MDMD: those German enthusiasts

[Doug Millison]

 Dave Monroe:
>But, still, why "German"?  Tune in next
>week ...

You can probably trace those German enthusiasts back to the Rhineland
mystics, most prominent perhaps Meister Eckhart, who preached that it is
possible to move beyond the subject-object dichotomy (beyond all forms of
duality) and attain the Godhead, simply by sitting still, being quiet, and
inviting God in. He was posthumously excommunicated, I believe. Eckhart's
theology stands at the center of Matthew Fox's contemporary "original
blessing" and "creation spirituality" theology, which discards original sin
and the fall-and-redemption metaphor, and which favors a "deep ecumenism",
social justice, deep ecology, etc.  I've met Fox, he leads a school in
Oakland, CA called the University of Creation Spirituality; he's an
interesting, energetic, and inspiring character.