A Spirituality Named Compassion (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Compassion has been exiled in the West..." (more)
Key Phrases: letting dialectic happen, extrovert meditation, introvert meditation, Humpty Dumpty, Meister Eckhart, New Testament (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Forceful and compelling. . . . A work of marvelous construction. -- Spirituality Today

Review

"Forceful and compelling. . . . A work of marvelous construction."
(Spirituality Today )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892818026
• ISBN-13: 978-0892818020
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #495,596 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #21 in

  Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( F ) > Fox, Matthew

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dancing Sarah's Circle, September 27, 2001

By	Dave Kinnear "the Rational Taoist" (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A spirituality named compassion and the healing of the global village, Humpty Dumpty and us (Paperback)

Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice. This book was a gift from a dear friend, and what a gift it has turned out to be. I will always be mindful of the difference between climbing Jacob's Ladder and dancing Sarah's Circle. It is such a perfect metaphor for the lives we have built. It is especially poignant to have read this volume and finished it so close to the recent tragedies here in the US on 9/11/01. It makes me wonder exactly how much of the hate directed at our country is due to the Jacob's Ladder world we have created. It is high time that we paid attention to dancing instead of climbing.

Matthew had so much to teach me about compassion - that it is not pity but celebration, not sentiment but making justice and doing works of mercy, and that it is not private or ego-centric but public. Then Matthew helps us to understand how the teachings in our culture, that of ever climbing - the ladders of success or acquisitions - and distancing ourselves from others and how those teachings separate us from compassion, can be a significant cause of pain in our world.

Many of us know the song to which Matthew refers: We are climbing Jacob's Ladder / Soldiers of the Cross. We may not be familiar with the corollary to that song (sung to the same tune): We are Dancing Sarah's Circle / Sisters, Brothers, All. The message of this book - give up being "Soldiers of the Cross," and instead become "Sisters, Brothers, All," is definitely a message for our time.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Weighty Message in Unorthodox Garb., May 27, 2000

By	Victor McCracken (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If one can get beyond the panentheism of Fox's mystical theology, one can hear a brilliant voice making a valid plea. Fox urges that the church free itself from hierarchical posturing and embrace a holistic spirituality that embraces compassion as the heart of life. Fox brilliantly critiques the manner in which modernity has perverted compassion, turning it into a sappy, sentimental virtue rather than a celebration of creation and the communion of humanity. His plea for a holistic spirituality of mystical communion is engaging but will miss the mark for Christians looking for 12-step techniques for spiritual revival. But maybe this is Fox's point: spirituality is inevitably distorted when transformed into a linear "technique."