An Open Letter to Richard Foster

An Open Letter to Richard Foster From Ray Yungen

I want to assure you, for what it’s worth, that I bear Richard Foster
no personal animosity. My reason for writing this testimony is that with
the rising tide of critical input my book may bring, I want to clarify
why
I am doing this type of activity.

It has come to my attention that some view the current controversy
regarding Richard Foster as stemming from a misunderstanding of his
statement “we of the new age” in the first edition of Celebration of
Discipline. This is not the case. The real issue lies in his
statement where he encourages, “we should all, without shame, enroll as
apprentices in the school of contemplative prayer”1  and also in his
statement that “Christianity is not complete without the contemplative
dimension.”2

It is from these comments and this viewpoint that opposition to
Foster flows. If he were to understand why this is so, his sense of
having his reputation falsely impaired would be greatly tempered. In
Portland, Oregon there is a large New Age bookstore. It is entirely
devoted to New Age spirituality. Every Eastern mystical and metaphysical
topic under the sun is found there. Interestingly enough, there is quite
a sizable section devoted to contemplative prayer with Thomas Merton
having a whole shelf devoted just to him. Why would a bookstore of this
nature devote valuable space to a topic that purports to be Christian?
That is, from my perspective, a legitimate question.

May I suggest the reason is that the Christian mystical tradition
shares a sense of profound kinship with the Eastern mystical tradition.
I believe there is ample evidence to back this claim up. Look at the
following quotes from leading contemplative figures; the answer is
inescapable.

1. Thomas Merton: “I think I couldn’t understand Christian
teaching the way I do if it were not in the light of Buddhism.”3

2. Henri Nouwen: Nouwen wrote that his solitude and the solitude
of his Buddhist friends, would “greet each other and support each
other.”4

3. Basil Pennington: “We should not hesitate to take the fruit of
the age old wisdom of the East and ‘capture’ it for Christ. Indeed,
those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to
acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as
possible. 5

4. Morton Kelsey: “You can find most of the New Age practices in
the depth of Christianity [Christian church tradition].”6

5. Tilden Edwards: “This mystical stream [contemplative prayer]
is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.”7

6. Alice Bailey: “None other than Alice Bailey, the famous occult
prophetess who coined the term New Age, made this startling
pronouncement: ‘It is, of course, easy to find many passages which
link the way of the Christian Knower [mystic] with that of his
brother in the East. They bear witness to the same efficacy of
method.’”8

7. In The Lay Contemplative fourteen centers listed in
the back of the book openly proclaim their Hindu-Buddhist
connections, including Shalem Prayer Institute.

I could easily provide page after page of similar quotes from
numerous contemplative sources. That is why New Renaissance Books
features a section on contemplative prayer. That is why opposition from
others and myself has come forth. There is no misconstruing of realities
here. Tilden Edwards knew what he was saying when he said that
contemplative prayer is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.

To put it in a nutshell, I believe Richard Foster advocates a prayer
movement that indeed can be proven to have strong links to Eastern
mysticism. And incidentally, this prayer method does not have its
origins with the

Desert Fathers, as some believe, but rather dates back much further,
probably as far back as the early days of mankind.

To proclaim to be evangelical in every aspect but to say, “Thomas
Merton tried to awaken God’s people” as Foster said personally to me at
a conference in November of 1994 is a contradiction of major
proportions. It is an oxymoron to try to lump biblical Christianity and
Thomas Merton together.

To list in the back of Celebration of Discipline Tilden
Edward’s book, Spiritual Friend, as an “excellent book on
spirituality” is unthinkable.9 Tilden Edwards sees no problem mixing
Christianity and Buddhism. Yet the Apostle Paul says you can’t sit at
both tables. It cannot be done. To do that is to abandon Jesus Christ.
So someone who understands the preaching of the Cross would never be
comfortable promoting someone who believes as Tilden Edwards does,
especially in print. If one really does believe in a Biblical
evangelical statement of faith, [such as Foster’s] then wouldn’t that
person be repelled by such compromise? And to say the least, wouldn’t it
certainly draw a lot of confusion to those that recognize this? If
someone with a public profile ardently promotes another person, such as
when Foster says Thomas Merton has “priceless wisdom”10 for the
spiritual life of the Christian, won’t those listening think he approves
of or at the very least overlooks Merton’s serious heretical stands and
perhaps then desire to follow Merton, thus possibly falling into
Merton’s spiritual errors?

If Foster could put himself in the shoes of we who are confused by
his position, surely he can understand why we see such a contradiction.
I once heard a pastor quote Woody Allen saying that he (Woody) wasn’t
afraid to die; he just didn’t want to be there when it happened. For
someone to make an issue with this pastor, because he used a quote from
Woody Allen, would be ludicrous because that is simply guilt by
association. But if the same pastor, in a serious tone, said that Woody
Allen had great spiritual understanding and everyone should listen to
him to gain insight, that no longer is benign, and it now becomes guilt
by promotion—two different terms with two significantly different
principles. Guilt by mere association is weak; guilt by promotion is
strong.

May I briefly address just three more points? The comment made that
Lighthouse Trails Publishing erroneously labeled Foster a disciple of
Thomas Merton because he never met him personally is not accurate, and
here is why. In checking with two prominent dictionaries, the word
disciple does mean anyone who is an adherent of someone’s teachings or
school of religion (American Heritage Dictionary and
Webster’s). According to both of these reliable resources, personal
contact is not a stipulation. The fact that Foster quotes Merton 13
times in Celebration of Discipline is just further proof that
he does indeed adhere to Merton’s teachings. And we could list a number
of other references to back up that assertion. I would like to also make
an observation about the view that the New Age movement is only a few
decades old. The term itself may indeed be fairly recent but the actual
practices and beliefs involved are thousands of years old. For instance,
the slave girl mentioned in Acts 16 was in effect a New Ager. The term
itself was taken from astrology making reference to the Aquarian age in
which humanity is supposedly going to realize its inner divinity. Hence,
anyone who engages in these mystical practices is associated with this
view, even though they may have lived centuries ago. It’s not the term;
it’s the practices that are at issue here.

Since Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen mystically perceived the divine
in everyone, this in effect made them New Agers. Frankly, we see Foster
as someone who is promoting Eastern mysticism by way of proxy,11 and he
is apparently afraid to come out of the mystical closet. His affinity
with those who clearly stand for heretical and non-biblical approaches
to God, however, have opened that closet door.

In Christ,
Ray Yungen, author of A Time of Departing

Endnotes
1. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (1978 ed.), p. 13.
2. Interview with Richard Foster, Lou Davies Radio Program (Nov. 24,
1998, KPAM radio, Portland, Oregon).
3.  Frank X. Tuoti, The Dawn of the Mystical Age (Crossroad
Publishing Co. New York, NY 1997), p. 127.
4 Henry Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey (Crossroad Publishing
Company, New York, NY 1998),  p. 20
5 M. Basil Pennington, Thomas Keating, Thomas E. Clarke, Finding
Grace at the Center (St. Bede’s Pub. Petersham, MA 1978), pp. 5-6.
6 “In the Spirit of Early Christians”(Common Boundary magazine,
Jan./Feb. 1992), p. 19
.7 Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (Paulist Press, New York,
1980), p. 18.
8 Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse
Trails Publishing, 2nd ed.),  p. 34 quoting Alice Bailey , From
Intellect to Intuition (Lucis Publishing Co., New York, NY 1987,
13th printing), p. 193.
9 Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, A Brief
Bibliography of Recent Works, back of book
10 Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith, Devotional Classics ( Harper
San Francisco, 1993), p. 61
11 By Proxy: To represent another.