Read an excerpt on joy.
In Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality Matthew Fox liberates this Catholic theologian and philosopher from the prison house of scholasticism and reductionism. Through an interview technique, Fox uses Aquinas's writings as a lamp to shed light on the sacralization of nature, the importance of wonder, the ethics of empowerment, passion as the seat of all virtue, and the wealth of images available to describe God.
Fox relies upon the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality as an organizing structure for this source book. He celebrates the great theologian's cosmology as a vision blending science, mysticism, and art. Aquinas's view that "revelation comes in two volumes--that of nature and that of the Bible" speaks to Fox's emphasis upon an ecological consciousness. And certainly his recognition that the wisdom of the heart is as important as the wisdom of the head is in sync with modern day mysticism.
Sheer Joy is an eye-opener and a soul-shaker. It rescues the freshness of Aquinas's wisdom and vision from the dustbin of history. It illustrates the vast array of insights available in the Western spiritual tradition. This prodigious work proves once again how invaluable Matthew Fox is as both a bridge builder and as a pioneer.