Naming the Unnameable. Dr. Rev. Matthew Fox

      

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      Early Praise for Naming the Unnameable

      “Matthew Fox elegantly offers a contemplative practice that transforms the names of God to the experience of God.” –Deepak Chopra MD

      “What a magnificent symphony of sacred names! My heart is resounding with the music Matthew Fox has evoked in this celebration of the manifold attributes of a Being he gleefully admits transcends all naming. By weaving in the voices of philosophers, theologians and mystics across the spiritual tradition, Fox grounds this magnificent offering even more deeply, inviting us to participate in a space of ongoing inquiry.” –Mirabai Starr, author of Caravan of No Despair

      “I’ve always experienced the Divine as expressing through everything around me: the squirrel chattering up the oak tree, the waves crashing on the shore, my baby boy looking me in the eyes. Matthew Fox in Naming the Unnameable allows us to explore all of the many and dynamic ways that God speaks and breathes and plays in the world.” –Jennifer Berit Listug, co-author with Matthew Fox and Skylar Wilson of Order of the Sacred Earth

      

      “This is a simple book written by a brilliant man who gives us a democratic vision of the names of God. It will be sure to appeal to readers of many faiths, scientists, and nature lovers as well.” –Steven Herrmann, author of Spiritual Democracy

      

      “These are not just names but 89 theories of God across the ages and the planet, each focusing on the characteristic it deems most divine. Matthew Fox leads us on a startling and beautiful journey through humanity’s capacity to envision God, showing every way of looking at God is legitimate if it raises the aspirations of its adherents and their ability to carry them out. Is there objectively a God? What ‘God’ even means explodes in this little book like fireworks in the mind.” –Nancy Abrams, author of A God That Could Be Real

      

      “Matthew Fox leads us on an important yet easily absorbable exploration of the multiplicity of forms in which we perceive the Divine in our lives. While we so readily seek to differentiate, define or even dispel the sacred, we desperately need teachers like Fox who show us the unity in diversity. I suspect that anyone can find some names in this book that resonate for them, whether scientist or artist, believer or atheist, old or young, female or male. Fox’s depth of insight and abundant compassion is felt throughout the pages as he helps us embrace and share in the wholeness of who We are.” –Sky Nelson-Isaacs, M.Sc. Physics and author of Living in Flow

      

      “In Naming the Unnameable, Matthew Fox generously brings ‘God’ down to Earth and us into contact with the Great Mystery that dances all around and within us. He brings the arch of Western Religion back home …and with it, opens up a sense of the sacred for all to experience all-ways.” —Skylar Wilson, co-author with Matthew Fox and Jennifer Berit Listug of Order of the Sacred Earth

      

      “There is a call of profound importance echoing around the world and Matthew Fox is one of those whose empowering courage has given it real depth, resonance, and imagination. Naming the Unnameable is an invitation to deep reflection and the emergence of our true embodied humanity. It is a book of wonderment, of stillness, and it calls us home. Fox gives voice to some of the innumerable names by which we know the numinous mystery of divinity. Should we accept his invitation to courageous contemplation and the unfolding wonderment that would be sure to follow, we may indeed find our way to the global renaissance we so urgently need.” –Mac Macartney, author of The Invisible Path

      89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God… Including the Unnameable God

by Dr. Rev. Matthew Fox

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      Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher: Homebound Publications, Postal Box 1442, Pawcatuck, Connecticut 06379. www.homeboundpublications.com

      Published by Little Bound Books, an imprint of Homebound Publications Front Cover Image © The Black Madonna by Ullrrich Javier Lemus | Visit www.ullrrich.com Cover and Interior Designed by Leslie M. Browning

      Permission is granted by:

      Jonathan Star for citations from Rumi in his book A Garden Beyond Paradise. Yale University Press for citations from David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss. From The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez Copyright © 1964, 1979, 1991 by Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites ICS Publications 2131 Lincoln Road, N.E. Washington, DC 20002-1199 U.S.A. www.icspublications.org Excerpts from #6 [21.], #14 [51.], #25 [61.], # 51 [91.] from Tao Te Ching By Lao Tzu, A New English Version, With Foreword And Notes, by Stephen Mitchell. Translation copyright © 1988 by Stephen Mitchell. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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      Dedication

      I happily and gratefully dedicate this book to my teaching colleagues at the University of Creation Spirituality over the years who have passed on and are now among the ancestors. Included are M. C. Richards, Sister Jose Hobday, Jeremy Taylor, Robert Rice, Buck Ghosthorse, Rolf Osterberg, Shanya Kirsten, Monsignor Bob Fox.

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      Also by the Author

       Original Blessing

       Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations

      The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Times

      The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

       The Coming of the Cosmic Christ

       A Spirituality Named Compassion

       Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

       Passion for Creation: Meister Eckhart’s Earth-Based Spirituality

       Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times

       Stations of the Cosmic Christ (with Bishop Marc Andrus)

       A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey

       Natural Grace (with Rupert Sheldrake)

       Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet

      The A.W.E Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human

      The Order of the Sacred Earth (with Skylar Wilson and Jen Listug)

       The Physics of Angels (with Rupert Sheldrake)

       Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest

       Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

      

      Occupy Spirituality: A Radical