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Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
Matthew Fox, a 76-year-old elder, activist and spiritual theologian, along with Skylar Wilson, a 33-year-old wilderness guide, leader of inter-cultural ceremonies, and an event producer, and Jennifer Berit Listug, a 28-year-old writer, spiritual leader, and publicist, are presenting a challenge and an opportunity in the vision launched in this modest book. That vision is about creating an Order of the Sacred Earth. Essay contributors to the book and its vision include Mirabai Starr, Brian Thomas Swimme, Adam Bucko, and David Korten.
240 pages, Paperback
Published July 17, 2018
48 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Fox
158 books178 followersTimothy James "Matthew " Fox is an American priest and theologian. Formerly a member of the Dominican Order within the Catholic Church, he became a member of the Episcopal Church following his expulsion from the order in 1993.
Fox has written 35 books that have been translated into 68 languages and have sold millions of copies and by the mid-1990s had attracted a "huge and diverse following"
Fox has written 35 books that have been translated into 68 languages and have sold millions of copies and by the mid-1990s had attracted a "huge and diverse following"
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 29, 2019
There are probably some kernels of goodness in here, but it was a lot of thinking and dreaming and not a lot of doing. Also, if Skylar Wilson gazed any further into his navel, he'd see out of his own ass.
January 7, 2023
The general principle is "Creation Spirituality," having nothing to do with the Bible but instead with emotionally and philosophically untwisting "the spiritual and material dimensions of reality," as the authors believe the term CS may "help us to find common ground as spiritual activists." The authors claim that abandoning the "dualistic cosmology" of spirit/matter — which subordinates matter and thereby supports "industrial capitalism and consumerism" — will enable us to stop eco-cide. We're already aware of eco-cide but, as long as we split spirit and matter, we're philosophically unequipped to condemn it or envision better alternatives.
The more specific vision outlined here is for a spiritual-but-not-religious movement, an Order of the Sacred Earth, indifferent to belief in gods or angels and instead committing to a single value: "To defend Mother Earth." (Insofar as there is any sacred scripture, they propose it might be Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, "a veritable Bible for the Order of the Sacred Earth.") Other principles include "immediacy, presence, simple living, sexual freedom and responsibility, permaculture, civic responsibility, self-expression, self-reliance, decommodification, gifting, radical inclusion, contemplative practice, self love, love of the sacred, psychological awareness, and self understanding."
The principal authors/editors (as of the book's writing about five years ago) are "Matthew Fox, a 76-year-old elder, activist, and spiritual theologian...Skylar Wilson, a 33-year-old wilderness and meditation guide who leads inter-cultural ceremonies, and Jennifer Listug, a 28-year-old writer, spiritual leader, and publicist." Other people contributed essays.
I picked up Order of the Sacred Earth because, a couple decades ago, I knew Skylar when we were on a month-long wilderness trip in Ontario with Andy Smyth. I was 21 and Skylar was 17. In this book, Skylar tells about a summer trip he'd done four years earlier with Andy: "When I was 13, I went to Ontario with Andy Smyth, an old boyfriend of my mother’s from her hippie days living in a teepee without running water in Woodstock. Andy was still a wilderness guide in Canada in the summers, and in a way he was an elder for me knowing, as he did, such a deep and intimate part of my story at that point in my life." Skylar went on more trips with Andy (including the one we both did in 2001), and, today, he has his own wilderness work through "Wild Awakenings, an organization which offers many types of transformational experiences, both in town and in the wilderness."
The book is a call to action for people to group socially and intentionally for meditation, education, and activism — "to bind, support, energize, create and learn together." This might be done, for example, through "the newly launched Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado." So I think the purpose of reading this is not necessarily to agree exactly with the terms used by the various authors or the way in which they've phrased their beliefs (which are anyway several years old at this point) but to decide if you'd like to give energy to this collective or to a similar one, and, if so, to go do it.
The more specific vision outlined here is for a spiritual-but-not-religious movement, an Order of the Sacred Earth, indifferent to belief in gods or angels and instead committing to a single value: "To defend Mother Earth." (Insofar as there is any sacred scripture, they propose it might be Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, "a veritable Bible for the Order of the Sacred Earth.") Other principles include "immediacy, presence, simple living, sexual freedom and responsibility, permaculture, civic responsibility, self-expression, self-reliance, decommodification, gifting, radical inclusion, contemplative practice, self love, love of the sacred, psychological awareness, and self understanding."
The principal authors/editors (as of the book's writing about five years ago) are "Matthew Fox, a 76-year-old elder, activist, and spiritual theologian...Skylar Wilson, a 33-year-old wilderness and meditation guide who leads inter-cultural ceremonies, and Jennifer Listug, a 28-year-old writer, spiritual leader, and publicist." Other people contributed essays.
I picked up Order of the Sacred Earth because, a couple decades ago, I knew Skylar when we were on a month-long wilderness trip in Ontario with Andy Smyth. I was 21 and Skylar was 17. In this book, Skylar tells about a summer trip he'd done four years earlier with Andy: "When I was 13, I went to Ontario with Andy Smyth, an old boyfriend of my mother’s from her hippie days living in a teepee without running water in Woodstock. Andy was still a wilderness guide in Canada in the summers, and in a way he was an elder for me knowing, as he did, such a deep and intimate part of my story at that point in my life." Skylar went on more trips with Andy (including the one we both did in 2001), and, today, he has his own wilderness work through "Wild Awakenings, an organization which offers many types of transformational experiences, both in town and in the wilderness."
The book is a call to action for people to group socially and intentionally for meditation, education, and activism — "to bind, support, energize, create and learn together." This might be done, for example, through "the newly launched Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado." So I think the purpose of reading this is not necessarily to agree exactly with the terms used by the various authors or the way in which they've phrased their beliefs (which are anyway several years old at this point) but to decide if you'd like to give energy to this collective or to a similar one, and, if so, to go do it.
November 4, 2018
The Order of the Sacred Earth is both a book and new inter-spiritual order, both dedicated to inspiring people to make this vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the earth that I can be.” The founders of the order, Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Listing, are also the primary authors of the book, which also includes essays by 22 other writers, earth-activists, and teachers. Matthew Fox is the author of the 1991 book Creation Spirituality, the groundbreaking work that led me, personally, to replace a belief in original sin with a belief in original blessing. Here, Fox and his intergenerational colleagues address the ecological problems facing the earth. They offer inspiring and practical ways we can be part of the solution, rather than being part of the problem. The book is a bit ponderously written and New-Agey sounding at times, but that can be forgiven, given the important nature of the topic. Highly recommended for everyone who cares about the future of our planet.
June 20, 2019
My soul is inspired to finish those things I feel God has called me to do; to strengthen those things that remain for whatever purpose that strength is needed.
December 14, 2025
Not what I expected. Still thought provoking with lots to say.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews