"The Wisdom Jesus" Video Series
A great companion to Cynthia Bourgeault's book
Hi Everyone,
Last fall I taught an on-line course looking at Cynthia Bourgeault’s wonderful book, The Wisdom Jesus, with my friend and colleague, Elizabeth Jameson. The class went really well and Elizabeth and I talked about turning it into a video series that people could purchase and watch on their own. And now Elizabeth (God bless her) has done the work to make that happen!
Below, you’ll find her recent Substack post where she beautifully describes this very different way of thinking about Jesus and faith (worth reading just on its own). And at the bottom of her reflection, there is a link where you can purchase the class. While watching it on your own isn’t quite the same as being there live, I think it could be a very helpful companion to a book that was, for me, life-changing. Cynthia Bourgeault, being the mystic that she is, can sometimes be hard to grasp, and Elizabeth and I spend about 20 minutes each session (6 sessions in all) offering our own insights on that session’s chapters as we go through the entire book with a class of about 25 people.
So here is Elizabeth’s post, along with the link to her website where you can purchase the class, as well as see Elizabeth’s other offerings (classes, retreats, reflections, coaching, etc.). I highly recommend all of it.
In hope and love,
Ian
Elizabeth’s Post…
Many of us were given a version of Jesus that no longer makes sense — or no longer gives life.
This reflection (and offering below) is an invitation to encounter Jesus as a teacher of wisdom, compassion, and transformation, rooted in lived experience rather than belief alone.
There is a way of understanding Jesus that has lived quietly for centuries
beneath the surface of Christianity —
a path rooted not in belief or doctrine, but in transformation.
A way of practice.
A way of seeing.
A way of becoming.
Most people have never been taught this way.
And yet, when they encounter it, something often recognizes itself immediately — whether or not they identify as Christian.
I’ve heard it from people who left the church long ago…
from people who were never part of it…
from people who describe themselves as spiritual, secular, or skeptical:
Wait… this is what I’ve always believed.
This is the Jesus I hoped existed but didn’t think was real.
Why have I never heard of this?
The Wisdom lineage speaks a language that bypasses defenses and touches something foundational in the human heart.
It meets us where we actually live —
in suffering and longing,
in confusion and courage,
in the quiet desire to be changed by love.
Recognition and Rooting
I remember exactly where I was when someone first placed The Wisdom Jesus in my hands.
What I encountered there didn’t introduce something foreign — it named and grounded what I already knew in my heart to be true.
Suddenly, the way of Jesus that had always felt alive to me was revealed as part of an ancient, coherent, and deeply rooted tradition — wider and more spacious than I had been taught, and far older than I knew.
When I began sharing this way of seeing with others, the response was the same again and again: recognition.
Not persuasion. Not belief.
Recognition.
Metanoia: A Shift in Seeing
One of the central movements in the Wisdom tradition is a different understanding of metanoia.
Not repentance in the moral sense —
but new seeing.
A reorientation of perception.
A softening of the habitual mind.
A willingness to meet reality without grasping or resistance.
When this shift begins, the teachings of Jesus stop sounding like impossible moral demands and start sounding like descriptions of a different way of being human.
You begin to hear them from the inside.
This is the heart of the Wisdom Jesus.
This series stands firmly in the lineage of Cynthia Bourgeault’s work — her clarity, courage, and lifelong devotion to the Wisdom stream have shaped countless lives, including my own.
What we offer here builds on that foundation, bringing the teaching into lived experience — how these insights land in real bodies, real relationships, and real spiritual lives.
About the Series
This six-session series emerged from that listening.
Walking closely with The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault, my friend and colleague Ian Cummins and I explore:
Jesus as a Wisdom teacher
Metanoia as a shift in consciousness
Kenosis and the path of self-emptying
The Passion as a transformative way
Resurrection as a new mode of being
Contemplative practice as the container for it all
The sessions are grounded, spacious, and accessible — offered not as doctrine to accept, but as a path to experience.
Many who’ve taken this journey have shared how helpful it was to have these teachings held in a grounded, relational way — spacious enough to breathe, and close enough to matter.
They are now available as a stand-alone offering:
Wisdom Jesus Foundations
Six sessions • video & audio recordings • edited transcripts • study guides
$147
If you’ve been longing for a deeper, more spacious relationship with Jesus —
or if you sense there is a truth beneath the surface of Christianity that was never fully named —
this is a gentle place to begin.
With love,
Elizabeth