I noticed a blog post worthy of comment from author Carl McColman on his blog A Contemplative Faith. Last week, he wrote an article called “Concerning Emergence, Contemplation, and the Faith of the Future”, in which he talks about contemplative mysticism and the Emerging Church.
First of all, it should be noted that McColman studied meditation and contemplative prayer at the same Shalem Prayer Institute, an ecumenical organization and top contemplative prayer school in America. Tilden Edwards, the founder of Shalem Prayer Institute explained, “The mystical stream is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality” (Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1980), 18). This can be clearly documented within the Emerging Church movement.
Back to the recent article, McColman wrote:
It’s been fifty years since Karl Rahner wrote his important book “The Christian of the Future.” In a different work, Concern for the Church, he made his classic remark “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.” (source)
Emergent author Leonard Sweet also quoted Karl Rahner and said:
Mysticism, once cast to the sidelines of the Christian tradition, is now situated in postmodernist culture near the center. . . . In the words of one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, Jesuit philosopher of religion/dogmatist Karl Rahner, “The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, one who has experienced something, or he will be nothing.” [Mysticism] is metaphysics arrived at through mindbody experiences. Mysticism begins in experience; it ends in theology. (Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality (Dayton, OH: Whaleprints, 1991), 76).
In my book, Hath God Said? Emergent Church Theology, it is documented how contemplative mysticism is the avenue for an all-inclusive spirituality. The Emergent Church has only sprinkled Jesus on top of their religion and called it Christian, but it is nothing of the sort. They embrace many spiritual practices from other religions in their contemplative mysticism. For additional information, Ray Yungen gives an informative presentation on Mysticism in the Church.
Carl McColman acknowledges that there is no difference between Christian mysticism and the Eastern mysticism of Hinduism and Buddhism. In The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, he writes, “no absolutely clear distinction can be drawn between Christian and non-Christian mysticism” (pp. 63,64). The author says that “Christian mystics have displayed an unusual openness to the wisdom of non-Christian philosophy and religion,” and “Christian mysticism seems from the beginning to have had an intuitive recognition to the way in which mysticism is a form of unity that transcends religious difference” (p. 65). McColman concludes:
And the twentieth century will go down in history as the great age of inter-religious spirituality, with mystics like Thomas Merton, Bede Griffiths, Swami Abhishiktananda, Cynthia Bourgeault, and many others expressing their Christian faith in ways that reveal the influence of wisdom traditions such as Suffism, Vedanta, or Zen.” (Carl McColman, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2010), 65)
Suffism is the mysticism of Islam, Vedanta is the mysticism of Hinduism, and Zen is the mysticism of Buddhism. In reality, any “Christian faith” influenced by these mystical traditions of other religions is not really Christian. Inter-religious spirituality is the language of the Emergent Church. In fact, Emergent guru Brian McLaren’s endorsement appears on the back cover of McColman’s book:
Before I heard about The Big Book of Mysticism, I had been thinking about how such a book has been needed for a long time. Now, having read it, I’m glad we waited for Carl McColman to come along and write it. It’s accessible, well-informed, balanced, broad . . . just what we needed.
McLaren apparently read the segment about there being no distinction between Christian and non-Christian mystics. Rather than opposing the book, he wholeheartedly endorsed the book. Also to endorse the book were other Emergents such as Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, founder of The Center for Action and Contemplation, and Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence.
In his recent article, McColman critiqued an article on the “Got Questions?” called What is the Emerging/Emergent Church Movement? He said:
They go on to express their disapproval of “liberal doctrine and theology,” “relativism,” and “ecumenism,” each of which is regarded as a movement toward abandoning Christianity. It would be more accurate to say it’s abandoning a certain type of conservative ideology within Christianity. (source)
Notice that McColman didn’t correct the viewpoint expressed in the article that Emergence is relativistic and ecumenical. It is the subjective and relative truth of Emergence that has led to an all-inclusive spirituality. McColman goes on to describe the Emerging movement as the “third way” (fascist language):
The emerging movement represents a third way, that cuts across denominational lines and abandons the emphasis on institutional loyalty, instead emphasizing an inclusive, optimistic vision of what it means to be a Christian today. This third way recognizes that the human condition is precarious, no one has a lock on truth, everything (yes, even the Bible and Church authority) must be questioned in the light of reason, criticism, and the full sweep of human knowledge, and that any honest effort to follow Jesus Christ can only be made in the light of the existential uncertainty of the human condition.
I believe this third way is the way of the future. And I bet if Karl Rahner were alive today, he’d agree with me. It’s the way of the mystic, for the mystics and contemplatives have always understood that the heart — compassion, forgiveness, relationship, mercy — takes us closer to God than the head — dogma, doctrine, theology, philosophy. (source)
McColman believes the Bible must be questioned and criticized. McColman falls right in line with Emergent thinking by emphasizing “deeds over creeds” or “heart over head.” This is one of the reasons why Emergent Christianity is criticized for having an experiential and subjective view of truth. Of course both doctrine and deeds are important and neither should be exalted over the other. By de-emphasizing orthodoxy in favor of orthopraxy, the Emergent movement has allowed the Gospel to be changed in order to accommodate its experiential subjective truth and social justice gospel. But it is correct belief in the truth of Jesus Christ who said, “I am . . . the truth” (John 14:6) that will set us free. Not just believing that He died for us, but also believing Him, His words, and keeping His word. Knowing the truth by abiding in His word (John 8:31) will make us free. Thus, Jesus commanded His disciples in the Great Commission to “teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19) and to go “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Belief influences our experience and behavior.
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