Customer Reviews

The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message

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Cynthia Bourgeault is a hidden treasure. When I first read her, I encountered, for the first time, the Jesus and the Christianity I had always looked for and longed for. This was confirmed to me yet again with the publishing of the her new book, "The Wisdom Jesus."

With the publication of this book, I was moved to do something I never do: give a religious book to a Catholic priest. And the results have been stunning. The priest was blown away by Bourgeault's synthesis of Jesus and his time on earth. He found new angles on both the Eucharist and the Beatitudes. He can't stop thinking about the book and was moved to give it to another priest. This priest read it and said, "Who is this woman, and why have we never heard of her?" He, too, felt changed by the beauty of Bourgeault's work and promptly bought all her books. He passed it on to another priest, and the story continues.

Cynthia Bourgeault needs to be read by everyone trying to make sense of a Christianity that has been tainted over the centuries. She returns us home. Her wisdon gives me great hope for my faith and my world.

While I wasn't overly impressed by Bourgealt's "Mystical Hope", her true potential as Episcopalian minister/guru emerges in "The Wisdom Jesus" which to my mind is the single best work on the practice of lecto divinia and contemplative prayer since Thomas Keating (that "great patriarch", as she calls him) first introduced it to the majority of Catholics in the United States.

The majority of the book is spent on Bourgealt's the very vital theme--for people of any denomination or faith--of "kenosis", an ancient Greek word meaning "self-emptying" but commonly used in Christian theology as the definition of what Christ did when he was on earth. By virtue of his love for others he emptied himself more and more, became increasingly more humble until he was at the bottom of the social, economic and cultural level--and then rose up as infinity of this emptiness. In Philippians 2:7 it is written that: "Jesus made himself as nothing." Bourgealt stresses that even simple and very necessary virtues like humility, love for neighbor, etc will not place us in this state unless we prayerfully ask for it to happen. She is always aware that this will be an uncommon desire for anyone, particularly the comfortable people of faith who are content with what she calls "dogma, a fabricated religious identity, or sectarian complacency."

The last chapters of the book are devoted to furthering the practice of Sacred Scripture reading in our daily lives and the tradition of centering prayer which she demystifies in a fashion I have not yet seen matched. The complications of daily meditation in our busy lives and the simple lack of motivation that even the most outwardly devout Christian has to the practice are given gentle but serious treatment. Recommend for all people of faith!

"If you are searching, you must not stop until you find. When you find, however, you will become troubled. Your confusion will give way to wonder. In wonder you will reign over all things. Your sovereignty will be your rest." With this quote from the Gospel of Thomas, Cynthia Bourgeault begins the Wisdom Jesus and then provides a path for those who seek knowledge of The Way beyond what the western church has promoted. You may find that what seems "new" is an affirmation of what you already knew in your heart, as holes within the traditional picture are filled in through interpretation and explanation that allow for a deeper, richer understanding of who Jesus is and what his call is for each of us.

Bourgeault's words are an artform, and a delight to read; what could be dense and unfamiliar terminology and theology is translated into a language all can understand. For those with "eyes to see and ears to hear", this book is much more... truly it is manna from heaven! Taste, eat and be filled...

If your heart leaped for joy when you read Marcus Borg's Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, you will love The Wisdom Jesus. Building on her earlier explorations of centering prayer and the Wisdom Way of Knowing, Bourgeault comes fully into her own with this highly readable and transformational introduction to a Jesus who is fully present to each of us; who serves as a guide to the unitive and compassionate center of being that he calls the Kingdom of Heaven.

Beginning with an enlightened look at the teachings of Jesus (with special attention to some of his sayings in the Gospel of Thomas), Bourgeault then looks at the key events of Jesus' life from this new perspective, and concludes with practical guidelines for those who wish to more fully know the wisdom Jesus, with specific instructions concerning centering prayer meditation, Lectio Divina, Chanting and Psalms, the Welcoming Practice (which will particularly resonate with fans of Pema Chodron) and, last but far from least, an in-depth look at the practice of communion from her unique perspective as a Christian contemplative and an Episcopal Priest.

If you used to go to church and got tired of all the hype and hypocrisy yet still long for that deep heart of faith, the Wisdom Jesus is a Jesus you can believe in again, and this is the book for you.

I was in a strange state when this book arrived. I was anxious, scared, excited and hopeful. It was on my list of books to read. I had ordered it not knowing what to expect. I left it alone for weeks having enjoyed Mystical Hope, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, and Love is Stronger than Death. The last one being my favorite. But this book supplants it. This book reveals a Jesus I have always wanted to know. This is a Jesus that resides in the great I AM apart from 2000 years of tradition and sometimes skewed thought.

There is so much I could say about this book but I won't. I will just say that the chapter on Metanoia is worth the cost of admission all by itself. She turns conservative, fundamentalist Christianity on its ear and that's a good thing. For those of you seeking a deeper, more intimate connection to Christ, the living messiah and the wisdom which is his by nature then read this book. But I will caution you, it will change your life.

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For me, the author rescues the original spirit. Her focus on the parables of Christ makes a lot of sense to me. I found my way back to religion through Sufism and Buddhism, both of which use parables and teaching stories to bypass the conditioned mind and open the mind to new perceptions. She has a sensitivity to metaphor and music and is exactly the right person to teach us something fresh in a time when religion is either full of hate and bigotry or completely rejected by many intellectuals. Terrific book. Of course, it will annoy both fundamentalists and atheists.

Tainted, fallen and sinful from birth as the problem for which Western Christianity is the answer has never struck me as an accurate naming of the problem. Given the growing number of people drifting away from church and the many more who pay no attention to the church at all, it appears I am not alone. If only we could do a better job naming the problem. Perhaps then we could see Jesus as the one who speaks to that problem in a way that makes him worthy of our deepest devotion of heart and mind.

Cynthia Bourgeault offers a wise and articulate naming of the problem that vexes every human being and for which Jesus as the answer makes complete and total sense. The Wisdom Jesus introduces the reader to an understanding of Christianity not familiar to most Western Christians, but one that has always been there, waiting to be rediscovered as the ancient, timeless, refreshingly practical perspective of the Wisdom Tradition of Christianity.

The Wisdom Jesus opens our eyes to the problem, to our binary way of viewing the world which, if not made conscious, holds us captive and unable to experience the liberating truth that though we are in the world, we are not of the world.

I do believe there is a future for the church and that the time is coming when those who have walked away from the church will be led to take another look. They will discover that Jesus knew us far better than we know ourselves and gave us all we need to enter into the fullness of who we are already in God's eyes. The excellent, very accessible writing and insights of Cynthia Bourgeault gives me totally renewed hope that Western Christianity has a whole other personality that we are going to be delighted and deeply grateful to meet.

Cynthia's new book is a means to letting go of the dogma and encountering the presence of the risen Christ now, and now, and now again. She also helps explain why this is so, at least as best as a human intellect can explain it. She invites you to move beyond what you know. Would you have followed him if you met him before he had risen? Would you have understood him even? Do you even understand what he is saying now?

She takes what he said and reveals the non-dual core to his insight and teachings. That insight that forms the spine to all his moral imperatives to love. She reveals how in fact he was and is One with the Father, and what does that mean? And how are we one with the father?

It has to do with what you realize, or make real, and recognize, as she says, about yourself, God and the world.

Other than the book, Putting on the Mind of Christ, I have seen no work that actually allows a Christian entry into the deep process of awakening the mind and heart to the spirit within.

Good luck and enjoy it.

To me, this book was a revelation of what the Christian tradition is all about.

This is no entertainment reading, it is the esoteric teaching of Jesus and it does go against the grain of what the traditional Christian Churches taught us for centuries.

As I understand her teaching, Cynthia drops the dogma, advocates the Gospel of Thomas for its focus on the wisdom sayings of Jesus, and suggests that the transformation of consciousness is the central message of Jesus.

In my humble opinion, this teaching is one of the sparks needed for the Christian Awakening.

Thank you Cynthia for showing me the lofty ideas hidden in the Christian tradition!

Of all the books I've ever read on the Christian faith, this one has been the most challenging to my worldview and the most helpful to increasing my understanding. It challenges you to look beyond the binary, dualistic view of the universe that has shackled mainstream Christian thought for so long and instead looks for the true meaning of oneness with God. To do this, it critically reexamines the teachings of Jesus in light of the gnostic gospels and writings of Christian mystics to present a picture that is new, different, and exciting.