As I’ve continued reflecting on Orthobalance and aided greatly by those who posted comments, and a conversation I had with Bryan Burton. I’m beginning to lean a bit more to the term Orthoparadox (in part due to Mike O’s comment of 10/14).

Dan Reminded me of Ken Wilber’s work “Integral” work. If you haven’t seen the Integral Naked’s website site he has helped create I’d recommend you take a peek.

This is content from Wikipedia.org site.

“The word integral means comprehensive, inclusive, non-marginalizing, embracing. Integral approaches to any field attempt to be exactly that—to include as many perspectives, styles, and methodologies as possible within a coherent view of the topic. In a certain sense, integral approaches are ‘meta-paradigms,’ or ways to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.”

Ken Wilber, “Foreword”, in Frank Visser, Ken Wilber: Thought As Passion

“Also known as the integral-aperspectival stage of consciousness, the term integral has been used in a philosophical sense by several twentieth century philosophers and psychologists that is different from the mathematical sense. According to the Integral Institute’s website, integral means ‘inclusive, balanced, comprehensive.’ In the book Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck and Chris Cowen use the term for a stage of consciousness. This stage sequentially follows the pluralistic, or “green” stage. The essential characteristic of integral thought is that it continues the inclusive nature of the pluralistic mentality, yet extends this inclusiveness to those outside of the pluralistic mentality. In doing so, it is able to accept the ideas of development and hierarchy, which the pluralistic mentality finds difficult. In Integral Psychology, Wilber identifies the integral stage with “…cognition of unity, holism, dynamic dialecticism, or universal integralism…”

This content has me thinking a little bit about the “new ecumenism” which is being explored by people like Tom Oden, and Christos Yannaras and many other Christ-followers from Eastern, Roman and Protestant traditions. We can’t leave out the vital importance of interfaith engagement.

All that to say, I’m leaning to Orthoparadox.

Peace, dwight

Orthoparadox
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2 thoughts on “Orthoparadox

  • October 18, 2004 at 5:18 PM
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    Back when I lived in Seattle, there was a group of churches on First Hill that were working together – Protestant, Liturgical, (Eastern) Orthodox and even the RLDS (now called the Community of Christ). They weighed the Bible a lot more heavily than the Books of Mormon.

    I don‘t know how far you can go with them, theologically, but it might be good to chack out htis whole interfaith group, to see what ten years of seasoning has brought.

  • October 18, 2004 at 9:09 PM
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    I‘m glad you found the Wilber reference helpful, and thanks for the new ecumenism resources.

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