Matthew Fox: A New Reformation

Fox greeted the St. Joan of Arc community with the words “I love this church.” In fact when Fox scheduled several lectures in Minneapolis, he called St. Joan’s and inquired if he could also speak here. The theme of his lecture was “A New Reformation” which is also the title of his newest book whose subtitle is “Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity.”

Fox wrote the 95 Theses shortly after the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to Pope. By coincidence he had been invited to speak on Pentecost Sunday at the Bad Herrenalb Healing Center in Frankfurt, Germany. As he states in his book “Given these circumstances, I could not in conscience speak on the Pentecost of rebirth of the church.” He awoke early one morning and the 95 theses poured from his pen. The Theses flow from Fox’s life and “practicing religion and spirituality.” Fox described the process of obtaining a permit to post the Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, a permission that Martin Luther most likely did not need. The current rules require that one to stay 50 feet away from the door so that the view tourists have is not impeded. Fox thought the 50 foot distance was not conducive to reenacting Luther’s actions. So with persistence he obtained permission to post his Theses at the door itself.

Fox told his audience that he finds many parallels between Luther’s time and the present era. According to Fox, Luther’s Reformation was a product of a number of forces including the invention of the printing press, the rise of the nation-state, corruption of the Catholic Church at the highest levels and the rise of an educated elite. Fox contends that the forces at work today that contribute to a new reformation are the electronic revolution, the waning of nation-states and the rise of multinational, global corporations, the corruption and ineffectiveness of western religion and an awakened scholarship. Fox did not mince his words in characterizing the current state of the Catholic and Protestant churches. In the Catholic Church Fox said he sees “corruption at the top” and in the Protestant Church he sees “apathy”.

After describing the genesis for his Theses, Fox addressed the second theme of his book, “Two Christianities: Time for a Divorce”. According to Fox, today’s Catholic Church does not want theology, it wants ideology. Fox believes this is one cause of the priest pedophile crisis. Fox surmised that in the business environment, a CEO under whom such actions occurred would be gone the next day. Not so with the bishops said Fox. The Boston Cardinal was left in place several years before resigning and then transferred to a position in Rome. At the same time Fox noted that the three most read theologians were expelled from the church, an effort Fox said to dumb down the church.

Fox contended that the issue of homosexuality was splitting the church. He compared the issue to Galileo three centuries ago being tried and convicted of heresy for teaching that the sun was the center of the solar system. Both the nature of the universe in Galileo’s time and homosexuality now are scientific issues, said Fox. Fox noted that when Pope John Paul reinstated Galileo he said it was a lesson that religion should listen to science. When Cardinal Ratzinger spoke out against homosexuality, Fox said there was not one reference to science. Fox believes there are far more important issues to deal with than homosexuality, issues such as racism and economic imbalance. Why, he questions, do we let this issue of homosexuality take such energy.

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Ric Rosow has worn many hats at St. Joan of Arc. He is currently chair of the parish Finance Committee. He has also spoken several times at Sunday Mass and was on the Fellowship of Reconciliation trip to the Middle East in 2003. His wife, Vicki Underland-Rosow, is currently a member of the Pastoral Council.

Fox said he sees mainstream Christianity as a sleeping giant. “My work”, he said, “is to kick the ecclesiastical cadaver to see if there is any life in it.” According to Fox there is life after Roman Catholicism. But you don’t leave the bus voluntarily he said, just as Rosa Parks did not exit the bus over 50 years ago. But if you stay, Fox said, you should make some noise. Fox encouraged his audience to go out on Pentecost Sunday and pound his Theses on doors all around the city and to bring the media. Conservatives learned how to use the media, Fox says, while liberals were feeding the poor and looking at footnotes.

Fox’s 95 Theses can be found on the web at: http://matthewfoxcs.blogspot.com/2005/05/chapter-v-95-theses-or-articles-of.html.