Bride of the Cosmic Christ

This is the audio book version of Charlotte Rörth's book “Jeg mödte Jesus”. Rörth is a Danish reporter. I read the book in a Swedish translation. No English translation seems to exist. The full title translates as “I met Jesus. Confessions of a reluctant believer”.

Now, I'm prepared to believe that Rörth really did have visions of Jesus in a church in the Spanish-Andalusian town of Úbeda. However, the kind of Christianity she has decided to promote is of a decidedly non-traditional bent. In fact, it's probably closer to New Age teachings. The Jesus who appeared to her in Úbeda is a timeless being who somehow can exist in two or three dimensions at once. It doesn't seem to matter whether or not he was a real person living 2000 years ago, although the author saw him in Palestinian surroundings. Rörth (who claims to have been an atheist or agnostic before her visions) feel that she can dispense with the Bible, Church tradition or the Church itself since, after all, she has met Jesus in person. The sole message of Jesus seems to be unconditional love and intimacy. He chose to appear in Úbeda because of the town's cosmopolitan history, which comprises pagan, Christian, Muslim and Jewish elements (in a weird gaffe, Rörth claims that Columbus too came from Andalusia). Rörth's recommended reading list includes Eben Alexander's “Proof of Heaven”, Todd Burpo's “Heaven is for Real” and a book by Jonas Gardell, an openly gay author and stand-up comic from Sweden who is also a (very liberal!) Christian.

The author's visions of Jesus turn out to be strongly erotic and physical in nature, turning Rörth (a married middle age woman) into some kind of wild, sexy erotomaniac. Rörth has no problem finding eroticizing mysticism in the Christian tradition (including the poems of John of the Cross, who died in Úbeda), but these are usually interpreted allegorically and spiritualized, while the author “physicalizes” them instead. Rörth actually compares her experience to kundalini awakening! Apart from visions of Jesus, she had other paranormal experiences, involving strange light rays and the like.

I wonder about the author's background. Despite being strictly secular, she seems to have had an interest in faith and spirituality for a long time, and some of her friends are Christians. Strangely, her teenage sons seem to be New Age oriented, and one of them even had a near-death experience! This doesn't negate her experiences, but it suggests that her visions may not have come *entirely* out of the blue either. She also describes herself as oversensitive to other people. Could this oversensitivity have made her more prone to receive ecstatic visions?

Charlotte Rörth is the bride of the Cosmic Christ.