Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox is a spiritual theologian, an Episcopal priest and an activist for gender justice and eco-justice. He holds a doctorate in the history and theology of spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris. He is the author of 44 books, which have been translated into other languages more than 70 times. Among them are Original Blessing, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, A Spirituality Named Compassion, The Reinvention of Work, The Hidden Spirituality of Men, Christian Mystics and The Pope's War. He has contributed to the rediscovery of Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart and Thomas Aquinas as pre-modern mystics and prophets.

His teaching is known as Creation Spirituality. It draws on the Western wisdom tradition, contemporary science and modern mystics. In his pedagogy, "art as meditation" and body prayer sit alongside study, so that intuition and the body learn together with the intellect. He began a master's program in Culture and Creation Spirituality in 1978 at Mundelein College in Chicago. It later moved to Holy Names College in Oakland. He went on to found the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland. He later distilled ten principles of Wisdom Education, which he put into practice in YELLAWE, a program for urban youth in Oakland's public schools.

Fox's conflicts with Church authorities over his teaching ended with his expulsion from the Dominican Order. He later joined the Episcopal Church. There he worked with young people to reinvent worship, bringing dance, DJs and VJs into Western liturgy in the Cosmic Mass, which has been celebrated more than 100 times in dozens of North American cities. He has also been a public voice for religious and social reform, including his 95 theses calling for a new reformation of Christianity.

Fox has received the Abbey Courage of Conscience Peace Award, the Gandhi King Ikeda Award and the Tikkun National Ethics Award. He conducts workshops each year and is a visiting scholar at the Academy for the Love of Learning in Santa Fe. He lives in Vallejo, California.