Overview

"Chaos may seem an unlikely source of creativity, but below its senseless surface lies a swirling depth of possibilities. Every person enters a world that is already filled with symbols, meanings, and stories. No-one starts with a blank canvas, rather, we find ourselves thrust into a matrix of narratives. Yet, something truly new is possible amid this chaos. Time is a space in which these stories can be reassembled, reinterpreted, and ordered in a way that gives particular meaning to my life. Our stories can be more than a reflection of reality; they can transform experience, inspire new action, and in so doing, transform our reality. ""And the word became flesh."" That is how the gospel of John describes the event in which divine ideas became tangibly real in the person of Jesus. Text, words, and ideas are not meant to remain intangible - they are searching for embodiment. This book is a journey through thousands of years of symbols and narratives that point to the underlying reality of our existence. We follow the development of consciousness through the stories humans have told, beginning with myths that are older than the Scriptures. The biblical text marks a definite progression in human awareness, and within the context of the Bible itself ideas continue to develop. The perspective given here might be new for many, but the aim is to provide more than simply an alternative interpretation of Scripture. Rather, I hope to show the connection between the inherent human capacity to create meaning, the depth of the text we have at our disposal, and the measureless gift of the Spirit of truth drawing us forward. An inexhaustible mystery lies enfolded in each of us. How it unfolds in your story is an unprecedented unique event. This living narrative reached a crescendo in Jesus. In him, we see the mystery unfolding in flesh and we receive an invitation to share in his consciousness. Each of the chapters in this book is a progressive step in understanding and opening up human consciousness. Ultimately we want to receive the kind of unitive awareness, Jesus spoke of when he prayed: ""I have given to them the glory you have given me, that they may be one just as we are one."""

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Reviews

Andre Rabe's latest work is his essential re-imagining of the Christian meta-story. With easy, deft hand and keen theological instincts, he guides us through scripture, Genesis in particular. Understanding the first book of the bible as a back-and-forth of the unconscious and conscious selves he demonstrates how the God of creation is seeking continually to tease human beings forward, to the depth of relationship which is love. The anthropology of Rene' Girard forms a leitmotif, revealing how humanity began on the wrong footing of violence and rivalry, and yet in Christ, a new-and-true way of being human is offered, one of nonviolence and forgiveness. Christ thus re-sets the trajectory of the human story. The outcome is a holistic, healing narrative of seduction to love, so different from the divided, unhappy legacy of the old reading, with its damaging binaries of paradise/fall, heaven/earth, perfection/sin, grace/law. Rabe's work represents an epochal moment of fresh reading, one that is happening in many ways throughout Christianity but is given here what could very well be its classic presentation. This book overcomes violence not simply in the obvious, physical sense, but as the very key to existence which has framed everything for human beings, including the interpretation of the Christian message itself. According to Rabe, it is exactly all this which God in Christ is saving us from. - Anthony Bartlett, PhD.

In reading Creative Chaos by Andre Rabe, I discovered to my joy that theology can still be both intellectually profound and profoundly moving. Rarely in recent years have I come across such an excitingly transformative reflection on the hidden meaning of Christianity. Informed not only by biblical scholarship but also by the sciences and an awareness of the brutal history of human violence, this succinct work digs deep beneath conventional Christian thought in search of enlivening currents of meaning crusted over by centuries of dubious religious assumptions. Readers will find in this surprising text that both Christian teachers and their sophisticated opponents have too often blunted rather than exposing the meaning of divine creation, redemption, the crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. I strongly recommend this book as one not only to be read but also reread. - John F. Haught - Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University, Andre Rabe's latest work is his essential re-imagining of the Christian meta-story. With easy, deft hand and keen theological instincts, he guides us through scripture, Genesis in particular. Understanding the first book of the bible as a back-and-forth of the unconscious and conscious selves he demonstrates how the God of creation is seeking continually to tease human beings forward, to the depth of relationship which is love. The anthropology of Rene' Girard forms a leitmotif, revealing how humanity began on the wrong footing of violence and rivalry, and yet in Christ, a new-and-true way of being human is offered, one of nonviolence and forgiveness. Christ thus re-sets the trajectory of the human story. The outcome is a holistic, healing narrative of seduction to love, so different from the divided, unhappy legacy of the old reading, with its damaging binaries of paradise/fall, heaven/earth, perfection/sin, grace/law. Rabe's work represents an epochal moment of fresh reading, one that is happening in many ways throughout Christianity but is given here what could very well be its classic presentation. This book overcomes violence not simply in the obvious, physical sense, but as the very key to existence which has framed everything for human beings, including the interpretation of the Christian message itself. According to Rabe, it is exactly all this which God in Christ is saving us from. - Anthony Bartlett, PhD. Theologian and author of numerous books, including Seven Stories.

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