Evolutionary Christianity Begins

What a long time it has been between my last post and now!  So much has changed, so many developments have taken place.  I entered what could be described as a ‘dark night of the soul’, a place where meaning was lost and I was trapped in existential despair.  This came about through chronic illness which led to an intense struggle and a series of life changes.  The process has led to something akin to the shedding of skin which occurs in reptiles, letting go of particular ideals and attachments in favor of greater depth and joy.  So while I have been going through significant pain, I have also woken up to new inspiration.

My first inspiration came about through a series of teleseminars entitled ‘The Great Integral Awakening’: http://www.greatintegralawakening.com/.  The central theme of this series was the evolution of spirituality through the eyes of several renowned figures who each are making significant contributions in the arena of integral thought.  If this doesn’t make much sense to you, check out the websites http://integralenlightenment.com/index.php and http://www.integralspiritualpractice.com/ for more information, and also look up Ken Wilber (who has PLENTY of both positive and negative press!)

The latest avenue of inspiration came when I entered the search term ‘evolutionary christianity’ into Google.  This brought me to http://evolutionarychristianity.com/, the website of author and pastor Michael Dowd, who has release a book entitled ‘Thank God for Evolution’.  He has just begun a teleseminar series which can be accessed through the above link, and which drew my interest due to the fact that a few of the guests are people I have mentioned in this blog as inspirations: Brian Mclaren, John Shelby Spong, and Matthew Fox.  Having heard the first talk, I am excited to say that I now feel tremendous inspiration and hope once again that I can have a living and vibrant faith without the baggage that is predominant in the Christianity that is popularly promoted.

As such, I am now using this space as a means to express my inspiration, whether that come from the Evolutionary Christianity series, other sources, or thoughts about the Christmas season.  I look forward to the ongoing dialog and hope that it can be an inspiration to others.