What Is the Fillmore Institute?
Hi Friends —
Do you now or have you ever attended an accredited theological school or seminary? If so, would you have liked to see stronger connections between what they teach and the metaphysical Christianity taught and practiced by the Fillmores? Would you have found your study richer if you had known where the movement of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore fits with the historic Christian faith? Would that have helped you relate to the faculty and other students?
The Fillmore Institute is an initiative to bring the study of metaphysical Christianity, as explored and taught by Charles Fillmore and his students, into constructive engagement with academically accredited theological schools and religious studies programs.
Why is this important? Because the churches and denominations served by accredited seminaries suffer from the same decline in faith density we see in the metaphysical Christian movement launched by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore ... with one big difference ...
For most of mainstream Christianity, supplements to the faith, often perceived as New Age, veganism, Kabbalah and whatnot, are risky and unacceptable. Mainstream Christianity suffers from a form of spiritual vitamin deficiency.
For most of our Fillmore based churches, supplements to the faith have become the substitute. Our faith has not hollowed out by vitamin deficiency, but by a lack of protein. We're starving because we don't know who we are, nor where we belong. We need to know, like Emerson, that "God incarnates himself in man and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his world."
That, in a nutshell, is why Barnes and Noble puts metaphysical books in a separate aisle from Christian books—they know how to sell books. Wholeness will be achieved when the aisles are combined.
For the mainline church, a theological basis for a compassionate, vegan diet supplement may be exactly what they need.
For us on the Fillmore side, we may find the real Jesus far more filling than the universal Jesus, the historical Jesus, or the channeled Jesus.
Constructive engagement begins with a willingness to enroll in accredited programs, learn what they teach, interpret their scholarship from the perspective of metaphysical religion, and write papers (papers, thesis, dissertations) that introduce metaphysical teachings intelligibly to mainstream theological study.
At present, we recognize The Association of Theological Schools (ats.edu) as a standard for academic accreditation. Those who attend these schools, write papers that support metaphysical religion as practiced by the Fillmores and their students, and share them here are recognized as Fillmore Institute members.
Students and graduates of accredited programs need to connect and find ways to bring Charles and Myrtle Fillmore into their rightful place in the historic Christian faith. I invite you to email me if you can help move things forward.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
