“ONEING: A Living Tradition” is Out Now!
The articles in our new issue of ONEING: A Living Tradition point the way toward living water for parched wanderers.
This inspiring Fall issue of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)’s journal, ONEING: A Living Tradition, illuminates a path of transformation and depth that has been present in the Christian tradition all along — even if it remained a hidden and best-kept secret. If you seek transformation in your spiritual life, this issue of ONEING offers you wisdom and hope.
We’re pleased to share an excerpt from this Fall 2025 issue.
Rachel Wheeler: “Desert Magic”
Rachel Wheeler is the author of three books, the most recent being Radical Kinship: A Christian Ecospirituality. She teaches at the University of Portland and is an oblate of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Her current work engages ecoanxiety, collapse studies, and the Christian desert tradition.
In “Desert Magic,” she writes: “My favorite stories about the desert Christians are contained in collections arranged alphabetically by a person’s name or thematically by a desired virtue (or vice to avoid). In the alphabetical collections, we may note with disappointment that only three women are named in contrast to over one hundred names of men. Alas, the patriarchy of Christianity has deep roots, even as resistance to that cultural norm was part of the project of the desert. Many women seem to have experienced the liberative magic of a desert life, allowing them to move beyond scripted roles of wife and mother. That this liberty often required echoing men’s ways of being makes me wonder what might have been if women’s ways of being were more directly celebrated in the tradition.
In the thematic collections of stories about desert Christians, a chapter on Love (agape) points us to what these early Christians considered to be the way they should treat one another and outsiders. These are poignant stories that brush up harshly against our own values and behaviors and remind us why these stories still seem alive and potent, despite nearly two thousand years’ distance from us…”
About ONEING
Established in 2013, ONEING is the journal of the Center for Action and Contemplation. Renowned for its diverse and deep exploration of mysticism and culture, ONEING is grounded in Fr. Richard Rohr’s teachings and wisdom lineage. Each issue features a themed collection of thoughtfully curated essays and critical perspectives from spiritual teachers, activists, modern mystics, and prophets of all religions.