Dear friends,

Some will probably say: there he is again with a new hobby.

I have always loved the books by Thomas Moore
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF...homas%20Moore&page=1
Did anyone read his latest http://www.amazon.com/Writing-...id=1265381149&sr=1-4
I hope but I am almost sure it is not as stupid as f.e. http://www.amazon.com/Third-Je...Ignore/dp/0307338312

What to think of this movement of the 'soul'?
(Jung =) Hillman, Sardello, Moore a.o.)
I am missing the link with anthropology/psychology/the world of the soul/the role of creativity and imagination and so forth... in the church today, at least here in Belgium!

It fascinates me also to see how these writers of 'the soul' combine mythology, alchemy, psychology, spirituality...

But after all, maybe there is not much new under the sun. Things return again and again.
Moore f.e. is among others very much influenced by transcendentalist/pantheist Emerson (the oversoul is more of an Eastern concept)...

Psychology is necessary but tends to get spiritualized too much or becomes in our days a sort of religion http://www.amazon.com/Psycholo...orship/dp/0802807259
and there is a re-emerging going on of paganism and pantheism or whatever you call it iow a 'reenchantment of the world' http://armchair_academic.homestead.com/PaganTemp.html

Esalen institute seems to have had a major impact on these trends, influenced by Eastern thinking...

Some reply?

Fred

Dear friends,

I am reading Thomas moore's latest 'Writing in the Sand' book about Jesus.

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-...ospels/dp/1401924131

Although he says remarkable things here and there, it strikes me that the over-all picture is about the Soul, Jesus as Teacher of Consciousness, as a Human being,...

I don't find anything about Jesus as God-Man.
It therefore doesn't surprise me that Deepak Chopra wrote so enthousiastically about this book.

PAX,
Fred

I've pretty much given up on these modern psychological / vedantist / zen / nondual / gnostic / whatever books that purport to reveal the true meaning of the gospels. My latest book order is for John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew Volume 2, which covers Jesus' message. It cost me $50, but I reckon I'll learn more from it than from any number of lesser books. I believe that our very own w.c. has already read it.

Yes, Derek a.o. there is tmo in this respect a difference between on the one hand the notion of continuity between grace and nature (seen also in many Catholic writers as in Rahner)or even monism/universal holism/gnosticism and a discontinuity (extremely in Calvin, Barth and Barthian theologians, Ellul) between grace and nature.
It strikes me that as I said before there is a lot to do about therapy nowadays and that healing must and can come from man himself (self-realization). This idea is everywhere!
But the heart as the Bible says is deceitful above anything and has to be converted, that is the biblical message!

John Meyer must be inetresting.

Do you know Dallas Willard:
http://www.dwillard.org/

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=173184

Fred

Hi, Fred,

I'm not familiar with Dallas Willard. I looked at the website link you provided, and one of the first things I noticed was this sentence: "Under the direction of Dr. Gary Moon, the Institute will complete it's first year of training in July 2010." Of course, the possessive "its" should have no apostrophe in it. By today's standards, that makes me a pedant!

Dear Derek,

I have looked up J. Meier
http://www.amazon.com/Marginal...roblem/dp/0385264259
and it looks like rather difficult stuff on historical criticism. I have had this years ago.
I am coming from a protestant background and I can tell you I learned a lot from great scholars like F.F. Bruce, Berkhof, Berkouwer, Bavinck, Wentsel http://www.benwentsel.nl/ (dogmatics consisting of 7 volumes!)a.o.

Fred