Breakthrough

Rating:
Summary: Herein you will find the 'solid food' of the spiritual life.
Review: Few books have moved me like this one. All the elements of the spiritual life are laid out in 37 wonderful sermons by an inspiring mystic of the 13th century, Meister Echkhart, complete with commentary by Matthew Fox. Detachment, Letting Go, the Transcendant and Immanent Diety, the divine inheritance of humanity, and more. Now, if they could only put it back in print!

Rating:
Summary: Eckhart misconstrued.
Review: Matthew Fox finds a Meister Eckhart that other scholars have difficulty obtaining. There seem to be three reasons for this: (1) Fox translates some sermons of Eckhart that are not generally accepted as being authentic, (2) Fox uses modern terms for some of Eckhart's Middle High German that distort what Eckhart is saying, and (3) Fox draws the wrong conclusions from some of Eckhart's teachings. The result is that Fox assembles a notion that Eckhart is a champion of creation spirituality, where compassion and justice challenge the economic and social structures of the day. All of this is nonsense. Eckhart does not emphasize creation but God, or more precisely, the godhead. He talks about mercy, but specifically rules out that this means mercy of one person towards another. Mercy, for Eckhart, is a deep activity of the godhead. By justice, Eckhart does not mean social or economic relations, but righteous or virtuous living. Justice, for Eckhart, is also an activity of the godhead. It is work that is conducted with why. Eckhart is not concerned with social structures, in and of themselves. And Eckhart, who lived in the fourteenth century, does not use the inclusive language that Fox bestows on him. A student with a serious interest in Meister Eckhart, would be better to read, Meister Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises, Volumes I to III, translated and edited by M.O'C. Walshe.

Rating:
Summary: inspiring
Review: Whether this is the 'authentic' voice of Eckhart or not, it is an excellent book about spirituality and the approach to God. it makes God accessible. Rather than treat God as only worthy of being worshipped from afar, it brings the creation in intimate contact with the creator. One with Him. And the new way of looking at the Bible and Religion from an intimate perspective, branded Eckhart as a heretic. Of course, often in Religion you were burned or considered a heretic if you got too close to God. I loved this book and thought Matthew Fox did a wonderful job of bringing these ideas to modern english language.

Rating:
Summary: inspiring
Review: Whether this is the 'authentic' voice of Eckhart or not, it is an excellent book about spirituality and the approach to God. it makes God accessible. Rather than treat God as only worthy of being worshipped from afar, it brings the creation in intimate contact with the creator. One with Him. And the new way of looking at the Bible and Religion from an intimate perspective, branded Eckhart as a heretic. Of course, often in Religion you were burned or considered a heretic if you got too close to God. I loved this book and thought Matthew Fox did a wonderful job of bringing these ideas to modern english language.