Book review: The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life
by Emmet Fox
★★★★
I guess I blew it with the timing of this review. This is a beautiful hardbound reprint of a 1934 classic, clearly meant as a gift option. The publication timing of November 2012 hints of a Christmas gift. Did any of you get Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift certificates for Christmas? My apologies, HarperOne, for not jumping on this sooner, to get the word out.
Let’s start with the dirt on Emmet Fox (1886-1951). He was a spiritual teacher, and served as minister of the Divine Science church in New York during the depression years. “Divine Science” is a New Thought branch, which appears to me to be a watered down version of Christian Science. An emphasis on healing remains, focusing on prayer and positive thinking, but with a little more room for the medical profession to step in where needed. At least, that’s my take.
Fox’s work here on “The Sermon on the Mount” became popular with Alcoholics Anonymous, though it seems to me a bit more ethereal than many current-day A.A. attendees would appreciate. Subtitles abound for this work: not only is this book (and Jesus’ sermon) the “key to success in life,” it is “the timeless manual on the power of positive thinking” and “the classic manual for harmonious living.” You aren’t going to get converted to orthodox Christianity by Fox–“all the doctrines and theologies of the churches are human inventions built up by their authors out of their own mentalities, and foisted upon the Bible from the outside”–but Fox’s appreciation for Jesus still shines. “Higher Critics” are missing the point of the Bible, for it is but a spiritual treatise. As such, you must learn new meanings for many of the words in the Bible: “prosperity,” “earth,” “heaven,” “heart,” these don’t mean what you think they mean.
The great Law of the Universe is this: what you think in your mind you will produce in your experience. Lovers of The Secret will also love Emmet Fox, especially if you have a love also for Jesus, the Master Metaphysician.
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Twice before Lee Harmon has written about Christian topics, once on the gospel of John and once on the book of Revelation. But the question people keep asking him is this: As a liberal Christian, why do you care so much about the Bible? Others wonder whether he is truly a Christian at all.
The Way It Happened
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| Revelation: A love story gone awry. | The Gospel: A love story set aright. |
What really happened 2,000 years ago? How did a persecuted minority of end-time believers known as Christians, with their dreams of Armageddon and a conquering Messiah named Jesus, evolve into the largest religion in the world? Author Lee Harmon explores the period in which the New Testament was written in his books about John's Gospel and Revelation.
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Hello! I'm an author, historical Jesus scholar, book reviewer, and liberal Christian, which means I appreciate and attempt to exercise the humanitarian teachings of Jesus without getting hung up on any particular supernatural or religious beliefs.
The Bible is a magnificent book that has inspired and spiritually fed generations for thousands of years, and each new century seems to bring a deeper understanding of life’s purpose. This is true of not only Christianity; through the years, our age-old religions are slowly transforming from superstitious rituals into humanitarian philosophies. In short, we are growing up, and I am thrilled to be riding the wave.
I avidly read all thought-provoking religion titles. New authors: I'd love to read and review your book!
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Some of those oldies are genuine gold. Certainly sounds interesting.
Gentlemen,
Do you know if there are any recordings available in your archives, or anywhere, of Dr. Emmet Fox speaking?
I’ve been searching in many different places to try to find a recording of him. There are many websites that have recordings of other people reading his books, but so far I haven’t found any of Dr. Fox himself. Considering how famous he was, and the huge crowds of people who heard him at the Hippodrome Theater and Carnegie Hall in New York, and on the radio, I would think that there must be at least one recording of him somewhere.
I’ve already been in touch with Reverends JoAnn and Cecil Corsiatto, the founders of the Emmet Fox Research Center. They have been continuing the legacy of Emmet Fox for 40 years via the emmetfox.net website, and they say there are no recordings of him. However, considering the huge amount of material in your archives, and your extensive knowledge of AA history, I’m hoping you might have a recording the Corsiattos don’t know about.
If there are any specific sources you can recommend for me to contact, I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know. I already tried the Church of Divine Science, the International New Thought Alliance, the Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity, the Library of Congress, and many other places.
Thank you very much for your help.
– Tom Garber