I enjoyed reading the recent, short review of Franciscan Ilio Delio’s biography, Birth of a Dancing Star: My Journey from Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian. Nichole Carruba writes the kind of review which is quite helpful. She offers a summary insight into the main themes of the book. In the middle of her own insights, Carruba sprinkles in a number of quotations from the book. These appropriately tempt us to buy the book and see for ourselves. Since I like Delio’s work, this was a no-brainer for me.
Carruba opens her review with the acknowledgement that many of us struggle with the two arenas of science and religion. Some religious folks simply punt and think only religion, the Bible or some authority like this contains any truth. They become functional illiterates in contemporary culture. We all know the other extreme. Scientists consider any type of religion as pure folly and they proclaim with fervor equally to that of any preacher that only science has final say on what’s true. I and countless people, including Delio, are in the middle wanting to make sense of both arenas---science and religion.
Then with a writer’s deftness, Carruba goes to the core of what Delio will tell us in her narrative of her life. Carruba says, “Her narrative explores the theme of learning to let go of a static worldview and discover God in the chaos of life rather than seeing God as a destination.” I am attracted to a “theme of learning.” No doubt, being a college professor can explain that, but my attraction to learning began long before I taught college classes. As a young boy, I remember wanting to read---read anything I could get my hands on. Growing up on a farm meant there was no real library in my house. But I read magazines and everything else with words.
Carruba then gives us the first tidbit of Delio’s own words. Delio affirms, “God gives us the freedom to shape our lives, and the most authentic life can only be found in the freedom of letting go, over and over again…” I find this exciting. To have the freedom to shape my own life is both thrilling and somewhat intimidating. If we take full responsibility for this, then we cannot blame others for our malformation. If things go badly, we are surely partly responsible. Too many of us want to take credit for the good things and blame others for the bad. Even God comes in for criticism!
A second, major theme emerges in the quotation from Delio. That is the theme of letting go. Carruba helps us with her own comment. She tells us, “The theme of letting go is essential for Delio because she believes that God is infused in evolution, and Christian life exists within an ongoing learning process about the meaning of existence and expansion of consciousness.” This sentence contains more tidbits for the mind to ponder. God is infused in evolution. This is not some offhanded sentence. It is a profound theological assumption.
For example, if God is infused in evolution, this assumes evolution is the perspective from which to think about the world, about human nature and everything else that is. God may be creative---and Delio thinks God is creative---but it has to be seen in the context of evolution. Science must have its say in this case. Whatever we think about the Genesis creation texts, they cannot be read literally to mean that God did the whole thing in seven literal days. That makes no sense scientifically---or really in normal human understanding.
The other thing assumed by Delio’s thinking is that God is “infused” within evolution. In my own crass way, it can be said that God is working from the inside out. If we think about it in terms of the metaphor of space, God is within rather than above. The old God who is “out there” is not given the focus, but rather the God who is “within” creating the world and everything therein. Our job is to create along with God. This is part of our responsibility of formation---of ourselves and our world.
For Delio it is all about love. Carruba gives us a sense of what to expect when we read Delio. “The culmination of Delio's years of pondering, struggling and becoming leads her into the core reality of love as a way to evolve in consciousness toward God. In order for us to move forward, she encourages a practice of accessing the love deep within ourselves.” The core reality of love is what it is all about. This squares with the biblical idea that God is love. And it makes sense to me because I feel like love is likely the meaning of life itself.
Our call is to be “grounded in the core reality of God’s love,” as Delio claims. That attracts me, even though I may not be quite sure how to do it. That is part of the human adventure. And if we can be grounded in that core reality of love, then we can live “from the center of that love,” as she suggests. If we can begin to imagine what our world would look like if most people lived from the center of love. Peace would break out. Justice would be served. We might have a fighting chance to deal with the climate change issue.
It would almost be like the kingdom were coming…
Carruba opens her review with the acknowledgement that many of us struggle with the two arenas of science and religion. Some religious folks simply punt and think only religion, the Bible or some authority like this contains any truth. They become functional illiterates in contemporary culture. We all know the other extreme. Scientists consider any type of religion as pure folly and they proclaim with fervor equally to that of any preacher that only science has final say on what’s true. I and countless people, including Delio, are in the middle wanting to make sense of both arenas---science and religion.
Then with a writer’s deftness, Carruba goes to the core of what Delio will tell us in her narrative of her life. Carruba says, “Her narrative explores the theme of learning to let go of a static worldview and discover God in the chaos of life rather than seeing God as a destination.” I am attracted to a “theme of learning.” No doubt, being a college professor can explain that, but my attraction to learning began long before I taught college classes. As a young boy, I remember wanting to read---read anything I could get my hands on. Growing up on a farm meant there was no real library in my house. But I read magazines and everything else with words.
Carruba then gives us the first tidbit of Delio’s own words. Delio affirms, “God gives us the freedom to shape our lives, and the most authentic life can only be found in the freedom of letting go, over and over again…” I find this exciting. To have the freedom to shape my own life is both thrilling and somewhat intimidating. If we take full responsibility for this, then we cannot blame others for our malformation. If things go badly, we are surely partly responsible. Too many of us want to take credit for the good things and blame others for the bad. Even God comes in for criticism!
A second, major theme emerges in the quotation from Delio. That is the theme of letting go. Carruba helps us with her own comment. She tells us, “The theme of letting go is essential for Delio because she believes that God is infused in evolution, and Christian life exists within an ongoing learning process about the meaning of existence and expansion of consciousness.” This sentence contains more tidbits for the mind to ponder. God is infused in evolution. This is not some offhanded sentence. It is a profound theological assumption.
For example, if God is infused in evolution, this assumes evolution is the perspective from which to think about the world, about human nature and everything else that is. God may be creative---and Delio thinks God is creative---but it has to be seen in the context of evolution. Science must have its say in this case. Whatever we think about the Genesis creation texts, they cannot be read literally to mean that God did the whole thing in seven literal days. That makes no sense scientifically---or really in normal human understanding.
The other thing assumed by Delio’s thinking is that God is “infused” within evolution. In my own crass way, it can be said that God is working from the inside out. If we think about it in terms of the metaphor of space, God is within rather than above. The old God who is “out there” is not given the focus, but rather the God who is “within” creating the world and everything therein. Our job is to create along with God. This is part of our responsibility of formation---of ourselves and our world.
For Delio it is all about love. Carruba gives us a sense of what to expect when we read Delio. “The culmination of Delio's years of pondering, struggling and becoming leads her into the core reality of love as a way to evolve in consciousness toward God. In order for us to move forward, she encourages a practice of accessing the love deep within ourselves.” The core reality of love is what it is all about. This squares with the biblical idea that God is love. And it makes sense to me because I feel like love is likely the meaning of life itself.
Our call is to be “grounded in the core reality of God’s love,” as Delio claims. That attracts me, even though I may not be quite sure how to do it. That is part of the human adventure. And if we can be grounded in that core reality of love, then we can live “from the center of that love,” as she suggests. If we can begin to imagine what our world would look like if most people lived from the center of love. Peace would break out. Justice would be served. We might have a fighting chance to deal with the climate change issue.
It would almost be like the kingdom were coming…
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