The Universal Christ

Could be “cleaner” but this magnum opus is as practical as it is masterful.

It changed my life my concept of God. My beloved son who passed away of cancer at the age of 60 was on the same journey in his last year‘s. We felt each others presence because we each felt the universal Christ within. Even in death I still feel his presence and I pray he can feel mine.

The average evangelical will feel uneasy will Father Rohr’s understanding God, that God created and sustains all things and therefore is present in all things. But most evangelicals would benefit by allowing their God out of his little box to stretch his legs. He didn’t just save a select few from this world through Jesus. He created this world and intends to redeem it. God is bigger than your box.

This book in intellectually amazingly well researched and footnoted from a broad swath of sources both religious, secular and scientific. The early first half of the book on the universal Christ, I liked very much, and it puts together a beautiful mosaic of spiritual insights from these sources. My concerns are where the book travels next, to a Buddhist/Christianity world view that weakens Christian foundational ideas that millions have used over the centuries to mature and transition to the next life. Richard falls into his own trap and shows a strong dualistic mind that cannot see or love the wonderful and spiritual foundations of the Western Culture and at the same time embracing his new idea. He focuses primarily on our Western Culture failures. He cannot love and embrace both. He is like the adolescents of the Woodstock generation, hating their parents culture, and their bad fruit still haunt’s us today. I would suggest Richard read Factfulness by Rosling on how the Western World, blessed by the universal Christ, has lifted almost all the world out of poverty on a tract of abundance to come. Also, he should read Abundance by Diamandis on a view of the future. A review of the Charismatic/Pentecostal Church, both Catholic and Protestant, will also be most helpful for him to find the real presence and true body of Christ. He needs a more loving and diverse team to advise him. A team that is diverse enough to include those that appreciate the great Christian religions, art, architecture, economics, science, organizations, and governments that have emanated from the Western World, although not perfect, and prone to occasional great failures (war’s, depressions, etc.), a culture to be cherished as are good parents. These traits of Western Civilization have steadily lifted mankind to the new great heights we are seeing today.