A reformatted and somewhat edited version of
Bede Griffiths' vision of the New Age
as related in Chapter 13 of
"A New Vision of reality" published in 1989
by Templegate Publishers, Springfield, Illinois.
Upon reading and transcribing Bede’s Vision, I choose to share it.
Love, John Chuchman
A Vision
This Vision
involves a return to the perennial philosophy,
the
ancient wisdom which
underlies
all religion from the earliest times.
It requires
a
respect for the traditional wisdom of primitive people,
the Australian
Aborigines,
the
American Indians
and the
tribal
peoples
of Asia and Africa.
We are
re-discovering the wisdom of these people,
the
harmony they achieved in their lives
and the
very profound understanding they have of
how
human life is related to the natural world about them
and to
the world of spirits beyond them.
These people
evidence an integrated, holistic view of life.
We do turn
to the great religious traditions,
Hindu, Buddhist,
Jain, Sikh, Taoist, Confucian, Shinto, Zoroastrian,
Judaic,
Muslim and Christian.
These
are systems of religion which had their origin
during
the first millennium before Christ.
All are
based on the perennial philosophy,
developed
under different situations
and in
different circumstances,
and all
embody in their different ways
the
ancient wisdom and the wholeness of life.
These
different traditions
are to be
seen as interrelated and interdependent,
each giving
a particular and unique insight
into ultimate truth and reality
even
though they all grew up apart and
mostly
without contact with each other for many centuries.
When
they did make contact
there
was often rivalry, acrimony and conflict,
and as a
result we have the disastrous divisions of religion today.
But we
continue to learn,
that all
the different religious traditions,
from the
most primitive to the most advanced,
are
interrelated and interdependent,
and that
each has its own particular insights.
Judaism,
Christianity and Islam must give up the exclusive claims
which
characterize them.
This will free them to recognize the action of
God in all humanity
from the
beginnings of history.
All
three tend to extreme exclusivism
and have
brought so much conflict into the world.
Christians
need to recognize
the
limited character of their original revelation,
coming
as it did from within a Semitic culture in
the
limited world and thought-forms of the Ancient Near East.
Emerging
from that world
it
spread through the Roman Empire from Palestine through Greece to Rome.
For centuries
the whole sphere of Christianity
was
simply the Roman Empire centered around the Mediterranean
and
completely without contact
with the
greater part of Asia, Africa, America and Australia.
Christianity
is a unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ
and
that, although it was conditioned by the circumstances of its origin,
this revelation has a unique message for the
whole world.
The
Christian church began as a Jewish sect and
only
gradually realized its vocation as a universal religion.
It
developed its structures from the second century onwards
entirely
in the context of Greco-Roman culture,
with an extension
which must not be overlooked
in the
Syrian East, in Egypt and Ethiopia.
The doctrine of the church remains essentially
based on a Semitic foundation developed by the Greek genius in terms of Greek
philosophy, while the
organization
remains a Roman structure
built on
the foundation of the original Jewish community.
In the
course of the centuries
these
structures within Christianity have been expanded
and a
whole system of theology, philosophy and morality,
a sacramental
order and an ecclesiastical hierarchy,
have been
developed.
Though
it derives from Jesus and the apostles in the first century,
the
Christian church as such received its definitive structure
in the second century,
its
evolution in the Roman Empire being determined by the circumstances of the
time.
All
these structures which we have inherited
are
Western structures built on the foundation of the original Semitic revelation.
These structures
of doctrine, discipline and sacrament
are thus
historically conditioned.
They are
integral elements in an historical development
which
has taken place gradually over many centuries.
In the course of its history
- and this is the great tragedy –
the
Asian and African churches were separated from the main body.
In Asia,
where St Paul conducted his missions,
the
churches which were centered on Antioch
were
separated in the fifth century,
while
the churches of Africa, based on Egypt and Alexandria,
were also
separated.
The
result was that by the fifth century
Asia and
Africa were lost to the church.
Then in
the eleventh century Eastern Europe, centered on Byzantium,
separated from Rome which was the centre of
the Western church.
Finally,
at the Reformation
the
churches of Northern Europe were separated from Rome.
It is
this tragically divided church that we have inherited.
The
separations which have accumulated over the centuries
are all
still present today.
My
Vision sees
the
reconciliation of these divided churches
as each
recognizes the other as a particular expression of Christian faith and worship,
and as each seeks to reconcile the differences.
There
are valid elements in every Christian church.
Each is a
way of expressing Christian faith and worship.
There
are obvious limitations and obvious differences in each
but we will
seek to discern the differences
and
overcome the divisions,
in
contrast to previous times
when we
were engaged in dividing from one another
and in
asserting our own values
at the expense
of those of others.
Reconciliation
within the Christian church
will
involve recognition of different ministries.
The present ministries of the different
churches
all
derive from the second century or later.
In the
New Testament
there is
neither papacy, episcopacy nor priesthood.
The only
priesthood, properly speaking, in the New Testament
is that of Christ himself and of the people,
which St
Peter describes as a "holy priesthood".
It would
be necessary to reconsider the different ministries in this light.
The
present system of the papacy
dates
from the Gregorian
reform
of the twelfth century.
It is
important to recognize that this movement had its value
at the
time.
One must
consider that each development of the church
was
limited to its particular historic horizon.
It was
only when the Eastern church separated from the Western
that the
papacy began to develop its present structure.
The Eastern
church will never be reconciled
with the
present system of the papacy
which is
an evolution of the last ten centuries.
In the fifth century there were five
patriarchates:
Jerusalem,
Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome.
In the
fifth century the primacy of the Pope, St Leo,
was
fully recognized
but he
was primus inter pares,
the
first among equals,
and he
never interfered in the affairs of the Eastern churches.
The patriarchs were responsible for the
liturgy,
theology
and the whole conduct of their churches,
just as the pope was solely responsible for the
Western churches.
The Pope
only appointed bishops in his own patriarchate.
So this
was a very different structure of the church
from that of later centuries,
and yet it
was a unified church.
In the
second century emphasis is on the church itself,
rather
than on bishops.
Bishops
became more important in the course of time
but
early on it was the church that was important.
Perhaps
a possible function of Rome is to be
a center
of unity rather than a center of power.
This
would mean that Rome would no longer be
the center
of power and domination
which it
had become in the Middle Ages.
When we
go back to the New Testament
there is
neither episcopacy nor priesthood.
On the
other hand we find a great many other different ministries.
St Paul
speaks of apostles and prophets
but also
of evangelists, pastors and teachers,
helpers
and administrators.
So that
was the structure of the church in the New Testament
and it
seems that we have to go back to the New Testament itself
to
restructure the ministries of the church.
In that
light the ministries of other churches
which
have no bishops
could be
reconciled with the church as a whole.
We
should also be aware that in the New Testament
women
played a very considerable part in the ministry of the church,
and any
attempt at renewing the structures of the church
demands
that women have ministries in equality with men.
When the
church has been opened in this way
to a more universal structure of ministry
it would be much more possible for her to open
herself
to the
cultures of Asia and Africa
and to
answer the needs of the people in the Third World.
So far
the church has had a European structure.
In its liturgy, theology, canon law and organization
it is a totally Western structure.
We must discover
the possibilities of structuring the church,
not in the
light of Europe,
but in
the light of Asia, Africa and South America.
That is
clearly where the future lies.
It may
be that the basic communities in South America,
particularly
in Brazil,
could
provide a model for the church in the Third World.
In these
communities lay people, men and women,
meet
regularly to study the Scriptures,
to
celebrate the Eucharist,
and to
reflect on their life and experience
in the
light of the Bible and the Eucharist.
They
also relate their political and socio-economic problems
to their experience of the Bible and the
Eucharist
and try
to develop these aspects of their lives within this context.
These
basic communities, in Brazil in particular
where
there are tens of thousands of them,
are all in
communion with the church,
but they
are lay communities.
This
kind of involved and committed community
may well
be the model for a renewed Christian church.
Such
communities could be compared to the monastic communities
at the
break-up of the Roman Empire.
In many
respects we seem to be entering a period
not
unlike that of the Roman Empire in the fifth century
when the
entire structure began to collapse.
It was monastic communities, integrated
communities
with a physical,
social base and a religious character,
which
were the sources from which the new civilization emerged.
As economic,
social and political tensions increase in the present world
there will be an ever stronger need for small
communities,
based on
the new vision of life,
which
could in time form the basis of a new civilization,
like the
monasteries in the Middle Ages.
These
communities would be communities of men and women,
married
and single, basically Christian
but also
open to people of other religious traditions
and of
other understandings also,
where a
new culture would gradually be formed.
Along
with this a new theology would be developed,
particularly
as the church comes into contact
with the
religious cultures of Asia and Africa.
Our
present theology was first built up entirely in contact with Greek philosophy.
The whole system was based on divine
revelation in the Scriptures
interpreted in the light of Greek philosophy.
Today
theology has drawn on modern philosophy,
especially
existentialism,
but nowhere
until the present time
has the
church succeeded in evolving a theology
based on
the experience and the wisdom of Asia and of Africa.
Our
present theology was evolved in Europe
and we have
to look forward to a theology
which
would evolve
in contact with Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist and
Confucian thought
and at
the same time a liturgy
which
would develop
from
contact with the art, music and dance of Asian and African peoples.
It would be an assimilation of the cultures of
Asia and Africa
into the life of the church,
just as in the early centuries
there was an assimilation first of the culture
of the Greeks and the Romans
and then
of all the "barbarian" peoples of Europe.
That was
how the church emerged in the Middle Ages.
It
brought its original Semitic wisdom, religion and faith
and
interpreted it in the light of the Greek and the Roman world.
It
assimilated the barbarian peoples
with
their wonderful gifts,
creating
that great church of the Middle Ages which we have inherited.
In this
way we can envision the emergence of a new world culture
as the
present materialist and mechanistic system breaks down
under
the continued crisis of economic, social and political conflict.
One of
the characteristics of this new culture would be its feminine aspects.
For
three thousand years the world has been dominated
by
patriarchal cultures
which
overcame the ancient matriarchal cultures of the earlier ages.
We have
now reached the limit of this masculine culture
with its
aggressive, competitive, rational, analytic character.
We are
moving now into an age where the feminine principle will be valued,
the yin in contrast to the yang.
We have
now reached
the
limit of the masculine culture,
and we
are moving inevitably back to the feminine.
The feminine
will sooner or later begin to take its proper place
with its
characteristics of intuition, empathy and co-operation,
and with
its holistic approach.
This
will necessarily affect not only the economic, social and political orders
but also
spirituality and religion.
The
Christian religion has developed an entirely masculine concept of God.
We
always speak of God as Father, and of the incarnation of the Son.
Even the
Holy Spirit, which is neuter in Greek but masculine in Latin,
we have
conceived normally in masculine terms.
In the Hebrew
Bible, however, the Spirit, the ruach, is feminine
and in
the Syrian church this same word was used of the Holy Spirit
when
they spoke of "our Mother, the Holy Spirit".
That is
found in the second and third centuries
but it does not seem to have survived after
that.
The
masculine character of the Godhead has prevailed since then.
There
was however a feminine aspect of God in the Old Testament
and to
some extent in the New, and in the
Christian
tradition we have Julian of Norwich,
who
speaks of Jesus as our Mother.
St
Anselm of Canterbury does the same.
So apart
from a few exceptions
the
masculine character of God has strongly prevailed in the West.
By contrast,
in India God is conceived both as Father and Mother.
Obviously
theologically God may be conceived as both Father and Mother.
Being
neither masculine nor feminine
God can
be represented as either Father or Mother, or both,
in
masculine and feminine terms.
In the Tantric tradition,
which
derives from the ancient matriarchal culture,
the
mother aspect of God is dominant.
In that
tradition the whole universe is seen to derive from the Mother
and
all
worship is offered to the Mother.
That is
precisely the opposite of the Judaeo-Christian tradition.
I
envision a corresponding development in Christian theology
recognizing
the feminine aspect of God
and the
place of women in the ministry of the church.
There is
no question of a return to a matriarchal society.
It is a matter of the recovery of feminine
values
and the
reconciliation of the masculine and the feminine.
When the
truth of the transcendent order of reality is rejected
we cannot
remain neutral.
We
become exposed to the hostile forces which work in the unconscious
and
bring spiritual destruction upon humankind.
Western
Europe rejected the perennial philosophy at the Renaissance
and has
been led step by step to the materialistic philosophy which rejects fundamental
human values
and
exposes humankind to the contrary forces at work in the universe.
The only
way of recovery is to rediscover the perennial philosophy,
the
traditional wisdom, which is found in all ancient religions
and
especially in the
great
religions of the world.
But
those religions have in turn become fossilized
and have
each to be renewed, not only in themselves
but also
in relation to one another,
so that
a cosmic, universal religion can emerge,
in which
the essential
values
of Christian religion will be preserved
in living relationship with the other
religious traditions of the world.
This is my
vision for the coming centuries
as a new
world order emerges from the ashes of the old.
