Many Religions, One God
John Michael Talbot - October 22, 1999

Recently, I have received some criticism for the content of my new recording, "Cave of the Heart," and its companion book, "The Music of Creation." In both I present salvation history beginning with God as Trinity, creation and the fall, humanity reaching out to God through what the theologians of the church call, "Natural Religion," God reaching back to humanity in a formal and unique way in the Old Testament through what theologians call, "Revelation," and the fulfillment of both Natural Religion and Old Testament Revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Catholic Church. Apparently, I have been accused of reverting to universalism because of my respect for, and knowledge of, non-Christian world religions. This seems to come primarily from conservative evangelical Christians, but also some come from arch conservative Roman Catholics.

Specifically, certain support people in the Christian Contemporary Music industry have refused to work with me because of the content of my new musical record. It has been said that I have also been informally black listed from mainstream Christian radio for the same reason. This seems a tragic narrow mindedness in light of the situation Christians find themselves in within the melting pot of the Western world and the rise in the popularity of the New Age movement, and the challenge of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to Asia has the economic and cultural forces of the world become more global and Asia-Oceanic in the immediate and foreseeable future.

What follows is my letter of explanation to evangelical Christians.

"Brothers and Sisters,

Since the release of my new album, Cave of the Heart, and my new book, The Music of Creation, we have received many questions regarding my references to other world religions and faith expressions. These questions are good, and represent a true desire to retain the doctrinal integrity of the Christian and Catholic faith. Let me attempt some brief explanation.

The book and the liner notes of the album, contain explanations suitable to the mediums of the more lengthy and brief written word respectively. A thorough, and open-minded, read of these words should satisfy most of the fears on the part of Orthodox and conservative Catholics and Christians, of which I consider myself to be a part, concerning a possible lapse into an erroneous universalism or New Age philosophy.

Briefly stated, both the book and the recording present a walk through salvation history, beginning with Natural Religion, moving on into formal Revelation in the Old Testament, then concluding with the fullness of Revelation, and the fulfillment of all that has come before in, and through, Jesus Christ. Natural Religion begins after the fall with the impetus of humanity reaching out to God because of the divine seed still within us, though clouded over and impeded in full movement through sin. Revelation is God reaching back in an intentional and extraordinary way. Both are completely fulfilled in, and through, Jesus Christ.

Natural Religion includes any truth found within any philosophy or religion out side of formal Revelation as understood from our Christian perspective. We believe, along with the fathers of the early church, and the orthodox and conservative theologians, and Church councils and encyclicals of our own day, (The Second Vatican Council), that all truth comes from God and can, when used rightly, lead back to God. In this respect, the Holy Spirit has inspired the truthful aspect of any religion or philosophy, though in an incomplete way. We also recognize that there are teachings in other religions and faiths that conflict with basic teachings of Revelation through Jesus Christ and the Church. In these areas we respectfully retain our own teaching. Of course, partially revealed truth can also be used by the evil one to impede humanity from making its journey back to God through the fullness of revelation in Christ. Keeping this in mind, we honor and respect other religions, and join with them in our common religious practice and call to manifest spirituality and the things of God within our troubled world. Our biblical example for such belief is found in St. Paul's preaching of Jesus to the philosophers in Athens, and in his opening remarks in the first chapter of this letter to the Romans. The early church followed this example, and did not hesitate to use the religious or philosophical language of the culture they were attempting to evangelize in order to bring all people to the fullness of Jesus Christ.

Formal Revelation begins when God reaches back to humanity in an intentional and extraordinary way. This happened with the people of Israel in the Old Testament, especially with the revelation of the Law and the Prophets.

In a most extraordinary way, this occurred in the New Testament with the revelation of Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of the way, the truth, and life. He is the completion of all that has come before, in both Natural Religion and Revelation, and is the fullness of all religion and revelation for all that ever will be. This is true in a special way in the Paschal Mystery, or the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and in the various ways it is offered to us through the Church.

My spiritual director once told me that all truth before Christ is like a funnel leading into Christ alone. After Christ all truth funnels outward from him. The same areas of life, religion, and philosophy are included, and used, in both, but one leads all to Christ for fulfillment, and the other flows everything out from Christ in fulfillment. I find this image useful.

The purpose and relevance of the use of non-Christian religious sources is due to the multicultural and multi-religious nature of the modern world, and the newfound closeness of all to one another through modern media and transportation. Some of my most conservative Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant theological friends have indicated that they believe the Church's new frontier will be Asia. They predict this will be the culture to reach for the next several hundred years, if Jesus does not return sooner. Both Catholics and Protestants have attempted to evangelize Asia without any significant success, most especially in the area of China and Japan. The Catholic bishops of Asia have invited all of us to truly learn, and humbly respect, the culture and religion of their land in order to bring Christ in a humble, respectful, yet powerful and uncompromising way. Of course, that way includes not just words, but a lifestyle that reaches and even surpasses the holiness of their holy men and women, monks, sages, and mystics. This is the only way that the people of Asia can fully understand and receive our message.

Of course, we also learn this way in order to reach our own multicultural and multi-religious environment in the melting pot of American, and western culture. Countless adults and young people are going over to Eastern religions and cults in search of a mysticism that already exists fully within our own Catholic and Christian tradition, but which we have seldom entered into ourselves, much less been able to communicate to others through example or words. This is a challenge that meets us right at home.

So this is my position regarding reference to other world religions or philosophies in presenting Jesus Christ to, and in, our modern world. This position seems unambiguous and clear in both my book and liner notes of my newest recording. I hope I have made myself a bit clearer here. I apologize, and ask forgiveness in Christ, for any inability on my part to use words adequately to describe this universally accepted and venerable theological position of the Church.

Your little brother in Jesus,

John Michael Talbot
General Minister and Founder,
The Brothers and Sisters of Charity Little Portion Hermitage"

This letter seems rather self-explanatory to me, yet it has not calmed to the fears of our more conservative evangelical bothers and sisters in Christ. No doubt, there is also a group of arch- conservative Catholics who feel equally threatened by the contents of these projects. This is most unfortunate.

But it is not only theological reasons that have inspired these projects. It is also personal. After years of lay monastic leadership as the Spiritual Father, Founder and General Minister of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage I found myself wearing out, despite my knowledge of, and practice of solid Catholic Christian leadership principles, and charismatic and contemplative prayer.

Personally, I have found the Christian use of such techniques as centering prayer most helpful in entering more fully into the peace of the contemplative experience as described by the Christian mystics. While our own tradition does well in describing the theology and steps of such contemplation, the non-Christian traditions often do better in treating the actual mechanics of meditation, such as breath, posture and specific mental focus etc. We possess the fullness of the gift theologically through Christ, but others often do better at pastorally using the gift than we do. An integration that keeps Christ at the unquestioned beginning, center, and end of the experience has been most helpful to me. I have discovered a deeper experience of contemplation that helps me remain calmer and Christ like in the midst of the ups and downs of fulfilling my leadership responsibilities.

I must also say that I found myself marveling that, despite our claim that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, we Catholic Christians remain one of the most dysfunctional groups of people on personal levels. As a body the church is, indeed, the single most effective religious group in the world, and we are great at producing individual saints like St Francis or Mother Theresa of Calcutta. But the rank and file of us is generally a pretty fat, obsessed, and addicted lot. Most of those I counsel are seemingly unable to break free of their destructive behavioral, mental, and emotional patterns despite their love for Jesus, and the sacraments and devotions of the church. The use of the " mechanics of meditation" as taught by our brothers and sisters of the other faiths can sometimes be helpful if used correctly to augment the classical Catholic teachings on the spiritual life. I have also come to realize that it is precisely because God can save such a lot as us that there is hope for the whole world!.

On the Pastoral level I would point out that I do this after 20 plus years of Christian and Catholic experience of being fully immersed and guided by a wise and orthodox Friar in the Patristic and monastic/contemplative tradition of orthodox Catholic Christianity. Without this grounding I would easily find myself confused by so many different voices and spirits about meditation and prayer, not to mention the basic understanding of God and Jesus Christ. It can be most destructive if used unwisely. I can almost promise that those who undertake this study alone without proper guidance, and grounding in Catholic Christianity, will find themselves questioning their own faith to the point of losing it. Some may find themselves spiritually lost. It has happened to many. For this reason, we do not take the newer members of The Brothers and Sisters of Charity through this material in any depth as part of their formation, but stick squarely to overt Catholic spirituality and prayer teachings. I would not recommend too much integration of these things without proper guidance for those newer to the Catholic or Christian faith.

So this is the long and the short of it. Of course, the book and my other teachings go into the specifics of treating this from and orthodox Christian perspective in greater detail. There are others doing a similar work. I hope more will be forthcoming by others truly trained for such a treatment and dialog through their own life experience. In many ways the success of the church in the future depends on it.

John Michael Talbot