Comments on: It’s a Jesulope! http://www.makingchutney.com/2006/05/22/its-a-jesulope/ One part facial hair. Two parts moxy. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:16:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: chutney http://www.makingchutney.com/2006/05/22/its-a-jesulope/#comment-3304 chutney Mon, 29 May 2006 00:15:27 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2006/05/22/its-a-jesulope/#comment-3304 You ask a good yet difficult question. I am both a unitarian and a univeralist in the classic sense, or at least in terms of the doctrines they deny: hell, damnation, the divinity of Christ, original sin, and the Trinity. But you suspect correctly that I mean a universalism that encompasses all (or most) religions. To be more precise, I am a unitarian of the Third Person, not the First. So I too see the Spirit working in all of them. I also see something unique in Christianity, but not only in Christianity. All the world's major religions have unique gifts to offer us. Each is its own path in its own right, to its own worthy destination. The challenge for this type of universalist is to become a religious cosmopolitan without becoming a mere tourist or dilettante. This is where New Ageism errs. You ask a good yet difficult question.

I am both a unitarian and a univeralist in the classic sense, or at least in terms of the doctrines they deny: hell, damnation, the divinity of Christ, original sin, and the Trinity.

But you suspect correctly that I mean a universalism that encompasses all (or most) religions. To be more precise, I am a unitarian of the Third Person, not the First. So I too see the Spirit working in all of them.

I also see something unique in Christianity, but not only in Christianity. All the world’s major religions have unique gifts to offer us. Each is its own path in its own right, to its own worthy destination.

The challenge for this type of universalist is to become a religious cosmopolitan without becoming a mere tourist or dilettante. This is where New Ageism errs.

]]> By: Matt Stone http://www.makingchutney.com/2006/05/22/its-a-jesulope/#comment-3303 Matt Stone Sun, 28 May 2006 22:33:09 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2006/05/22/its-a-jesulope/#comment-3303 Thanks for the generous write up. I am curious though. I have always tended to associate universalism with gooey New Age melting pot inclusivism (this is grounded in my personal experience as a former New Ager) so your differentiation between the two suggests to me that we understand the term differently. Would you care to elaborate? I personally don’t identify with universalism, but I am not sure we are using the same word to men the same thing. For the record I was involved in the New Age Movement before I embraced Christian spirituality. I do believe the Spirit lives, moves and breathes amongst all religions (maybe that’s what you mean by universalism?) but I would not have embraced Christianity if I saw it as merely one path amongst many. I do see deeper spiritual depths in Christ’s teachings and actions which are not reached in other religions, things which are merely foreshadowed in alternative spiritualities and which remain elusive without him. We all experience the Spirit in the sense that we are all created and sustained by the Spirit. But the resurrected life, the grace sustained hope - that is a dimension of Spirituality that is more elusive. Thanks for the generous write up. I am curious though. I have always tended to associate universalism with gooey New Age melting pot inclusivism (this is grounded in my personal experience as a former New Ager) so your differentiation between the two suggests to me that we understand the term differently. Would you care to elaborate? I personally don’t identify with universalism, but I am not sure we are using the same word to men the same thing.

For the record I was involved in the New Age Movement before I embraced Christian spirituality. I do believe the Spirit lives, moves and breathes amongst all religions (maybe that’s what you mean by universalism?) but I would not have embraced Christianity if I saw it as merely one path amongst many. I do see deeper spiritual depths in Christ’s teachings and actions which are not reached in other religions, things which are merely foreshadowed in alternative spiritualities and which remain elusive without him. We all experience the Spirit in the sense that we are all created and sustained by the Spirit. But the resurrected life, the grace sustained hope - that is a dimension of Spirituality that is more elusive.

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