By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog.
John Philip Newell
A local church in the Presbytery of Sacramento, is holding an event featuring the Rev. John Philip Newell. The event, occurring February 12-14 is entitled, “Cultivating the Inner Courage to Change the Outer World.” Davis Community Church, a Presbyterian (USA) church is progressive and has a long relationship with the Covenant Network of the PCUSA. The speaker, although billed as one who promotes Celtic theology, is rather, theologically gnostic. Newell uses the writings of Jung, Teilhard de Chardin and gnostic texts.
Newell was formerly a warden of the Iona Abbey in Scotland and Companion Theologian for the American Spirituality Center of Casa del Sol at Ghost Ranch, a PCUSA conference center. Both the Ghost Ranch web site and the Davis Community Church state that Newell “is an ordained Church of Scotland minister with a passion for peace among the great wisdom traditions of humanity.”
Jesus:
Newell, in one of his many books, writing of giving ourselves for love, states:
“And in the Christian household, we hear again and again in word and song that Jesus saved the world. But must we not also say that the hidden part of the story is that the world saved Jesus? Because Jesus found in the world the true object of his love, and in giving himself in love, he found himself forever.”
6 Comments. Leave new
“Secret Knowledge” is the hallmark of gnosticism. The “hidden part of the story” sounds like secret knowledge. I only see one way to go with this unless someone can rise to Mr. Newell’s defense.
This kind of thinking is the result of too much scotch while trying to keep warm at Iona Abbey.
And of course….who supports and funds ghost ranch and the purveying of pablum such as this?! …. This guy truly sounds like the stoner I got stuck with in the dorm my freshman year of college.
I don’t think it is fair to label Philip Newel as a gnostic. I’ve spent time with him, and that label never once crossed my mind.
I think when taken in context, Phillip Newel is most likely interpreting Philippians 2, since in essence it says the same thing. Is it a “hidden” reality? Not really, but we can be blind to it. What Philip is really talking about is finding yourself by spending yourself, in imitation of Christ.
“with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
There is much about Philippians that folks are blind to. To them, it is indeed secret knowledge. Nothing gnostic about that, except in the eye of the unknowing beholder.
Carl, wonderful verses but not the whole picture when looking at Newell’s theology. Did you read my whole posting? I pointed out that Newell uses a gnostic text insisting that it was left out of the canon because of politics. Do you believe in the authority of God’s word and its sufficiency? The Acts of John ruins the biblical text because it divides the person of Jesus from Christ. It denies that God became human.
Also Newell insists that Jesus is not the “only” begotten Son. He does this by twisting Scripture. All of this is Gnosticism.
Carl see my answer above I put it in the wrong place.