JourneyOnline
Hidden Springs,
New Jersey (2011), RRP $22.95
Reviewed by Bob Warrick.
THE Charge (or Word of Mission) at the end of a worship service usually includes an exhortation to not just have listened and thought, but to make a difference in the world.
That is one of Mr Rohr’s major thrusts.
His concern is with religious attitudes that “create an alternative pious world for believers without really challenge the
oppression, materialism, and sectarianism of our modern world” .
He argues that religion’s primary purpose is to be a transformational system and that it cannot recover this purpose without a genuine contemplative and healing stance – hardly surprising, as he is a Franciscan priest and founder of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
He suggests that we have moved toward being a “civil” religion rather than the new mind and heart of Christ.
In order to really change the world, it is necessary to move away from where cultural Christianity is standing and so gain leverage to eff ect change.
It’s not new, but he reminds us that the world knows when we are quoting clichés that we hardly believe ourselves or mouthing doctrine that is not connected to life.
Mr Rohr exhorts us to embrace our humanity and encourages us to question the ways in which we live our beliefs.
