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It’s been a long time since my last episode. Back to November, actually. I wonder what could have made it hard for me to get it together. Maybe it was the shocking news that it CAN happen here. I have to say, I was no great fan of Hillary Clinton; and really no fan of Obama. They both have proven track records of war mongering, for Pete’s sake. After all, regardless how likable the president of the US is, the job is to be the CEO of an empire, and I hope we all agree that empires are bad. But with this past election, we have been forced to look into the abyss. To see the potential for massive repression, the fomenting huge waves of hate, vicious poverty, and yes – fascism. All of that took a little wind out of my sails. Take all that and add to it a new job and you get a long hiatus!

But lately, I’ve been getting antsy about doing another episode. Lots of ideas are coming forward. So I’m back in the saddle, and I’ll be back to looking at some new books and albums, bringing some stories about people’s conversions along life’s way, and of course, exploring the apparent disintegration of the institutional church.

So we’re back with a really good one. Matthew Fox has for many years been a leading prophetic theologian. His thirty some-odd books include, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Original Blessing, The Reinvention of Work, and several books on the Christian mystics, like Hildegard of Bingen, and Meister Eckhart. In addition to his writings, he is the founder of The University of Creation Spirituality, and the creator of the Cosmic Mass. He also hosted a radio interview program called Spirit in Action, which I had the honor of producing at KPFA-FM in Berkeley, CA.

A few weeks ago, I noticed an open letter he wrote to House Speaker, Paul Ryan, on his blog. In the letter, he tells, Speaker that he is concerned for his soul. I called Matthew to suggest we record an interview, and he suggested we also take a look at two recent books that overlap. The first is A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, in which he explores the overlap between himself and the prophetic monk of the 1960s, Thomas Merton, and how both Fox and Merton were heavily influenced by thirteenth century mystic, Meister Eckhart. The other is a beautiful

Crucifixion: from Stations of the Cosmic Christ

book called Stations of the Cosmic Christ, which he co-wrote with Marc Andrus, but it’s also a collaboration with artists M. C. Richards and Javier Lemus. This is a guide into spiritual practices for our age.

And by the way, now is the time to go to the Wild Goose Festival website (WildGooseFestival.org) and start to make your plans to attend this year. It happens July 13-16, in beautiful Hot Springs, North Carolina, and it’s one of the most important gatherings of progressive, free-thinking, committed Christians in the country. Once again, I’ll be hosting the GooseCast tent, where a dozen podcasters will record live episodes. It’s really a gas. Check it out.