New Reformation: "Smart with a Heart"

Rehabilitate the Intellect:

Get the Brain out of the

Broom Closet!

And I am not talking "Heart-Math" here. That increasingly popular, quasi-scientific, flavor-of-the-month might be another good subject to discuss later...

The intellect needs to be rehabilitated in New Thought Christian literature and studies. Athough some of the founding fathers and mothers of Practical Christianity cautioned against or flatly rejected intellectual pursuits in spiritual studies, we've come a long way since then. The time has come to take the brain out of the broom closet. It's time to admit that Plato, Jesus Christ, Thomas Aquinas, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin were right when they called upon people to use their minds in pursuit of spiritual truth. (After all, it is called New Thought, not New Feel.)

Just as 21st century science has come a long way since Myrtle cleaned her closet of the snake oils and impotent potions of 19th century medicine, so has biblical scholarship, systematic theology, theological ethics, pastoral studoes, and the sociology of religion come a long way in over one hundred years. We know more about the historical Jesus today than people knew in the second century, and the questions being asked by biblical scholarship do not begin with the assumption that the Bible was channeled from heaven to automatic-writing prophets and brand-name apostles. Modern Bible scholarship begins with the frank admission that people wrote the Bible. Ordinary folks, too. Real people who argued, had axes to grind, and had points of view to push. And here's where biblical studies gets exciting: They had some lovely disputes. If you knew how Matthew's school of thought (whoever he was) and Luke's school of thought (ditto whoever) felt about each other's work, well...they would have needed Jerry Springer's muscular guys in the black T-shirts to keep them apart. And when the reader realizes what's going on, it's as if somebody flips a switch and the flourescent tubes nuke the room in dazzling light. Take Paul's attitude about hell, for instance: He didn't believe in it. And Paul's attitude toward women....

Want to know more..?

Great-->sign up for a course! We need people to get smart with a heart.

What I mean by "Smart with a Heart" is to set as a priority the need to release the intellectual power of New Thought Christianity. Groups like Unity can do this in several stages. First, by rehabilitating the intellect itself in our practices and writings, then by getting serious about developing in-house theological scholarship which can bring our people into contact and collegial dialogue with religious traditions beyond what I have called the "New Thought Compound."

Unity evolved as a home-made, laity-led, build-it-as-you-go, non-denominational denomination--whew! No wonder the movement has suffered the fate of most self-taught individuals, i.e., great coverage of the areas of special interest but gaping holes in the blind spots. Last summer during the first Master of Divinity classes for Unity ministerial students, theologian Matthew Fox--who is a true "friend" to Unity in many respects--gently upbraided the class for our lack of appreciation for the treasures of Western spirituality. And clearly he was right. Dr. Fox suggested that Unity has a lot to offer to the wider Christian world but has some remedial work to do before reaching communicative parity with the other players. We have a lot to learn as a movement about how New Thought Christianity fits into the wide, deep and vast ecosystem of human religious thought. It does no good to tar the whole Christian world beyond the New Thought Compound with the brush of fundamentalism, because that epithet is as self-defeating as it is incorrect.

There is also nothing particularly revelatory or new about Matthew Fox’s observations. Feedback from ministers and laypeople continues to indicate a feeling of inadequacy in biblical studies, and it is not an exaggeration to say that most Unity people have little understanding about the history of mystical Christianity. Sometimes, when listening to Unity sermons and reading our publications, one gets the impression that two thousand years ago there was this Master Teacher named Jesus Christ, then Charles and Myrtle Fillmore and other New Thought authors came along in the 1890’s, and nothing worth mentioning happened in between. The actual storyline is far more interesting. We have plenty of Friends in High Places.

In the century-plus since it was founded as a prayer and publication society, Unity has continued to grow but has never quite captured popular attention as a spiritual movement. Its main claim to fame has been the widely read devotional publication Daily Word. Unity churches and study groups exist all around the world, but we continue to struggle with prosperity issues in our small groups, like a chain of New Thought archipelagos stretching across a global ocean of traditional religions and post-modern skepticism. However, it is fair to say that Unity exercises greater influence than its meager numbers would suggest due to the wide readership of Daily Word magazine and the century-old outreach of Silent Unity's prayer ministry. I like to think of the lighthouse cupola at the top of the Silent Unity building as the night light for the world.

Nevertheless, a great opportunity exists for expansion of the Unity movement now, in the 21st century. In the United States alone, recent studies have shown that as many as 29 million people describe their religious identity as “none,” and two-thirds of those unchurched dissenters affirm their belief in God, and more than one-third consider themselves “religious.” They are the people Bishop Spong has tagged as the “Christian Alumni Association,” and although they may have dropped out of organized religion they are far from indifferent to spirituality. We tend to attract people from the subgroup of the cultural left which Walter Ong calls Electronic Orality. These are people who display progressive characteristics like an open-ended approach to truth, an emphasis on the “now,” deep commitment to ecology and environmental concerns, and display a medley of traits to include simultaneity, spontaneity, a dialogical approach, open-endedness, a preference for variety of choice, team work, and a growing sense of globalism. They are smart, and they have a heart. These characteristics are widely distributed among people who attend Unity congregations, although not every Unity person would identify with every trait. Compare the above description to this great quote from Charles R. Fillmore, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors and grandson of the founders:

“Unity says that true religious growth is a 'do-it-yourself' project ...One might describe Unity as a religious philosophy with an ‘open end,’ seeking to find God's truth in all of life.”

(Source: Unity World Headquarters website, http://www.unityonline.org/discover_main.htm)

It is my fond hope that we have turned a corner recently and decided to become a place where great ideas and good scholarship are cherished, where the head and the heart work together to produce a balanced person, aware of human limitations, but fully convinced that "human" is only a temporary identity for the spiritual beings housed in this incarnation. I am all for joining Bishop Jack Spong and others who are calling for a New Reformation in Christian thought. But we need to understand what the first Reformation was about, too, and how to think theologically about the challenges and opportunities facing us today in the post-modern era.

Love stands not alone. There at least are eleven other powers. Let's imagine the whole range of divine-human consciousness based on an enlightened use of the intellect: Using will to rehabilitate the intellect and put its understanding, wisdom and sense of order to work on the great questions of life. Let's eliminate negative thoughts about the intellectual side of humanity, and release the power of divine zeal for life. A much strengthened faith will result.

We need a new generation of Unity scholars, well-educated and deeply spiritual, to reach that huge plurality which sits at home every Sunday because there is no spiritual tradition which has yet addressed their needs for a faith that is smart with a heart...

Any volunteers?