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The Future of Christianity: A Provocative View

Contributors: Cynthia Bourgeault and David Riordan

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The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault is a leading teacher and a provocative voice in the progressive Christian movement through her work with the Aspen Wisdom School and the Contemplative Society. Her participation in interfaith exchanges around the world (as well as her extraordinary books like The Wisdom Jesus and her upcoming work on Mary Magdalene) makes her the ideal teacher to help us continue our exploration of the Future of Christianity. You won’t want to miss her unique perspectives.

In this interview we examine her current work and its implications in the world, the stages of development of her personal spiritual path, her perspectives on healing the Christian church, and the contribution Christianity can make to our personal and cultural awareness.

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To download the full dialogue, click below.

Cynthia Bourgeault

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault is the founder and principal teacher for the Aspen Wisdom School as well as a founding director and the principal teacher for the Contemplative Society. She also serves on the core faculty of the spiritual paths Institute in Aspen, Colorado. An Episcopal priest and international retreat and conference leader, Cynthia is passionately committed to recovering the Christian contemplative path and has worked closely with Fr. Thomas Keating, Fr. Bruno Barnhart, and other Christian contemplative masters, as well as in Sufism and the Christian inner traditions.

The Work of Cynthia Bourgeault in the World (14:55)	Click Here to Download Adobe Flash Player Now.
In this first part of our conversation, Cynthia offers an outline of her current work, shares the latest developments in the interfaith conversations she is a part of, explains how the planet's spiritual traditions can come together into a true family of religions, explores the need to move beyond the stereotypes of the masculine and feminine, and shares and her latest thoughts about Mary Magdalene as the apostle of the non-dual.

Cynthia’s Personal Spiritual Path (19:44)	Click Here to Download Adobe Flash Player Now.
In this segment, Cynthia tells the story of her earliest spiritual moment of awareness, her mystical experiences while attending a Quaker school, what it was like growing up in a Christian Science family, bumping into Jesus for the first time by mistake, becoming one of the first women ordained by the Episcopal Church, and what she learned as she worked within a male-dominated religious organization.

Healing the Christian Church (20:28)	Click Here to Download Adobe Flash Player Now.
In this segment, Cynthia explores the Christian contemplative tradition as a new way of seeing, explains the misunderstanding concerning Jesus being called the “single one” and its implications for women, discusses the unique evolutionary contributions made by women in the Christian community, and reveals her views on the clash of science and religion.

Spiritual Re-Awakening and the Future of Christianity (19:25)	Click Here to Download Adobe Flash Player Now.
In the final segment, Cynthia shares a unique perspective on sacred Christian texts, her views on the current spiritual awakening taking place in the world, her thoughts on recognizing the timeless as enters our realm, and her views on the promise of the future of Christianity.