Book Review: The Rebirthing of God: Christianity's Struggle for New Beginnings

Abstract

The Rebirthing of God: Christianity's Struggle for New Beginnings. By John Philip Newell. Woodstock, Vt.: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2014. xvii + 135 pp. $19.99 (cloth).Minister in Church of Scotland, spiritual director, author of many books, peacemaker, and scholar, John Philip Newell is surely of most centered speakers about anything, and his latest book is bound to be widely received, read, and pondered by many. Its title might seem at first glance to be yet another addition to re-visioning Christianity, probably more aptly re-envisioning. But this work is freshly presented in calm tone that is Newell's, a tone he skillfully uses both as writer and speaker.In introduction, Newell pays homage to C. G. Jung, whom he names one of great prophets of modern human soul as well as founder of analytical psychology (p. x). Newell relates story of twelve-yearold Jung perceiving an image rising up from unconscious that horrified him. But it persisted on coming forth. Much later in his life, he allowed himself to name that image: above of cathedral in Basel was throne of God, and coming down from throne was ?an enormous turd' that smashed into and walls of cathedral crumbled (p. xi). It is this image that is, according to Newell, smashing into spire of Western Christianity and aiding in its collapse.So, what to do about it? It can be denied, an attempt can be made to shore up collapsed foundations, or Christians can ask what is trying to be born that requires a radical reorientation of our vision. A midwife whom Newell met told him, upon hearing this story about Jung, that the turd nearly always comes before birth. So, Newell asks, What is it that we need to let go of to prepare way for new birthing? (p. xi).Eight chapters follow this earthy introduction, each providing ways of Reconnecting: with Earth, compassion, light, journey, spiritual practice, nonviolence, unconscious, and love itself. Each chapter focuses upon or two authors who illuminate these ways of reconnecting and offers a geographical place or station on Isle of Iona as a metaphor for new beginnings. The authors cited in chapters are eco-theologian Thomas Berry, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, nonviolent leader Aung San Suu Kyi, poet Mary Oliver, English Benedictine Bede Griffiths, Thomas Merton, Mahatma Gandhi, Carl Jung, and Simone Weil. They are used skillfully and provide more than a simple nodding reference here and there.As who has spent a week on Iona, I resonated strongly with places Newell so profoundly names and that have deep meaning for him: roofless Nunnery, Crossroads, Hill of Angels, St. Columbas Bay, Hermit's Cell, Dun I (the highest point on island), Well of Eternal Youth, and St. Martin's Cross. Pilgrims to Iona are richly blessed on pilgrimage around small island as they stop at each of these places to pray and to reflect on power of God therein. Without visual illustrations it is easy to imagine these places, even if they have not been visited by reader, so powerful are Newell's descriptions.So, reader dives into content of these chapters, each bearing fruit in practice. Storytelling, sharing of dreams, quotations from writings of above-mentioned authors (Olivers poetry is liberally utilized)- all serve to richly illustrate reconnections. It is almost as if these writers are Newell's personal friends, so intimately are they referred to. …