Printer Friendly
"We must not portray you in king's robes,
you drifting mist that brought forth the morning.
Once again from the old paint boxes
we take the same gold for scepter and crown
that has disguised you through the ages.
Piously we produce our images of you
till they stand around you like a thousand walls.
And when our hearts would simply open,
our fervent hands hide you."
--Rainer Maria Rilke
"Religion is a defense against the experience of God.”
--Carl Jung
Christotheism is not a new set of beliefs. It is not trying to be a new religion, or a new denomination of an old religion. I do
not hope or expect to see Christotheistic churches forming as a result of these or any other writings, and if they do, be it
tomorrow or a hundred years from now, then I've done something wrong.
Christotheism, therefore, is not a new theology: it is a tool that the devout, Christian God-seeker can use to pierce the
"thousand walls" of theology and step beyond them into what Alan Watts called metatheology (roughly "beyond ideas about
God"). It does not, however, seek to tear down these walls, as some "metatheologians" have done; instead it begins with the
premise that these theological ideas are meant to be springboards to metatheology --to direct, immediate, intimate
communion with the Divine One.
Here's another way to say it: Christotheism is not saying "build your home on a new rock"; rather it seeks to serve the
servant of Christ who, like the Peasant, would voluntarily leave his/her home to seek the direct experience of I AM, the
ultimate Home for us all.
Origin of the Term
The word “Christotheism” was a spontaneous creation that came about as I was just starting to set The Camerado
Chronicles down on paper. I was looking for a concept that would differentiate the belief in a transcendent Christ from one
that is based solely in the finite conclusions about Him to be made from the Bible. As I stated in Part 1, Chapter 2 of the
Chronicles, “the latter means following the Bible primarily and Christ secondarily, in practice if not in theory, because the
Bible is always allowed to define Christ, and is the primary (if not sole) source of information and understanding of who He
is.” I was seeking a term that liberates our concept of Christ from this predominant “Biblianity,” and also declares that the
devotion to Christ as a manifestation of the infinite and eternal God was still primary to the belief system.
There was still a lot of internal confusion for me about this, and I was never quite comfortable with the term
“Christotheism.” I felt that what I had to say should be directed toward a more universal audience, since the whole purpose
of writing it was to “universalize our concept of Christ, not ‘christen’ the universe.” For some, the name “Christ” will
always suggest or evoke Biblian Christianity, in a way that may be positive or negative, and I perceived the Christ I was
writing about to be something much broader, something that perceptive people of all faiths would recognize. I wanted to
espouse the idea that the Christ that Christians seek to know is the same as what Quakers call “that of God in everyone,”
which is what the authors of the Hindu Vedas called “atman,” which is what Lao-tzu called “Tao,” which is what Sufis have
called many different names such as “Beloved,” “The Helper,” and “the Friend.”
After the Chronicles were finished, as it turned out, I was reminded of Watts’ use of the term “metatheology.” Sensing that
I had found the proper correlative, I coined the term “Metatheism,” and suggested that readers could use whichever term
made them more comfortable. While this could work on some levels, I find it too cumbersome and not entirely accurate –
“metatheism,” after all, means “beyond God,” and it may seem like linguistic hair-splitting but that is not really what I mean.
To go beyond God, as I utilize the term “God”, is impossible. But I am suggesting that to find the Christ of Christotheism,
one must go beyond our concept of God….which brought me right back to metatheology. A logical loop leading nowhere.
A New Christian Mysticism
Since then, I have become much more comfortable with the idea that what I was working on in the Chronicles was a
definitively Christian animal. While other FOOW projects have taken on the task of developing a universal understanding of
metatheology as it appears in all spiritual paths, Christotheism as presented in the Chronicles is still geared to a primarily
Christian and agnostic audience. Its purpose is to motivate the alienated or dissident Christian to seek the mystic path to a
direct experience and understanding of his/her Savior that is as old as the worship of Christ itself.
I only call Christotheism “new” because 1) I want to discourage reliance upon orthodoxy over our God-given faculties of
conscience, curiosity and intuition, and 2) because what I am presenting is designed to address the unique concerns of a
modern audience, and the particular confines of what I call the “Western Orthodox Church.” This term designates the vast
bloc of Christian denominations, primarily found in the “Western world” and running the gamut of the simplistic liberal-
conservative spectrum, who adhere to a strictly Biblian perspective on Christ, Jesus and the scriptures. Some Western
Orthodox denominations acknowledge only their particular interpretation of the scriptures as valid, while others are open
enough to accept the differing opinions of whom they consider their fellow Christians –but all of them take a “talk to the
hand” approach to any Christian perspective that they cannot easily classify as Bible-based, hence their grouping together
under the rubric of a Western orthodoxy.
The Western Orthodox Church is in desperate need of an influx of metatheological understanding and experience, a hole
punched in the “thousand walls” blocking its vision of Christian path. Millions of Christians are suffocating inside a tiny
Biblian box, led there by politicians masquerading as clergy and demagogues disguised as God-seekers; the windows and
doors that once existed in this box have been boarded up and shuttered by a stifling, self-serving ideology handed to them as
fact. This Church has been so busy defending its flock from the experience of God for so long, that its leadership seems to
have forgotten that there is any other way to know Christ, that anything Good and True can exist outside the box.
Given this predicament, it is necessary that someone be willing to climb into this box and begin punching the hole in its walls
from within. This is exactly what mysticism does: it starts with its roots in a particular theology and grows beyond it. It is
a bridge from the theological to the metatheological.
And this is exactly what Christotheism seeks to do for the Western Orthodox Church. It grew from experiences within this
box, and seeks to find the way out.
What Does Christotheism Ask Us To Believe?
This is not the first such effort, nor is it an entirely uncharted journey, though it does lead into territory that cannot be
drawn on any map, so in that sense everyone who makes the journey is a pioneer. But we have centuries of first-hand
accounts of those who have made the journey, and Christotheism seeks to offer the companionship of these pioneers of the
Spirit, just as the Bible gives us the Psalms. Acceptance that this kind of testimony is relevant to our lives today is the only
semblance of a "belief" that forms a Christotheistic creed --that, and the universal presence of Christ, but this becomes more
of a realization than a belief as the various characteristics that define Christ are surrendered to the all-encompassing presence
itself.
Unlike Biblianity, which attaches to this presence a laundry list of beliefs that must be understood and consulted to validate
your perception of that presence (or, more likely, that will mold the perception into its own image), Christotheism trusts that
the goodness of God will shine forth, blinding you with joy, from anywhere that you will allow yourself to seek it. The
opportunities to study and learn from God in a Christotheistic context are literally endless, and the evidence left behind by
those who have sought the Divine One in all traditions and all non-traditions comprises the Christotheistic gospel.
I obviously make no bones about the fact that Christotheism is ecumenical in its nature, and therefore not looking to align
itself completely with any pre-existing Christian path, but rather seeks to find the essence of each path and incorporate it
into its own. I realize, too, that this creates the possibility that Christotheism will be viewed as a heresy by everyone. But I
am willing to take that risk –Part One Chapter 8 of the Chronicles, “The Way of the Loyal Heretic,” is my statement on the
value of heresy in keeping a spiritual path vibrant and vigorous.
(And for those who would dismiss Christotheism simply because “if it’s new it ain’t true, and if it’s true it ain’t new,” I
have an important question: Isn’t that more or less what the Scribes and Pharisees said about Jesus? Also, are you sure that
your particular set of Christian beliefs was not once considered new?)
Christotheism, however, does not recommend trying to “row two (or more) boats at once,” as my wife used to say
regarding the danger of ecumenical leanings. When it comes right down to it, everything the devout Christian needs to take
the metatheological path can be found in Christian tradition and even in the Bible, if one is capable of reading between the
lines. The purpose of turning to other “gospels” to seek the essence of Christ is twofold: one, it stretches the mind and
exercises the intuition so that it becomes capable of that kind of metaphysical understanding and between-the-line reading;
two, it shows that Christ is indeed present within the faith of other peoples, and in some ways just as much or more than in
the Christian churches, which is a valuable and humbling realization to make.
It is completely unnecessary and potentially confusing, therefore, for the proponent of Christotheism to take up Hindu
chanting, or Buddhist meditation, or the whirling of Sufi dervishes etc. But it is extremely important to know that in doing
these things, other worshippers are honoring the one and only God that we also honor in our unique way, and the "row your
own boat" principle applies to them just as well.
When Christians are capable of seeing the evidence of Christ in the scriptures of all of their neighbors, we are that much
closer to being able to follow His lead and “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and we are boundlessly closer to knowing Christ
as the universal solution we know Him to be in our hearts.
That is why Christotheism asks questions like, “What was Jesus pointing us toward that we could more truthfully call the
Christ?” or “What is the essence of God symbolized by ‘His Word,’ and where do we find that essence elsewhere in, say,
the Upanishads or the Tao Te Ching?” It is preparing us to look “beyond theology” for our answers.
Biblian Christians who profess that their Christ is the universal source of peace and hope for humanity (“Know Jesus, know
peace –No Jesus, no peace”) don’t realize that they have turned Christ into one of the most divisive concepts in the
collective human consciousness. I chose to crawl into this box with the intent of redeeming the symbolic Christ from the
divisiveness attached to it, and of demonstrating how even the most partisan symbols for the Divine One can point us to the
nondual reality they represent. Ultimately Christotheism will try to persuade even the most ardent Biblians that what the
Christian Bible tells us does not conflict with these universalist notions, that Jesus of Nazareth was referring to something
way larger than Himself when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes unto the Father but by me.”
“I am the object of all knowledge,
father of the world, its mother,
source of all things, of impure and
pure, of holiness and horror…..
I am the Self, Arjuna, seated
in the heart of every creature.
I am the origin, the middle,
and the end that all must come to.
Those who worship me sincerely
with their minds and bodies, giving
up their whole lives in devotion,
find in me their heart’s fulfillment.”
--The Bhagavad-Gita
copyright 2005 by Hermit Crab
a Fish Out Of Water production
Back to Essential Writings
FOOW home
