Confessions, Revised and Updated: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest

By Matthew Fox

Book Overview

Matthew Fox's stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author's continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in the Catholic church.

Instead of living out his vows as a Dominican brother Matthew Fox was expelled from the Order after 34 years by Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI. Fox took this as a warning from the Church that henceforth thinkers should not think, but get in line. It is from this anti-intellectual, inquisition-style mentality that the cover-up of priestly pedophilia also grew as the Vatican appointed several generations of bishops and cardinals whose only criterion for selection was that they be uncritical yes-men.

Confessions tells the inside story of what it was like standing in front of the train when the Vatican was on the attack. It also reflects on the meaning of the encouragingly healthy papacy of Pope Francis, but holds little hope for the institutional church. Rather, this book points to the main interest and accomplishments of the author's work to bring spirituality and prophetic warriorhood alive again in society and religion. Fox draws inspiration from great mystics of the past, such as Hildegard of Bingen (a champion of the Divine Feminine) and Meister Eckhart (a profoundly mystical and ecumenical champion of those without a voice), and the return of the archetype of the Cosmic Christ alongside the teachings of the historical Jesus and the bringing forth of the wisdom traditions from all the world's spiritual traditions to stand up for eco-justice, gender justice, economic justice and social justice.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583949356
• ISBN13: 9781583949351
• Release Date: November 2015
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Length: 504 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A wonderfully thoughtful book

A great book on the effect big government in the church has on people that speak their mind. As far as the reviewer that said - that this work was "too self involved"..... It's a memoir! Read the book.. It's worth it.

Thankful bystander

The following is more a suggestion to the author and to the publisher, should they consider a new edition, than a review of the first one (1996). Yet I trust that its content may motivate some undecided Catholics to dare to read this amazing book.After living such a committed and dedicated life as a Dominican priest for 34 years, the author Matthew Fox could not but come through it more tempered, more mature, and more clear minded than he has proved himself to be in this revealing autobiography. I salute his rare courage and his generosity and honesty in allowing us, his readers, to share in not only his joyous moments but also in his most trying ones. Given the value to me of the genuine gift I have received from reading this book, I am moved to dare suggest that should the publisher ever consider reprinting it, the author should consider relocating to its chronological position the material of the first chapter having to do with his becoming an Episcopal priest. In my view, there are many undecided readers who in the end would be most thankful to the author for presenting the events leading to his heart-wrenching decision but that upon learning so early in the book that a former Catholic priest has in their view turned his back to the Church to join another Christian denomination, they would not be willing to proceed any further in order to discover why he came to do so. I can appreciate the genuine scruple the author might have had at the idea of `leading' readers that otherwise `would have never wanted to know' to the discovery that indeed "the Emperor has no cloths!". In this respect, the author should accept the fact that any Catholic reader picking up a book with that specific title will be expecting the author to deliver on his implied promise `to unravel the truth before God'. In short, that becomes where the author's sole responsibility lies, instead of in the use of "at your own risks" preliminaries to shoo away hesitant readers, and Matthew Fox has risen to that challenge most honestly. In my view, by choosing to start his book the way he did, Matthew Fox has unwittingly voiced a "sorry but it's my fault"-type of response too often heard from victims of `psychological abuse', the latter being too valid a literal statement with regards to the behavior of his former ecclesiastical family. (May 2004)

Beware of "devout Catholics" who review this book.

Of course anyone claiming to be a "devout Catholic" will not like Matthew Fox and his view of the Vatican! Fox is an amazing theologian who thoughtfully and decisively rips Christianity free of patriarchy. Of course he would be ex-communicated, he was too threatening to the mysogonistic powers that be in the Roman church. People who understand and appreciate Fox's liberating theology will enjoy this insight into his life as a priest. Status quo Roman Catholics shouldn't bother.

A wonderfully enlightening view of a Medieval Vatican

Perhaps the best line in the book is the quote by a lawyer advising Fox, who tells him not to worry because "One day the Vatican will come tumbling down like the Berlin Wall."For that line alone the book is worth the price of admission, but there's much much more.