Note 1: Comparison of Fall/Redemption and Creation-centered spiritualities quoting from Original Blessing, Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox begins his book with two questions: "in our quest for wisdom and survival, does the human race require a new religious paradigm?" and "Does the creation-centered spiritual tradition offer such a paradigm?" His answer to both these question is yes, and he goes on to show us all the undiscovered persons, paths, and themes of the creation-centered tradition, a tradition that predates by many centuries the "fall/redemption" ideologies of organized Western religions and has only been kept alive by artists, poets, mystics, and other within and without churches who secretly approached their faith from the deep, ecstatic, creation-centered tradition - but until now had no way to express it openly, or with understanding.

P. 316.

Fall/Redemption and Creation-centered Spiritualities compared at a glance
Fall/Redemption                        
Key Spokespersons: Augustine, Thomas a Kempis, etc
Faith is "thinking with assent" (Augustine)
Patriarchal
Ascetic
Mortification of body
Control of passions
Passion is a curse
Suffering is wages for sin
Death is wages for sin
Holiness is quest for perfection
Return to past to a state of perfection and innocence
Keep soul clean
Begins with sin
Emphasizes original sin
Introspective in its psychology
Emphasizes introvert meditation
Miracle is outside intervention contravening the law of nature
Dualistic (either/or)
Suspicious of body and violent in its body/soul imagery;
"Soul makes war with the body" (Augustine)
Humility is to "despise yourself"
In control
Pessmistic
Climbing Jacob's ladder
Elitist
Particular
Emphasis on Jesus as Son of God but not on Jesus as prophet
Personal savation
Build up church
Kingdom = church
Human as sinner
Struggle to clean one's conscience
Time is toward past (lost perfection) or future (heaven): unrealized eschatology
Spiritual journey follows three paths of purgation, illumination, union
Mysticism = mortify the senses
Repent!
Eternal life is after death
All pleasure should be moderate
Contemplation is goal of spirituality
A spirituality of the powerful
Emphasizes obedience
Tends to abstractions
Righteousness
Duty
Guilt and redemption
Purity from world
Apoloticial, i.e., supportive of status quo
Soul is in the body to guard it
Nothingness as psychological experience
Humanity is sinful
Faith is in intellect
Suspicious of the artist
Theistic

Creation-Centered
Key Spokepersons: Yahwist author, wisdom writers, prophets, Jesus, ..., Eckhart, Hildegarde, Francis, Teilhard, feminists, liberation theologians, artists, musicians, poets, etc
Faith is trust
Aesthetic
Discipline toward birthing
Ecstasy, Eros, celebration of passion
Passion is a blessing
Suffering is birth pangs of universe
Death is a natural event, a prelude to recycling and rebirth
Holiness is cosmic hospitality
Imperfection is integral to all nature
Make soul wet so that it grows, expands, and stays green (Hildegarde, Eckhart)
Begins with God's creative energy
Emphasizes on original blessing
Emphasis on extrovert meditation, i.e, art as meditation
Basic miracle is the wonder of existence, isness, creation
Ecological, cosmic
Dialectical (both/and)
Welcoming of body and gentle in its body/soul imagery; "soul loves the body" (Eckhart)
Humility is to befriend one's earthiness (Eckhart)
Letting go - ecstasy, breakthrough
Hopeful
Dancing Sara's circle
For the many
Universalist
Emphasis on Jesus as prophet, as artist, parable-teller, and Son of God who calls others to their divinity
Trinitarian in full sense of celebrating a Creator God, a prophetic Son of God, and the Holy Spirit of divine transformation
Salvation and healing of the people of God and the cosmos
Build up Kingdom/Queendom
Kingdom = cosmos, creation = church (X)
Human as royal person who can choose to create or destroy
Struggle to make justice of injustice and to balance the comos
Time is now and making the future (heaven) begin to happen now: realized eschatology
Spiritual journey follows four paths of Via Positiva, Via Negativa, Via Creativa, via Trnasformativa
Mysticism = let go of today's ideologies
Transform and be transformed!
Eternal life is now
Enjoy divine ecstasy in creation's pleasures
Compassion, justice, and celebration are goals of spirituality
A spirituality of the powerless
Emphasizes creativity
Sensual
Justice (vs. righteousness)
Beauty
Thanks and praise
Hospitality to all of being
Prophetic i.e. critical of status quo and its ideologies
Body is in the soul to enlarge the soul
Nothingness as metaphysical experience
Humanity is divine and capable of demonic and sinful choices
Faith is in imagination
Welcomes the artist since all are called to be co-creators with God
Panentheistic