An April 2019 Religion News Service article titled, “For Millennials, Mysticism Shows a Path to Their Home Faiths” reveals how young (millennial) evangelicals are “[d]iscovering the Christian mystical tradition through the work of Franciscan friar Richard Rohr.” The article states:
[Anthony] Graffagnino [28] was one of a number of millennials drawn to The Universal Christ—a four-day conference in New Mexico’s capital last month led by Rohr, one of the preeminent Christian contemplatives of the last century. . . . millennials are increasingly finding contemplative spirituality appealing.
Whether it’s in the stillness of silent meditation, walking a labyrinth, or centering prayer; the practice of engaging with scripture through Lectio Divina, the Ignatian tradition’s Daily Examen; or a combination of Buddhist mindfulness, Kundalini breath work and Taizé prayer, many young adults are happy (to borrow a line from Van Morrison) to sail into the mystic. . . . The contemplative tradition is “expansive enough… that it leaves room as you grow,” he said. “To be Christian is to see Christ in everything.” (source)
Lighthouse Trails has been warning about Catholic priest and mystic Richard Rohr’s influence over young evangelical men for awhile now. Ray Yungen reported in his book Simple Answers that one of Richard Rohr’s publishers told Rohr that his biggest group of followers is comprised of young evangelical men. (source) That means that many of the sons and grandsons of evangelicals are under the influence of a man who is panentheistic, New Age-sympathizing, and a mystic.
Evangelical Leaders Endorsing Richard Rohr
In the midst of a current crisis where young people raised in the evangelical church are leaving the faith of their childhoods and becoming New Agers, atheists, emergent, or Catholic, highly popular seasoned evangelical leaders have helped to escalate the crisis rather than help alleviate it. In a 2018 article, Lighthouse Trails wrote about one of these “seasoned” evangelical Rohr endorsers:
In an interview between Gloria Gaither and Catholic mystic monk, Richard Rohr, Gaither said: “First of all, I want to say thank you to you [Richard Rohr] because so many of your books have been impacting my life, especially Falling Upward. I think that changed my thinking about . . . just about everything. We have studied that book in our Monday night Bible study.” (source)
Gaither isn’t the only popular evangelical leader to pay homage to Rohr.
Eugene Peterson also promotes Richard Rohr as is explained in Lois Putnam’s article, “William Paul Young (THE SHACK AUTHOR) & His Connection with Panentheist Richard Rohr.”
Another person who has embraced Rohr is Richard Foster (whose books are promoted to one degree or another by the majority of Christian colleges and seminaries). Foster had Rohr on an advisory board for a 2010 book Foster edited titled 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Devotional Classics.
And then there is IF: Gathering. The leaders of IF are dynamic energetic women who hold large conferences geared primarily toward young evangelical women. While these women may be sincere in what they are trying to do, they promote figures such as emergent leaders Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, as well as Richard Rohr.
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun also promotes Rohr in at least two of her books, including The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (a book that many evangelical groups have turned to, including Saddleback Church, even though it is packed with the contemplative/emergent element).
As our last example (though there are many more), Elisa Morgan, the founder and former director of MOPS International, quotes Rohr favorably in her book The Beauty of Broken.
Are we saying all of these Rohr-endorsers believe in all of Rohr’s New Ageism? Not necessarily, but we are showing how much Rohr has influenced Christianity.
You see, Rohr has found his way into the deepest veins of evangelicalism.
Rohr’s Cosmic Christ
Rohr’s spirituality is in the same camp as someone like Episcopalian panentheist Matthew Fox (author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ). Rohr wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called How Big is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India) Paul Coutinho. In Coutinho’s book, he describes an interspiritual community where people of all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity) worship the same God. For Rohr to write the forward to such a book, he would have to agree with Coutinho’s views. On Rohr’s website, he currently has an article titled “The Cosmic Christ.” One need not look too far into Rohr’s teachings and website to see he is indeed promoting the same Cosmic Christ as Matthew Fox – this is the “christ” whose being they say lives in every human; this, of course, would nullify the need for atonement by a savior. Rohr’s newest book is titled The Universal Christ. On his website next to the title of this book, it states: “Another Name for Every Thing.”
In 2016, Richard Rohr participated in an event called SAND16 US (standing for Science and Nonduality). Nonduality is a New Age term basically meaning there is no good and evil, no right or wrong; thus, all is one, all is God (which is why New Ager Neale Donald Walsch said that even Hitler will go to heaven). Rohr was invited to speak at SAND 16 US because New Agers resonate with him. Sharing the platform with Rohr were over 100 other New Agers including Matthew Fox, Deepak Chopra, Ken Wilber, and Larry Dossey.
To further explain why we see it as nothing less than a tragedy that Rohr is having such an influence over young evangelicals, consider this: Rohr is a prominent champion for the idea of a global religion that would unify the world. In a 2014 interview, he said that “religion needs a new language.” And that language to bring about this one-world religion is mysticism (i.e., contemplative prayer)! Rohr stated:
Right now there is an emergence . . . it’s coming from so many different traditions and sources and parts of the world. Maybe it’s an example of the globalization of spirituality. (Kristen Hobby, “What Happens When Religion Isn’t Doing Its Job: an interview with Richard Rohr, OFM” (Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, Volume 20, No. 1, March 2014), pp. 6-11.)
This view ties in perfectly with the emerging church’s perspective that is so popular among millennials (and now even Gen Zs – those born around 1996) today. It’s no wonder that Richard Rohr and emerging church leaders (such as Brian McLaren) are so supportive of each other and endorse each other’s books.
In echoing the Catholic mystics Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen, Rohr also advocates the concept of dharmakaya. This is the recurring theme of the “school” of contemplative prayer. Rohr states:
God’s hope for humanity is that one day we will all recognize that the divine dwelling place is all of creation. Christ comes again whenever we see that matter and spirit co-exist. This truly deserves to be called good news. (Rich Heffern, “The Eternal Christ in the Cosmic Story” (National Catholic Reporter, December 11, 2009.)
To dispel any confusion about what he is saying, Rohr makes it clear in the same paragraph what he means by God dwelling in all creation. He uses a term that one finds throughout contemplative literature, which signifies that Christ is more of an energy than a personal being. Rohr explains the term “cosmic Christ,” telling readers that everything and everyone belongs to God’s kingdom. That’s even the name of one of his books, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer.
Without a doubt, Rohr is one of the most prominent living proponents of contemplative prayer today. His organization, The Center for Contemplation and Action, is a bastion for contemplative spirituality. Rohr has essentially become the new Thomas Merton to an entirely new generation of evangelical Christians; and thus, evangelicalism is being robbed of its very ability to even exist.
Other Quotes by Richard Rohr:
Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God’s own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.― Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, p. 57
The most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection—and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth. ― Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, p. 16, emphasis in original
In his 2011 book, Falling Upward, Rohr implies that we (humanity) are all an “immaculate conception” (p. ix).
Hello Stefan,
Thank you for sharing. However, we believe Richard Rohr’s “profoundness” has done far more harm than good. In your example that Rohr “describes Christ as the first non-dualistic teacher,” we are reminded of the words of the late Ray Yungen who discussed the terrible error of the non-dualistic approach. The fact is, if Jesus Christ truly were non-dualistic, He would be denying His very own existence:
Hi, RR is a bit of an enigma. He publishes profound truth but is also guilty of making blasphemous (in my humble opinion) statements. He has the courage to say things that we, who afraid of God, dare not say. As an example: There is a reference in which he describes Christ as the first non-dualistic teacher. What he fails to admit is that while Christ is a Just Judge, He also calls a spade a spade. There is right and there is wrong. There is good and there is evil. To believe that Christ is present in all, following his logic, suggests that Christ is accepting of all. Christ, however, is “the sheep” and ‘the goats” judge. Is this too binary for you Richard?
Cindia,
In Rohr and Boland’s 2021 book Everything is Sacred, Rohr states (quoting from his book, The Universal Christ) the following: “The Christ Mystery [is] the indwelling of the Divine Presence in everyone and everything since the beginning of time as we know it….Christ is everywhere.” If this is true that God dwells in all things and all humans, then (to take this statement to its limits) even Hitler was indwelled by God, and if God is in everything and everyone, then there is no need for the Cross and no need for being born again. Yet Jesus Himself said, we must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Rohr is a panentheist and a universalist, and these two things are the complete antithesis of being a born again Christian. Either Rohr is right, or Jesus is right. It can’t be both because they proclaim completely opposite things.
I has been a Christian for over 40 years and a pastor of Evangelical church for 15 years, a preacher for over 20 years and a phD candidate in New Testament lately. To be honest, there are loads of un-answered questions and doubles deep down in my hearts concerning my faith and my gospel that continuously disturbed me, make me anxious like a paranoid. Not until I face a serious life crisis that pushes me to the verge of emotional collapse, I encounter Richard Rohr’s youtubes and find a way out. His teaching is such a spiritual enlightenment to me that I can’t help myself saying Aha! Aha! Aha! I find that God is making a way for me that it seems to be no way. My evangelical understanding of faith and gospel and tradition appears to be too weak to lift me up from my desperation and confusion, I am trying not to blame that it may be the very cause of my depression and stress. If Richard Rohr is condemned to be on the wrong track, I don’t think the evangelical faith is on the right track. According to my discernment, I don’t see RR is teaching another Christ so far.
Scott, you are right that no one person or group has everything right, and certainly, salvation is not dependent on having perfect doctrinal understanding (it is by grace alone). But Rohr is in a category that is anti-Gospel and believes that all people have the “cosmic christ” within. If this were true, then what would be the need of Jesus Christ’s going to the Cross to save us from our sins? We aren’t talking about insignificant issues here but about the essence of God’s Word and what Jesus did. Please don’t give up on studying His Word and asking the Lord to show truth to you. And, if you have never truly given your life and heart to the Lord, that would be a first step. It’s not religion or fundamentalism or evangelicalism that saves us – it is the Lord’s work on the Cross, and He promises that whosoever believes on Him putting their trust in Him will be saved. Sadly, Richard Rohr and others like him are pulling people away from truth, not toward it.
I refer to myself as a “recovering fundamentalist” who has (and I hate using the term because it has become so loaded nowadays) “deconstructed” the order of my youthful (read immature) view of Christianity, and have been in the process of re-constructing what it means to follow Christ. To that goal, Richard Rohr has been a great help. As someone brought up in the traditional evangelical American church, I have wrestled with A LOT of what he says, and I’m not sure I can agree with everything he says, but is it necessary to agree with all of it? It’s doubtful that I can find any theologian with whom I totally align on EVERYTHING. But that said, RR has given me a new view of a Christianity that just didn’t make total sense to me until I let go of some of the simple order I was taught as a child. If we believe that there are Christians (followers of Jesus, the Christ) within every, or most, groups and/or denominations, then the Holy Spirit must still be able to work even if many of us have errant theology and doctrines; it’s simply impossible for us all to be right! Why is it necessary that every word we speak on, as Paul puts it in Romans and eludes to in some of his other writings, “disputable matters,” be agreed upon before we can be labeled a Christian? And who gets to apply that label? The answer is ONLY GOD. I’m tired of the “religion police” who think they hold the exclusive truth in all of their doctrines and theology and then insist that we all tow their line. It’s exhausting, unproductive, and very damaging.
Debra, thank you for sharing.
I am very concerned with the New Age movement. It is an outlet for people who cannot or will not understand the Biblical teachings. There is always a better way apparently. Some writings are so misguided but sound incredible to those who have shallow beliefs in the first place. New age is a Dead end! My husbands’ friends continually hand him Richard Rohr’s books and in my opinion the writings have done nothing but confuse him. He has become increasingly distant and mean spirited. He was born and raised a Catholic.
I joined the SDA church in 2005 after discovering that, surprise surprise, God IS real. RR, in his “New Great Themes of Scripture” talks about the “internal revelation” that the sola scriptura based churches tend to overlook.
It was that point that got and kept my attention, and I have to confess it has greatly helped me to come to grips with this God being who had reached out and grabbed me from the path I was heading down and brought hope back into my life.
Yes I’m confident of God’s existence but not a lot else of what I heard about God in the church I had joined.
God’s a loving creator; yes I’m quite happy to go along with that.
God from the beginning arranged for Jesus’ life and ministry amongst us; yes that makes sense to me.
Jesus’ death was an element in God’s plan; yyeees I’m finding that more understandable these days, tho not in the sense of a need to assuage God’s wrath or sense of justice.
Many of the teachings that have helped me to retain my essentially Christian beliefs and to find peace and, yes, joy, in an unpeaceful not always joyful world, have come from RR. Especially his “3 steps forward 2 steps back” formula for understanding (dare I say it?) the baffling passages in the Bible.
I’ll always be grateful to the old priest who lent me his NGTOS cassette tapes back in circa 2009. I take an audio copy with me at night to listen to as I walk along the dark (save for the light of several trillion stars) Murwillumbah-Kyogle road.
MM, actually there are many Catholic priests (not all) who are very much steeped in the contemplative tradition.
Richard Rohr is not your typical Catholic priest or he was at one point, I suppose. You can say that he’s become more protestant, e.g. like a modern day Luther and Calvin, but with eastern religion thrown in the mix of his teachings.
The socalled mergent Church is philosophically founded on post-modern relativism a self-refiting cognitive and cultural understanding of truth. In other words, everything is relative except for the assertion “everything is relative”. Objective morality and principalist ethics aren’t acceptable; prennialism and universalism are prominent theological beliefs; the bible is a worthy source of moral guidance but non-biblical sources are equally helpful. Shall I go on? I am a Greek Orthodox Christian. God bless.
Andy, what a wonderful set of questions! You articulated what most people ask. The Cosmic Christ is a bigger vision of God and ourselves that can answer the questions you articulated.
We need to broaden our vision of the human and the divine! In doing so, we can experience the limitless love of God.
I did not mean to imply that the emergent churches have “better” answers to the questions, but they are different. To the extent that we don’t understand where they are coming from and can’t address these issues to OUR people in a non confrontational way, we are going to continue to lose millennials to the emergent movement. The issues are too complex to discuss in depth in a “comment “ format, but a general outline and starting point could be as follows:
1 How do we handle our Bible?
2 How do we experience God?
3 How do we treat millennials in our churches who have questions that may challenge our beliefs?
4 Millennials are very interested in fairness and justice. How do we address these things in our theology and Bible?
To the extent we just say it is “our way or the highway”
we will be pushing our millennials into the arms of the emergent church—they are not stealing them.
I have to tread very lightly and humbly here, since I am long on questions, short on answers, and untrained in theology. Also, the terms “evangelical” and “emergent” are pretty wide brushes with which to paint either group. No matter what I say, I’m going to seem wrong or misguided by at least some. And this is VERY abbreviated.
1) How we handle the Bible is the biggest question I see. Young people have a good sense of justice and fair play. The way evangelicals use the Bible doesn’t show this:
A. What do we do when God does not act like God? (Love your enemies, but also commit genocide.)
B.How do we handle the contradictions within the Bible?(There are many. What does inerrancy mean?)
D. Science vs. Bible is a non-starter to people drawn towards the emergents. We have the answers, but what are the perceptions and stereotypes Evangelicals project?
E. Why would the God of love and forgiveness, who existed before time and created a huge, beautiful universe curse it all because someone took a bite out of a forbidden fruit? A little petty.
F. Why did Jesus have to die?
G. If you don’t have the correct answer to “F”, why are you doomed to an eternity in Hell by a just God , even if you have never heard of Jesus?
I. Why is this good news?
2) A lot of evangelicalism is an intellectual exercise. Apologetics, correct world view, etc. Do we need to rethink meditation and contemplation? (Psalm 1:2) People attracted to the emergent movement crave a direct…
Andy, can you name some of those questions that evangelicals don’t have answers to that the emergent church does? This will help us understand your comment better.
Maybe evangelicals are not being “robbed” of its millennials as you claim. Maybe it’s not robbery. Maybe it is us pushing them into the arms of the emergent movement. Maybe instead of just pointing our fingers at Rohr and the other emergent spokesmen you mention, we need to be deeply soul searching and asking just what is going on here. Why is this happening? It is not a matter of better or more age-appropriate programs and music. Even though we don’t agree with them, the emergent movement is answering questions we evangelicals don’t even recognize as questions, much less have any answers for.
The Bible Project & Mysticism – Cristo La Verdad
[…] the Christian church by followers of Roman Catholic priest, mystic and” contemplative, “Father Richard Rohr” (who was a disciple of Jesuit priest Robert Ochs, who credited with bringing the Enneagram […]
Ed,
If Matthew Fox and Richard Rohr are “on the right track,” then there is no Gospel and Jesus died on the Cross in vain. They both believe that every human being has the “christ consciousness” and thus, all will be saved (as Neale Donald Walsch says, even Hitler). Fox and Rohr wouldn’t actually agree with you for you suggest that there will be a heaven and hell (and that perhaps many evangelicals will be in hell). If everyone already has “christ” within them, then there will be no hell. Then what was the purpose of Christ dying on the Cross and why did He say that the one condition for salvation is to acknowledge our need for a Savior and believe on Him and His finished work on the Cross? Richard Rohr and Matthew Fox are on a track, but it isn’t the right one. They are heading down a track that is going in a completely wrong direction and taking far too many with them.
I think that Jesus taught that the way to life was through death. I think that Jesus died because of the sin of the world and not a way to believe to so that one can be assured of heaven later. Life though death was the narrow gate that Jesus said was the way.
Now more than 2000 years after Jesus sacrifice I am not sure how many evangelicals are in heaven or how many non evangelicals are in hell, but I know that the creation that God left for us to manage is in sorry shape. Being married to wealth and power did not help Christianity a bit. The west is full of Christians who claim Jesus as saviour but do not take to heart anything that he said.
It is time to reexamine the meaning to Jesus life and teaching.
I think that Richard Rohr and Matthew Fox may be on the right track.
“On earth as it is in heaven” “or in Him we live and move and have our being” or “Christ will be all in all” or “be still and know that I am God” works for me.
Noooo . . . not Gloria Gaither too! Reading that breaks my heart. Please tell me it’s a mistake.
Unfortunately you turned to a false Christ warned about in Galatians 1:6-12
Rohr is void of The biblical Christ and the power of His Word
Christ is not in Him therefore the voice of God is not in him either
Do not be deceived for many for many for many will come in my name and deceive MANY
Here’s prophecy — that you don’t want to take away from or add to — showing a difference between those allowed into the city with Jesus Christ and those who are not:
Revelation 22:12-16 — ““Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each as is his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Blessed are those washing their robes, that their right will be to the tree of life, and they shall enter into the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone loving and practicing falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to all of you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.””
Mia, actually the Bible says there are many false Christs and other Christs who are not Jesus Christ but identify themselves as Him.
There’s only one Jesus. You would do well to actually look at Rohr’s work for yourself. Jesus is WAY bigger than the shrunken Jesus of many mainstream Christians. “Christ is all and IN ALL”. That’s cosmic! 🙂
The universal Christ. This is what I see going on with most young people I know, who claim to be “Christian”, are worshipping. I termed it a “Hindu or Buddhist Jesus”, but the new age term sums it up.
Which Christ? Richard Rohr will not be blessed by God as long as he preaches another gospel from another Jesus. If any man preach another gospel, let him be accursed.
MARANATHA!
Fracis MacNutt and Judith MacNutt also embrace and promote his teachings. You probably don’t consider them evangelicals, but many evangelicals have attended their conferences, etc. Judith is regularly invited to speak at the conservative seminary in PA for evangelical Episcopalians (a dying breed), etc.
In their desire to be loving, many are refusing to acknowledge that Jesus’ death is provisional for the salvation of all, and the only way for us to be reconciled to the Father. They come up with many ways to discount his words – they’re not “his words,” someone else put them in the Bible, we’ve “moved beyond the word,” etc. They should read Ps 2 and fear God. The LORD takes it personally when we despise the sacrifice of his Son and say it isn’t really necessary and there are “other ways to God.”
God Bless Richard Rohr. He made me return to christ✝️❤️🙏
Are evangelicals being led astray or is the Evangelical church not providing adequate spiritual direction?
Families that have left the R.C. church would never be fooled by popes and priests. My grandfather and father left that church because they did not feel they were going to Heaven in that church. They could see all the things that were wrong there. They both accepted the Lord after leaving and became evangelical pastors.
The enemy is a crafty one as heretical teaching of all kinds contemplative, mystical, NAR, etc. invades to tickle the ears. A healthy church I cannot find and weep for the youth and those whom the seed was sown in the hearing of the word and the devil comes and takes it away from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved (Luke 8:12).
To the Lord goes all the glory for giving us discernment to see and expose the lies! Stay strong brothers and sisters.
Lately, I weep after reading every article about what is happening in the church. It’s heartbreaking!