Bede Griffith and the divine feminine

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I have read some of his works and seen a few you tube clips pf him-he seems to have no problem in commenting on the divine feminine-what do our Roman Catholic fellow Christians feel about this

Bede Griffiths’ fourth step towards a recovery of wisdom is his recognition of the divine dimension of the feminine. Repeatedly he identifies the Holy Spirit with the ‘feminine side’ of God. This is a very important point. This ‘feminine’ Spirit is the divine energy which is the mother of creation, which brings forth all life, which moves the process of evolution. It also is"that divine life latent in the universe from the beginning, latent in nature, and becoming conscious in us…The Spirit is this energy of love in us, the power of the divine. It is the Source of our real being, by which we become conscious of the divine life in us and know ourselves as sons [and - See more at: The Gifts from the East by Bede Griffiths
 
cmodrmac said:
I have read some of his works and seen a few you tube clips pf him-he seems to have no problem in commenting on the divine feminine-what do our Roman Catholic fellow Christians feel about this

Bede Griffiths’ fourth step towards a recovery of wisdom is his recognition of the divine dimension of the feminine. Repeatedly he identifies the Holy Spirit with the ‘feminine side’ of God. This is a very important point. This ‘feminine’ Spirit is the divine energy which is the mother of creation, which brings forth all life, which moves the process of evolution. It also is"that divine life latent in the universe from the beginning, latent in nature, and becoming conscious in us…The Spirit is this energy of love in us, the power of the divine. It is the Source of our real being, by which we become conscious of the divine life in us and know ourselves as sons [and - See more at: The Gifts from the East by Bede Griffiths
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Sounds purely “New Age” to me. Jesus becoming man, notwithstanding, God is pure divine spirit, and is neither male nor female in his divinity. He is the Author and Creator of sexuality, but is not subject to it. He doesn’t have a male or a female side to him. There is no “feminine” spirit. And whenever anyone begins to steer you into yourself in order to find God; whenever anyone tells you that divine life already exists within you if you will only discover it, as if it was part of our nature, turn around and walk away.
 
I read a few paragraphs from the link that you provided. Nothing is christian about it.
 
SteveVH said:
Sounds purely “New Age” to me. Jesus becoming man, notwithstanding, God is pure divine spirit, and is neither male nor female in his divinity. He is the Author and Creator of sexuality, but is not subject to it. He doesn’t have a male or a female side to him. There is no “feminine” spirit. And whenever anyone begins to steer you into yourself in order to find God; whenever anyone tells you that divine life already exists within you if you will only discover it, as if it was part of our nature, turn around and walk away.
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Well we certainly have not hesitated to attribute masculinity to God as “Father”.

But I think you are right if you mean that both masculinity and femininity are creations of God who is whole and beyond the duality. Perhaps what Fr Bede is trying to get at is a balance to our over masculine image of God. His wholeness (there I even had to use a masculine pronoun) requires that we also acknowledge His more nurturing, self giving, tender, creative, etc. nature, a nature we more commonly associate with femininity.
 
Griffiths eventually followed the same sort of interfaith path that Thomas Merton did, into the east.
 
cmodrmac said:
I have read some of his works and seen a few you tube clips pf him-he seems to have no problem in commenting on the divine feminine-what do our Roman Catholic fellow Christians feel about this

Bede Griffiths’ fourth step towards a recovery of wisdom is his recognition of the divine dimension of the feminine. Repeatedly he identifies the Holy Spirit with the ‘feminine side’ of God. This is a very important point. This ‘feminine’ Spirit is the divine energy which is the mother of creation, which brings forth all life, which moves the process of evolution. It also is"that divine life latent in the universe from the beginning, latent in nature, and becoming conscious in us…The Spirit is this energy of love in us, the power of the divine. It is the Source of our real being, by which we become conscious of the divine life in us and know ourselves as sons [and - See more at: The Gifts from the East by Bede Griffiths
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I met him back in about 1979. I was at a summer monastic prgram at St Anselm Abby in Washington, DC. He was also a guest. I remember him as a very humble well educated man. The abbot at that time was Fr Jim Wiseman who was also involved in monastic interreligious dialogue.

What a great opportunity for young men. I think I was there about six weeks.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
Well we certainly have not hesitated to attribute masculinity to God as “Father”.

But I think you are right if you mean that both masculinity and femininity are creations of God who is whole and beyond the duality. Perhaps what Fr Bede is trying to get at is a balance to our over masculine image of God. His wholeness (there I even had to use a masculine pronoun) requires that we also acknowledge His more nurturing, self giving, tender, creative, etc. nature, a nature we more commonly associate with femininity.
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Fine, but that is not some new revelation. The Church has recognized and professed this for many, many centuries. No, he is saying something else and the language he uses smacks highly of “new age” philosophy, if there is such a thing. “God must be realized within ourselves”; “the Spirit is an energy force”, etc. He mixes Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism - classic “new age”.
 
SteveVH said:
Sounds purely “New Age” to me. Jesus becoming man, notwithstanding, God is pure divine spirit, and is neither male nor female in his divinity. He is the Author and Creator of sexuality, but is not subject to it. He doesn’t have a male or a female side to him. There is no “feminine” spirit. And whenever anyone begins to steer you into yourself in order to find God; whenever anyone tells you that divine life already exists within you if you will only discover it, as if it was part of our nature, turn around and walk away.
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Just the link "adishakti.org is enough for me to turn around and not bother reading any more of this subtle new age ideology masquerading as Christianity.Just because it came from a purported Christian does not make it true or even something to pursue.
 
GKC said:
Griffiths eventually followed the same sort of interfaith path that Thomas Merton did, into the east.
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This is true.Just before Thomas Merton died he said he wanted to be the best Buddhist he could be. The interfaith “path” they were both following was an obsession with mysticism and accessing the mind of God which is an impossibility. His mind is not ours and His ways are not ours.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
I met him back in about 1979. I was at a summer monastic prgram at St Anselm Abby in Washington, DC. He was also a guest. I remember him as a very humble well educated man. The abbot at that time was Fr Jim Wiseman who was also involved in monastic interreligious dialogue.

What a great opportunity for young men. I think I was there about six weeks.
Click to expand...
Regarding the image of the Crucified Christ, Father made the statement that his understanding of the crucifixion had deepened profoundly. He wrote: ‘On the Cross Jesus surrendered himself to this Dark Power(shakti). He lost everything: friends, disciples, his own people, their law and religion. … He had to enter the Dark Night, to be exposed to the abyss. Only then could he become everything and nothing, opened beyond everything that can be named or spoken; only then could he be one with the darkness, the Void, THE DARK MOTHER WHO IS LOVE ITSELF’” (bedegriffiths.com/bio.htm).

This is NOT Catholic nor even remotely Christian theology and borders on heresy. Mary is not a goddess or feminine power or a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

In another writing he describes his fascination with the Black Madonna and its destructive aspects as well as loving.

His obsession with Jung also seems to confirm he probably had a kundalini experience which drew him away from God and into the abyss,the darkness,the void.
 
Even the great St John of the Cross had to speak in terms of divine darkness. That is the starting point of apophatic spirituality. All other images are only provisional, masculine and feminine.
 
cmodrmac said:
I have read some of his works and seen a few you tube clips pf him-he seems to have no problem in commenting on the divine feminine-what do our Roman Catholic fellow Christians feel about this

Bede Griffiths’ fourth step towards a recovery of wisdom is his recognition of the divine dimension of the feminine. Repeatedly he identifies the Holy Spirit with the ‘feminine side’ of God. This is a very important point. This ‘feminine’ Spirit is the divine energy which is the mother of creation, which brings forth all life, which moves the process of evolution. It also is"that divine life latent in the universe from the beginning, latent in nature, and becoming conscious in us…The Spirit is this energy of love in us, the power of the divine. It is the Source of our real being, by which we become conscious of the divine life in us and know ourselves as sons [and - See more at: The Gifts from the East by Bede Griffiths
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The Church has never quite understood the role the Holy Spirit plays in creation. It is true that spirit does not have gender - male or female. However, when the Holy Spirit enters matter, it becomes the Mother - mother earth, mother nature, the Goddess. The Church has not recognized that yet (it thinks the Holy Spirit spends its time helping people write books or correct doctrine, but actually its main function is giving birth to and nurturing creation).

All this will be cleared up when the Christ returns and explains it to us.
 
openmind77 said:
The Church has never quite understood the role the Holy Spirit plays in creation. It is true that spirit does not have gender - male or female. However, when the Holy Spirit enters matter, it becomes the Mother - mother earth, mother nature, the Goddess. The Church has not recognized that yet (it thinks the Holy Spirit spends its time helping people write books or correct doctrine, but actually its main function is giving birth to and nurturing creation).

All this will be cleared up when the Christ returns and explains it to us.
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Come Holy Spirit, renew the face of the earth.
 
openmind77 said:
The Church has never quite understood the role the Holy Spirit plays in creation. It is true that spirit does not have gender - male or female. However, when the Holy Spirit enters matter, it becomes the Mother - mother earth, mother nature, the Goddess. The Church has not recognized that yet (it thinks the Holy Spirit spends its time helping people write books or correct doctrine, but actually its main function is giving birth to and nurturing creation).

All this will be cleared up when the Christ returns and explains it to us.
Click to expand...
This is false according to our theology.The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity and not some impersonal force but GOD.
In Hindu spirituality it is a very different concept and very feminine in nature as it is worshipped as the goddess Kali.

If you wish to criticize our theology and say all Christians are mistaken thenthere are other forums to do that.’ I find it offensive that you come to a Christian forum and claim our beliefs are false.You are very close to violating forum rules of charity as it states other faiths are welcome here but must be respectful of Catholics.

We all as different faiths can coexist without trying to convert each other.
 
openmind77 said:
Yes, but while renewing the Earth, the Mother shows her darkside, as she did in Nepal recently.
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So you are equating earthquakes with a goddess being ticked off? That also is not even close to Christian theology.
 
cjforJesus said:
This is false according to our theology.The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity and not some impersonal force but GOD.
In Hindu spirituality it is a very different concept and very feminine in nature as it is worshipped as the goddess Kali.

If you wish to criticize our theology and say all Christians are mistaken thenthere are other forums to do that.’ I find it offensive that you come to a Christian forum and claim our beliefs are false.You are very close to violating forum rules of charity as it states other faiths are welcome here but must be respectful of Catholics.

We all as different faiths can coexist without trying to convert each other.
Click to expand...
cjforJesus said:
So you are equating earthquakes with a goddess being ticked off? That also is not even close to Christian theology.
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Goddesses don’t get ticked off. They clean up places which need renewal.

Of course, it does not match Christian theology. That too needs renewal. It will happen when the Christ returns very soon. The question is, will you be able to handle it? You need to prepare yourself for change.
 
openmind77 said:
Goddesses don’t get ticked off. They clean up places which need renewal.

Of course, it does not match Christian theology. That too needs renewal. It will happen when the Christ returns very soon. The question is, will you be able to handle it? You need to prepare yourself for change.
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You have been reported for violating forum rules of charity

.And the Christ that is supposedly coming soon is the maitreya or antichrist. Jesus does not return until the end of history after millions of Christians have been slaughtered and martyred,
 
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