently relevant or as full of hope.” — Rev. Adam Bucko, author of Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation.
“Matthew Fox is one of our wisest Christian teachers. Here he brings to life St. John’s classic texts and unpacks its lights and visions for the dark nights of our own bleak time. He explains the prophetic side of John’s mysticism, and we all need to speak out prophetically as he did, as Matthew does, and proclaim God’s reign of peace and justice with all its glorious, revolutionary, political implications. This book sheds new light on St. John, and connects the activist, political and mystical dimensions of the spiritual life.”– Rev. John Dear, author of The Gospel of Peace, and director of The Beatitudes Center for the Non-violent Jesus.
“As an 87-year old active Carmelite, I have been educating teen-aged girls in Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans in the creation centered Carmelite spirituality of John and Teresa for years. Follow the invitation from John and Matthew to never cease to search and seek God! Enjoy!” –Sister Camille Anne Campbell, O. Carm.
Banner image: Promotional flyer for launch of Matthew Fox’s new book, The Beloved Will Guide You.
Queries for Contemplation
Read this book with your heart and head meditating on John’s poetry. Write a review in Amazon or elsewhere to bring the good news of the fire of John’s passionate longing for the divine to institutional and societal and personal renewal.
Related Reading by Matthew Fox
The Beloved Will Guide You: St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times
WHEE! We, wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditation
TRUMP AND THE MAGA MOVEMENT AS ANTICHRIST: Recognizing the Archetype of Evil in Our Time
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
