Name: Fred Rivett's review of The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr
Item: The Universal Christ
Rating: 3.5
Author: Fred Rivett

Richard Rohr

From one of the world's most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called Christ, and how this forgotten truth can transform everything we see, hope for and believe

How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope for and Believe

The Universal Christ

Fred Rivett

This journey from order to disorder to reorder must happen for all of us; it is not something just to be admired in Abraham, Moses, Job, or Jesus. Our role is to listen and allow, and at least slightly cooperate with this almost natural progression. We all come to wisdom at the major price of both our innocence and our control. Which means that few go there willingly. Disorder must normally be thrust upon us. Why would anyone choose it? I wouldn't.

Eventually your ideally ordered universe your "private salvation project," as Thomas Merton called it—must and will disappoint you, if you are honest.

Even inside an incarnational worldview, we grow by passing beyond some perfect order, through a usually painful and seemingly unnecessary disorder, to an enlightened reorder or “resurrection.”

Foundationally, we must find a prayer form that actually invades our unconscious, or nothing changes at any depth. Usually this will be some form of centering prayer, wallking meditation, inner practices of letting go, shadow work, or deliberately undergoing a longer period of silence (as I did while writing the first draft of this book, thirty-five days largely alone and quiet). Whatever you choose, it will feel more like unlearning than learning, more like surrendering than accomplishing. This is probably why so many resist contemplation to begin with.

That the way things work and Christ are one and the same. This is not a religion to be either fervently joined or angrily rejected. It is a train ride already in motion. The tracks are visible everywhere. You can be a willing and happy traveler, Or not.

Transformation, or salvation, is so much more than a favor that Jesus effects for certain individuals in a heavenly ledger somewhere. It is a full map for a very real human journey. Not really an absolute necessity, but surely a great gift!

In the practical order of life, if we have never loved deeply or suffered deeply, we are unable to understand spiritual things at any depth.

The contemplative mind can see things in their depth and in their wholeness instead of just in parts. The binary mind, so good for rational thinking, finds itself totally out of its league in dealing with things like love, death, suffering, infinity, God, sexuality, or mystery in general. It just keeps limiting reality to two alternatives and thinks it is smart because it chooses one!…The binary mind provides quick security and false comfort, but never wisdom.

Eastern iconography—in contrast with the Western images, which emphasize flames and torture—often pictures Jesus pulling souls out of hell, not thrusting them into it.

…a phrase in the Apostles' Creed that says Jesus "descended into hell" so surely there must be one. (He went there to liberate it and undo it, like he did the temple, but few people read it that way.)

Jesus's first incarnate life, his passing over into death, and his resurrection into the ongoing Christ life is the archetypal model for the entire pattern of creation. He is the microcosm for the whole cosmos, or the map of the whole journey, in case you need or want one. Nowadays most folks do not seem to think they need that map, especially when they are young.

Remember, myth does not mean "not true," which is the common misunderstanding; it actually refers to things that are aways true!

“Resurrection” is another word for change, but particularly positive change—which we tend to see only in the long run. In the short run, it often just looks like death.

Our full "Christ Option”—and it is indeed a free choice to jump on board—offers us so much that is both good and new—a God who is in total solidarity with all of us at every stage of the journey, and who will get us all to our destination together in love. It is no longer about being correct. It is about being connected. Being in right relationship is much, much better than just trying to be "right."

Almost all people are carrying a great and secret hurt, even when they don't know it.

The crucifixion of Jesus—whom we see as the Son of God—was a devastating prophecy that humans would sooner kill God than change themselves. Yet the God-Man suffers our rejection willingly so something bigger can happen.

There's a real difference between harmless repetitive ceremonies and life-changing rituals. Scholars say that ceremonies normally confirm and celebrate the status quo and deny the shadow side of things (think of a Fourth of July parade), whereas true ritual offers an alternative universe, where the shadow is named (think of a true Eucharist). In the church, I am afraid we mostly have cerenonies.

I have often said that many Catholics have a poor theology of Mary but an excellent psychology: Humans like, need and trust our mothers to give us gifts, to nurture us, and always to forgive us, which is what we want from God.

It's no stretch to say that the New Testament faith was, in effect, written by two men who profoundly relied upon their inner experience of the ways of God despite a totally dominant consciousness that insisted otherwise. How did they get away with it? The answer is, in their lifetimes, they largely didn't. Only later did saints and scholars see that Jesus and Paul had drawn upon the deepest sources of their own tradition to then totally reframe that tradition for the larger world.

I learned that if the quiet space, the questions themselves, and blank pages had not been put in front of me, I may never have known what was lying within me.

Earlier, I wrote that great love and great suffering (both healiing and woundedness) are the universal, always available paths of transformation, because they are the only things strong enough to take away the ego's protections and pretensions. Great love and great suffering bring us back to God…

For me, mere information is rarely helpful unless it also enlightens and "amorizes" your life. In Franciscan theology, truth is always for the sake of love—and not an absolute end in itself, which too often becomes the worship of an ideology. In other words, any good idea that does not engage the body, the heart, the physical world, and the people around us will tend to be more theological problem solving and theory than any real healing of people and institutions—which ironically is about all Jesus does!

Yet to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead is actually not a leap of faith. Resurrection and renewal are, in fact, the universal and observable pattern of everything. We might just as well use non-religious terms like "springtime," "regeneration," "healing, "forgiveness," "life cycles," "darkness," and "light." If incarnation is real, then resurrection in multitudinous forms is to be fully expected.

Humans and history both grow slowly. We expect people to show up at our doors fully transformed and holy before they can be welcomed in. But growth language says it is appropriate to wait, trusting that metanoeite, or change of consciousness, can only come with time—and this patience ends up being the very shape of love.

As Rohr always is, this is a deep, profound book that speaks at a deeper level than the purely rational. Much of what he writes resonates whilst conflicting with the simple truths many of us have taken for granted.

An enjoyable, thought provoking read. Not quite as impactful for me as Falling Upward, but may well be one I revisit down the line.

As Rohr always is, this is a deep, profound book that speaks at a deeper level than the purely rational. Much of what he writes resonates whilst conflicting with the simple truths many of us have taken for granted.

An enjoyable, thought provoking read. Not quite as impactful for me as Falling Upward, but may well be one I revisit down the line.

From one of the world's most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called "Christ," and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our world. "Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book." -Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus's last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God's constant, unfolding work in the world. "God loves things by becoming them," he writes, and Jesus's life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God--except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator's presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.

How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe

Universal Christ

Dana Kraft

This is not a book that you just “read”. It took me a long time to get through it and I feel like I need to go through it again. In addition, the bibliography and notes will form a pretty long future reading list for me. This is my definition of a 5 star book.

This book connected well with The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist which talks about how our mindset and attention literally affect the world around us, not just our perception of the world. That book focus much on society, art, communities and this book focuses on the presence of the divine in all of those things. How does our approach to God, religion and faith affect us and the world? Specifically, both authors provide lots of examples of the consequences an over reliance on rationality and the scientific method. I’m guilty of that. “Love affairs never just happen in the mind.”p66.

Best quotes from my first read:

All contemplation reflects a seventh-day choice and experience, relying on grace instead of effort. Full growth implies timing and staging, acting and waiting, working and not working. p. 59

In practical order, we find our Original Goodness, when we can discover and own these three attitudes or virtues planted deeply within us:
* A trust in inner coherence itself. “It all means something.” FAITH
* A trust that this coherence is positive and going somewhere good. HOPE
* A trust that this coherence includes me and even defines me. LOVE
p. 66

“Unless religion leads us on a path to both depth and honesty, much religion is actually quite dangerous to the soul and to society. In fact, “fast food” religion and the so-called prosperity gospel are some of the best ways to actually avoid God—while talking about religion nonstop. p. 89

“...we make the focus of Jesus’ Gospel what is ‘out there as opposed to what is ‘in here’. For example, insisting on a literal belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is very good theological symbolism, but unless it translates into a spirituality of interior poverty, readiness to conceive, and human vulnerability, it is largely a “mere lesson memorized” as Isaiah puts it (29:13). p. 114

“But your only real prerequisite for participation or “worthiness” is in fact your capacity for presence itself. This is not accomplished just in the head. Presence is a unique capacity that includes heart, body, mind and whatever we mean by “soul”. Love affairs never just happen in the mind. P. 131

“It is the egoic illusion of our own perfect rightness that often allows us to crucify others...We seldom consciously know that we are scapegoating or projecting. As Jesus said, people literally “do not know what they are doing”. In fact, the effectiveness of the mechanism depends on not seeing it.” P. 150

Our arguments about private worthiness reward and punishment, gender, race, and class distinctions, private possessions, all the things that make us argue and compete, largely become a waste of time and an illusion. All these lived arguments depend on some type of weighing, measuring, counting, listing, labeling and comparing. The Gospel, by contrast, is about learning to live and die in and with God - all our warts included and forgiven by an infinite love. P. 166

“Scared people remember threats and do not hear invitations.” P. 173

'I cannot put this book down'– Bono In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’ last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understanding has been limited by culture, religious squabbling, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the centre. Drawing on scripture, history and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. ‘God loves things by becoming them,' he writes, and Jesus’ life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God – except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.

How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For and Believe

Neva Davies

A thoughtful look at Christ

The Universal Christ is a thoughtful look at religion and spirituality. It's also an important look at what it truly means to follow the risen Christ, as so often we go by more recent theological beliefs rather than understand the early traditions of Christ's followers.

Randi Smith

Niles Holsinger

Marcella Chamorro

Samuel Linde

Capucine Fachot

Ronda Isaacson

Kevin S Perrine

Garren

Once we know that the entire physical world around us, all of creation, is both the hiding place and the revelation place for God, this world becomes home, safe, enchanted, offering grace to any who look deeply. I call that kind of deep and calm seing "contemplation."

Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else could it really be?

Remember, light is not so much what you directly see as that by which you see everything else. This is why in John's Gospel, Jesus Christ makes the almost boastful statement "I am the Light of the world" (John 8:12).

Scientists have discovered that what looks like darkness to the human eye is actually filled with tiny particles called "neutrinos," slivers of light that pass through the entire universe. Apparently there is no such thing as total darkness anywhere, even though the human eye thinks there is. John's Gospel was more accurate than we realized when it described Christ as "a light that darkness cannot overcome"

But instead of saying that God came into the world through Jesus, maybe it would be better to say that Jesus came out of an already Christ-soaked world.

eAs John says, "From this fullness (pleroma) we have all received, grace upon grace" (1:16), or “grace responding to grace gracefully” might be an even more accurate translation. To end in grace you must somehow start with grace, and then it is grace all the way through. Or as others have simply put it, "How you get there is where you arrive."

The only people that Jesus seemed to exclude were precisely those who refused to know they were ordinary sinners like everyone else. The only thing he excluded was exclusion itself.

In Paul's story we find the archetypal spiritual pattern, wherein people move from what they thought they always knew to what they now fully recognize.

Divine perfection is precisely the ability to include what seems like imperfection.

God did not just start talking to us with the Bible or the church or the prophets. Do we really think that God had nothing at all to say for 13.7 billion years, and started speaking only in the latest nanosecond of geological time? Did all history prior to our sacred texts provide no basis for truth or authority? Of course not.

When we start with a theology of sin management administered by a too-often elite clergy, we end up with a schizophrenic religion. We end up with a Jesus who was merciful while on earth, but who punishes in the next world. Who forgives here but not later. God in this picture seems whimsical and untrustworthy even to the casual observer.

Studies like the ones done by the neuroscientist Rick Hanson show that we must consciously hold on to a positive thought or feeling for a minimum of fifteen seconds before it leaves any imprint in the neurons. The whole dynamic, in fact, is called the Velcro/Teflon theory of the mind.

Love is constantly creating future possibilities for the good of all concerned-even, and especially, when things go wrong… Love flows unstoppably downward, around every obstacle—like water. Love and water seek not the higher place but always the lower.

Religion, at its best, helps people to bring this foundational divine love into ever-increasing consciousness. In other words, it's more about waking up than about cleaning up…Cleaning up is a result of waking up, but most of us put the cart before the horse.

Love grounds us by creating focus, direction, motivation, even joy—and if we don't find these things in love, we usually will try to find them in hate.

The divine-human love affair really is a reciprocal dance. Sometimes, in order for us to step forward, the other partner must step a bit away. The withdrawal is only for a moment, and its purpose is to pull us toward him or her but it doesn't feel like that in the moment. It feels like our partner is retreating. Or it just feels like suffering.

But God rewards me for letting him reward me. This is the divine two-step that we call grace: I am doing it, and yet I am not doing it; It is being done unto me, and yet by me too. Yet God always takes the lead in the dance, which we only recognize over time.

God insists on incorporating the seeming negative. There is no doubt that God allows suffering. In fact, God seems to send us on the path toward our own wholeness not by eliminating the obstacles, but by making use of them. Most of the novels, operas, and poems ever written seem to have this same message in one way or another, yet it still comes as a shock and a disappointment when we experience it in our own little lives. But apart from love and suffering, both of which are always underserved, I see no other way that humans would recalibrate, reset, or change course. Why would we?

This is why saints like Augustine, Teresa of Avila, and Carl Jung seem to fully equate the discovery of their own souls with the very discovery of God. It takes much of our life, much lived experience, to trust and allow such a process. But when it comes, it will feel like a calm and humble ability to quietly trust yourself and trust God at the same time. Isn't that what we all want?

As Augustine says, "A temporal thing is loved before we have it, and it grows worthless when we gain it, for it does not satisfy the soul... but the eternal is more ardently loved the more it is acquired....The soul will find the eternal even more valuable after once tasting it."

Jesus quite clearly believed in change. In fact, the first public word out of his mouth was the Greek imperative verb metanoeite, which literally translates as "change your mind" or "go beyond your mind" (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, and Mark 1:15). Unfortunately, in the fourth century, St. Jerome translated the word into Latin as paenitentia ("repent" or "do penance"), initiating a host of moralistic connotations that have colored Christians' understanding of the Gospels ever since. The word metanoeite, however, is talking about—and only by corollary about a specific change in behavior.

l am afraid many of us have failed to honor God's always unfolding future and the process of getting there, which usually includes some form of dying to the old. In practical effect, we end up resisting and opposing the very thing we want. The great irony is that we have often done this in the name of praying to God, as though God would protect us from the very process that refines us! God protects us into and through death, just as the Father did with Jesus.

Fred Rivett &
The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

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The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr