Reflection Paper - TH10610: Living the Heart of Progressive Christian Theology
Christopher Schouten
August 2, 2025
In his examination of atonement theology, Marcus Borg presents five interpretations of the cross in Chapter 5, The Death of Jesus: The Cross in History and Theology, encouraging us to engage with this central mystery of the Christian faith. He rightly posits that these interpretations are retrospective, emerging as the early followers sought meaning in Jesus' execution. For me, the most resonant and personally transformative of these is "The Revelation of 'The Way'." This interpretation, which views the cross and resurrection as the embodiment of the path of internal spiritual transformation, is not merely an intellectual position; it has been the very path of my life and faith. The cross, in this light, reveals the profound truth that a life with God requires a continuous process of dying to an old way of being and being raised into a new way of being, as articulated by Paul: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." This theological lens provides the framework for my relationship with the divine and has been aided by my deep dive into Jungian psychology and the Enneagram, helping liberate me from egoic attachments to a life of service devoted to compassion, healing, and justice.
This understanding of the cross has become the roadmap of my personal spiritual journey over the past 30 years. As an Enneagram Type 3, my sacred wounding led me to the perception as a child that I had no value as a human being unless I was proving it. This propelled me into a life where I thought I needed to achieve to be loved, and I dedicated myself to the pursuit of status and material things. This assumption naturally separated me from an understanding of God's grace, because I thought it was something to be earned, not something that was mine by birth. This naturally took me off of the path of the cross, and although I have always been a person of compassion and kindness (that's my Type 2 wing), my primary pursuits were not about bringing about God's Kingdom on Earth. I lacked an intrinsic love of myself. It was only in my adult life that I began to experience God in real, visceral ways. Through engagement with an organization called Pathways Institute (ironically), I began to explore the qualities of the heart chakra, understanding that this chakra is fundamentally fed by the sacred energies of heaven and earth. I practiced for hours channeling God’s love through my heart and bathing my whole self in God’s transformative light. Together with other spiritual practices, I began to see my egoic patterns and feel into the true light of God’s grace.
The path of "The Way" is inherently mystical, for it is in the process of dying to the old self that we create the inner stillness and openness required for a direct encounter with God. My mystical experiences are not passive revelations but are intimately tied to the active work of transformation. Through the work I’ve done, the "dying" has been a conscious choice to release my ego's grasp on certainty and control. It is the vulnerable act of opening my heart to God's love, not as a reward for being "good," but as a grace that meets me exactly where I am. The "rising" is the subsequent experience of being empowered by this love, of feeling a new life pulse within me - a life that is less anxious, more compassionate, more present, and more authentically connected to God and God’s creation.
The Revelation of "The Way" provides the perfect theological container for my adult engagement with Jungian psychology and the Enneagram, which I have found to be invaluable tools for this inner work. In this journey, I have learned that my old self that must die is the "persona"- the carefully constructed mask of acceptability, the version of myself that is "supposed to look like" a successful, put-together person. This persona, however, comes at a steep price: the repression of the "Jungian shadows" - the anger, shame, envy, and other traits deemed unacceptable by both myself and society - even some good ones too. The spiritual work of bringing these disowned selves into the light of consciousness is a profound and sometimes painful act of crucifixion. The Enneagram has been a particularly powerful tool in this process, as understanding my Enneagram type (Type 3, The Achiever) has allowed me to see the aspects of my personality that function from a place of wounding - the drive for success and image as a way to earn love and validate my worth. This awareness has been the key that has allowed me to start healing in the warmth of God's love. It is the painful, humbling process of dismantling the ego's façade and accepting the totality of who I am, the light and the dark. When I do this, I am not being annihilated; I am being liberated.
My commitment to "The Way" has had a profound and tangible impact on how I live my life. The work of dying to the old self is synonymous with loosening my grip on the ego's fixation with a predetermined life narrative. I have come to see that the relentless pursuit of wealth, image, and prestige is not a path to fulfillment, but a cage built by the ego. By consciously letting go of these attachments, I am liberating myself to embrace a more divinely aligned life. This is a life not of ascetic detachment, but of unattachment - a life where external circumstances do not determine my inner peace or my capacity to love. The internal transformation from a self-absorbed existence to one rooted in divine love naturally and inevitably leads to an outward-facing life of devotion to compassion, healing, and justice. The ongoing work of integrating my own shadows has given me the capacity to see and love the shadows in others, fostering a deep empathy that fuels my commitment to a more just and equitable world. And it has also given me not only the ability but the desire to let go of wealth and to pursue a simpler life.
While this journey begins with a deeply personal and individual transformation, I have come to believe it is not meant to end there. As a collective, we are in the midst of a Jungian shadow eruption, where the baser, unintegrated aspects of the human psyche are manifesting in our shared world. American society today is operating far from "The Way." We see this as Empire reasserts itself and autocratic control attempts to reclaim our country and its institutions, all driven by the same egoic desires for power, status, and control that I once wrestled with. I am convinced that the only viable solution to this collective crisis is for more people to embrace "The Way" on a mass scale. The spiritual work of dying to the ego, releasing our attachments, and embracing a life of compassion and justice is the only path that can lead us from the darkness of domination systems to the light of God's Kingdom on Earth.
While I find immense truth and power in The Revelation of "The Way," I am equally compelled to resist the literalistic interpretation of the Sacrificial Atonement model, particularly in its later, dogmatized form. This view, which frames Jesus' death as a necessary payment to an angry God for humanity's sins, presents an extremely troubling portrait of the divine. It suggests that God is limited in the capacity to forgive, that divine justice is a zero-sum game, and that violence is required to satisfy a cosmic debt. This understanding stands in stark contrast to the God revealed in Jesus' life, a God of radical, unmerited grace who forgives unconditionally. To believe that Jesus’ suffering was a necessary part of a divine plan feels, as Borg notes, "very strange" and can be used to justify suffering and violence in the world.
My spiritual journey is centered on The Revelation of "The Way," an interpretation of the cross that provides a powerful blueprint for living a transformed life. It is the theological framework that unites my mystical experiences, my psychological work with the shadow self, and my active commitment to justice in the world. The cross, for me, is not a symbol of a one-time transaction, but a living reminder of the constant process of dying to the ego and being raised into a new life of compassion, healing, and justice. This path, rooted in unattachment to worldly prestige and an open heart to God's love, is the one I have been walking, and it is the one I hope to continue for the rest of my days. And it brings me hope when I am in the midst of change I think I cannot handle. Because I know that crucifixion is never easy, but it often results in a New Life in God that will be worth it.
