Awakin Call

Last November, Matthew Fox had a riveting (and too brief) Awakin Calls conversation, hosted by Rahul Brown and Aryae Coopersmith, on the topic of "Fidelity vs Faith: Bowing to the Heart Over Authority." Matthew is a spiritual theologian and scholar of mystic spirituality whose theology of creation spirituality was systematically singled out and denounced by two successive Popes, only to see a third Pope incorporate it into Church doctrine.

Now he returns, this time in conversation with Pavi Mehta and Cynthia Li, for a deeper exploration of his powerful views on the divine feminine. His most recent book, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic--and Beyond, is about a female medieval mystic who lived through the plague of the Black Death, drawing out timeless wisdom relevant to our modern COVID-19 era. "A theologian way ahead of her time," he writes, "Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness."

As Matthew said during his November call:

"Wisdom is different from knowledge. It doesn't exclude knowledge, but wisdom is bigger. First of all, she's feminine. ... Patriarchy and the reptilian brain are very aligned, maybe something to do with testosterone. The divine feminine is so important to balance things .... So when we get into the right side of our brains -- that hemisphere that is about intuition and creativity -- that balances the rational. Then you get a healthy dynamic. ...

I don't think we're going to survive [as a species] without the feminine reasserting itself and the masculine cleaning itself up. I think that we men have been deceived with pseudo versions of masculinity, and we need to get more real. After all, the people we admire -- Gandhi or a Mandela or Martin Luther King -- these people have dealt with their inner selves. They've dealt with fear, disappointment and enemies; not by lashing back like the reptilian brain does, but by processing and trying to turn anger into love."

Join Pavi Mehta and Cynthia Li in continued conversation with this fascinating thinker and theologian.