Who is Richard Rohr?

Not only is Richard Rohr one of the essay contributors of the book Stricken by God?, his spirituality is much the same as Matthew Fox who believes in pantheism (that God is in all things) and panentheism (that all is in God).

Richard Rohr is a Fransciscan monk and Catholic priest, and is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/).

He also wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called How Big is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India) Paul Coutinho, which describes an interspiritual community where people of all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity) worship the same God.

More recently (just this January 2008), he presented the Jesus and Buddha Awakening Seminar. See here:
www.cacradicalgrace.org/conferences/JB/

This was the suggested reading and listening list for this seminar: www.cacradicalgrace.org/conferences/JB/reading.php

It included the teachings of interspiritualist Thomas Merton, who not only said he was impregnated with Sufism, but that:
"I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity ... I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can."
(You can learn more about Merton's beliefs here.)

Other suggestions on Rohr’s reading/listening list are The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh (runs a Buddhist retreat center and monastic community), and James Finley, who studied with Thomas Merton and teaches experiencing God through meditation (see here).

Rohr is a major advocate for interspirituality through mantra meditation (i.e., contemplative spirituality) and promotes those with the same spirituality. Alarmingly, his name is showing up on the shelves of Christian bookstores, in Christian colleges, and in churches.

In this short youtbue video clip he says the future of Christianity is ecumenism, and mentions Brian McLaren in a comment about a generous orthodoxy (the emerging church's pet term for compromise, ecumenism, and univeralism):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8DPntvgRJA

As you can see by that video, Richard Rohr is a very nice and likeable guy (they always are), and what he says sounds pretty nice and intelligent and believable.

But here is a very interesting article about Richard Rohr, kything prayer, and his influence in Australia:
http://www.apostasyalert.org/REFLECTIONS/mystic.htm

Now this one is a Catholic article...read how Richard Rohr prays to "Father Mother God" here.

Richard Rohr has also recently been on Oprah talking about helping people find deeper spiritual enlightenment by gaining a greater understanding of their personality through the occultic Enneagram, here:
www2.oprah.com/xm/moz/200707/moz_20070730.jhtml

Watch a youtube of Richard Rohr's subtle teaching 'from the Bible' about the 'energies' of the Enneagram here. Then read an article on the Enneagram by the Christian Research Journal here.

See Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating together here:
www.centeringprayer.com/newsltrs/healing_the_violence.htm

By the way, Thomas Keating is also good friends with prominent New Ager Ken Wilber of the Integral Institute: www.integralinstitute.org

See them (Keating and Wilber) together on this youtube clip:
The Spirituality of Tomorrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUNlpyfT2LU

Can you connect the dots?

Update: May 2008

Also see:

Who Is Richard Rohr?