Matthew Fox - The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times

THE TAO
OF
THOMAS AQUINAS

FIERCE WISDOM FOR HARD TIMES

MATTHEW FOX

THE TAO OF THOMAS AQUINAS

FIERCE WISDOM FOR HARD TIMES

Copyright 2020 Matthew Fox.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Scriptural translations are my own (ably assisted by Fr. Bede Griffiths) directly from Aquinass translations of the Bible.

This book is available in e-book form in February, 2020. And in audio format in March.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9341-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9342-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020901736

iUniverse rev. date: 01/30/2020

Contents

Praise for The Tao of Thomas Aquinas

What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterp iece.

Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Sp irit

Matthew Foxs exciting book on Thomas Aquinas breaks new ground in appreciating the great saints spiritual depths and practical wisdom. As Fox indicates, citing a great historian with whom he studied, Aquinass spirituality is everywhere in his work because he is so attuned to the sacredness of life itself and of nature in all its diverse and wonderful beautyincluding human nature and its creativity. Aquinas comes through as a real brother to Francis of Assisi and a real champion for our times as humanity faces eco destruction and massive extinctions. This handbook offers a guide for all who want to stand up, be counted and make a differ ence.

Richard Rohr, OFM, Living School for Center of Action and Contemplation, author, Divine D ance

In the future, when we look back at the individuals who had the greatest impact on Christian thinking in the early 21 st century, I believe that Matthew Fox will be among those at the top of the list. He has not only gone far in rattling conservative dogma, but he has done it from a place deeply rooted in scripture and tradition. His vision of a more contemplative, compassionate, and social-justice-oriented Christianity is exactly what is needed for our faith to survive and growat once nourishing the world and being in dialogue with other spiritual tradit ions.

Fox has a special ability to recontextualize the deep mystical wisdom of the spiritual masters of the church in a way that makes them urgently relevant for our times. This is exactly what he has done with Thomas Aquinas in his new bookshowing us how this medieval, Dominican scholar has much to teach us about mysticism, modern psychology, the environmental movement, science, and social justice. Fox has once again taken some of the gems of the Christian tradition and made them sparkle anew.

Paul Engler, founding director of Center for the Working Poor and co-author, This Is An Upri sing

This thrilling, exalted, fierce, sublime book by our greatest and wisest living Christian prophet reveals Thomas Aquinas not only as the Bach of Christian mystics, boundlessly and groundedly creative, majestic and pragmaticbut also as the most inspired and vibrant possible companion for all sacred activists now struggling to birth a new world. No one but Matthew Fox could have pulled off so magical and necessary a resurrection. Whatever path you are on, read this book and be renewed by its illumined passion for the titanic work a head.

Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope and Turn Me to Gold: 108 Translations of K abir.

In my 20s I encountered Thomas Aquinas while studying the creation spirituality of Matthew Fox. This turned out to be an event that changed my life forever. It felt like I had discovered a secret energy source, like I was this lonely geologist who had stumbled upon an untapped oil field as vast as Saudi Arabia, but one filled with a psychic form of energy a thousand times more potent than oil or gas. Thomas Aquinass wisdom supercharged my life and my creativity for decades. You have in your hands the magical switch to the spiritual energy you need to accomplish the great work for which you were created. Nothing can stop you now.

Brian Thomas Swimme, California Institute of Integral Studies, cosmologist and author of The Universe Story (with Thomas Berry) and Journey of the Univ erse

With his characteristic vigor, wit, and startling insight, Matthew Fox reclaims living wisdom from the murky recesses of theology. Who knew that Thomas Aquinas was so extravagantly brimming with a vital blend of earthy reverence and contemplative quietude, blessing the holiness of all that is incarnational while exalting the One that transcends all distinction? May these distilled teachings contribute to mending the torn web of the w orld.

Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mys tics

Matthew Foxs The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times is a little book that asks big questions. It brings the work of Aquinas to the fundamental challenges and questions of our time: How can we rediscover our place in the cosmos? How can we be joyful in difficult times? How can our spiritual lives serve to bring forth a more just and sustainable culture for all rather than salvation for a few? This book points out that we need the energy of todays youth, but we also need the cosmic mysticism of Aquinasand Matthew Fox.

Theodore Richards, author of Creatively Maladjusted and The Great Re-Imagining: Spirituality in an Age of Apocal ypse

This is a beautiful and important book. Once again, Matthew Fox manages to bring Thomas Aquinas into the 21 st century and invites us all to the conversation. At a time when our very future is threatened by greed, despair, and the threat of extinction, Aquinass timeless wisdom, so brilliantly illuminated by Fox, offers a roadmap for spirituality and actionand these teachings are more relevant and needed now than ever be fore.

Adam Bucko, co-author of Occupy Spirituality and The New Monasti cism

In this delightful book, Matthew Fox expresses the radical vision and rapturous heart of the historically misunderstood Thomas Aquinas who speaks often a child-like, brilliant and clear metaphysic of cosmic love. This is a timely book for both the old and the young alike in our culture of suspicion and cynicism. In our age of weaponized words and rapid climate change, young people everywhere are invited to drink from a common stream of wisdom, a Tao, both cool and clear. The sheer wonder of the scientist and the awe of the mystic may meet in the middle of this great bridge of revelation. For the heartbeat of the universe is the heartbeat of Godan exuberant celebration of joy, an ecstatic, drunken dance of love.

Matthew Syrdal, author, speaker and Co-founder of Seminary of the Wild

I am awake after reading this remarkable book, and I believe readers who take time to peruse it carefully will awaken to the grandeur of the universe, a cosmos that, according to Aquinas, is the most excellent thing that exists. As readers awaken to the banquet of Foxs newest book (certainly one of his best) a new creation emerges through a second resurrection of companioning souls, each in a new creation of superbeauty, a fourfold beauty that aims at personal and global hea ling.