Process Theology. A Short Course Michael A. Soderstrand Wellspring UCC Wednesday Morning Group June 11 August 13, 2014

Transcription

1 Process Theology A Short Course Michael A. Soderstrand Wellspring UCC Wednesday Morning Group June 11 August 13, 2014 Based on the textbook: C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology A Basic Introduction, Chalice Press, St. Louis, MO, 1993 (final chapter by John B. Cobb, Jr.) or the 2007 version. 1

2 Introduction God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. ENCYCLICAL LETTER, DEUS CARITAS EST OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL ON CHRISTIAN LOVE 2

3 Introduction You see that the love John speaks of is not the love of soap operas! No, it is something else. Christian love has a particular quality: concreteness. Christian love is concrete. Jesus Himself, when He speaks of love, speaks to us about concrete things: feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and many concrete things. Love is concrete.... And when this concreteness is not there, you can live a Christianity of illusions. THE SUPREME PONTIFF FRANCIS I VATICAN RADIO (see: ) 3

4 Introduction Process Theology is the name for an effort to make sense, in the modern world, of the basic Christian faith that God is Love (1 John 4:16). Process Theology provides a concept of divinity that results in a social justice and environmental ethic similar to many progressive Christians (and humanists), but with a firm theological basis. 4

5 Introduction This course will primarily be concerned with Process Theism -- a way of re-thinking the concept of GOD as the divine Subject who loves, wills, intends and acts in nature and human history Process Theology does not fit within the traditional categories of theism nor does it fit within the many modern theologies or religious naturalisms that think of God in terms of human love and natural processes. 5

6 Introduction This course will present a Christian perspective on Process Theology Process Theology, however, is not uniquely Christian. There are Jewish, non-christian Unitarian, Buddhist, naturalist and others who embrace Process Philosophy the general term for Process Theology. 6

7 A Driveway Theological Discussion 7

8 Definitions Traditional or Classical Theology in this course will refer to an understanding of God as: 1. Omnipotent: has all the power there is, can do anything God wants that is not selfcontradictory 2. Omniscient and Eternal: stands outside of time so as to see all of time at once, and hence knows the future infallibly 3. Unchangeable in every respect. Christians would say that God limits God s own power so as to allow room for human freedom. 8

9 Definitions Plato s Philosophy is complex and has strongly influenced western philosophy. Key features are: 1. Essences: or the ideal or what is truly real comes from heaven. 2. Material things: are imperfect images of the heavenly ideal or real things. 3. Soul: the physical body has forgotten what reality is and the soul must move about until such time as it becomes aware of its true nature and is freed from the physical realm. 9

10 Definitions Aristotle s Philosophy is also complex and has also strongly influenced western philosophy, particularly science. Key features are: 1. Essences: are not real but are concepts (or models) created by the human mind. 2. Material things: are what is truly real and study of nature will reveal reality. 3. Soul: is unique doe of human reason. There are two parts to human reason: passive tied to the physical mind and creative tied to the soul or spirit. At death passive reason dies but creative reason lives on to return to God the prime mover. 10

11 Observations Plato s Philosophy strongly affected Christian thinking before the Enlightenment and the re-discovery of Aristotle s Philosophy was central to the Renaissance and particularly science: Ptolomy, Copernicus and Galileo all thought the heavens were perfect and insisted on perfect circles for planetary orbits. Contrary to popular belief, The Catholic Church was actually correct in questioning the teachings of Copernicus and Galileo as they were wrong. Kepler, was correct with elliptical orbits but Galileo rejected this. As a result, Galileo was NOT able to prove his model correct and that is why it was rejected (see David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions, Yale University Press, 2009, pp ) 11

12 Observations Plato s Philosophy and Aristotle s Philosophy have had a profound impact on Traditional Christian Theology. 1. Ancient Greek Philosophy may have had more impact on Traditional Christian Theology than the Bible. 2. It is impossible to make truly fundamental theological revisions without challenging those Greek origins. 3. In this course we will use the findings of modern science to challenge those origins and inform Process Theology 12

13 Observations Plato s Philosophy and Aristotle s Philosophy have had a profound impact on Traditional Christian Theology. 1. Ancient Greek Philosophy may have had more impact on Traditional Christian Theology than the Bible. 3. In this course we will use the findings of modern science to challenge those origins and inform Process Theology 2. It is impossible to make truly fundamental theological revisions without challenging those Greek origins. 3. In this course we will use the findings of modern science to challenge those origins and inform Process Theology 13

14 How Does God Act? When you ask How does God Act in the world?, most Traditional Theologies have no answer. He just does! 1. Process theology is exciting and intellectually responsible precisely because it does try to talk about how God acts in the world. 2. By setting the idea of God within a comprehensive view of reality, Process Theology is able to address the difficult questions we encounter today. 3. However, to understand those answers we must re-think our basic view of reality. 14

15 Is Process Theology True? NO! Process Theology is a model of reality and as such is only an approximation to truth. But here is why I think it is so important to study Process Theology: 1. Process theology makes sense. It is consistent with itself, with science and with experience (suffering, ambiguity, feminism, ecology, etc.) 2. Process Theology leads to good ethics. At best, traditional theology depicts God as allowing needless suffering and at worst God is the instigator of such suffering. Not so with Process Theology. 3. Process Theology is a model or myth that creatively draws upon and leads the way in the very best of our modern struggles to envision the nature of reality, the meaning of love, and the depths of the sacred as we experience it today. 15

16 Is Process Theology True? So even if the God of Process Theology should turn out not to exist, or even if there is no divine being at all, Process Theology deserves our serious attention because the ethical model that it shows us can transform our whole way of thinking about religion, life, and values in a very positive way. I urge you to approach this course on Process Theology with an open mind and an open heart. 16

17 Process Thought Overview This overview is intended to fill an important function: 1. It is a condensed survey of Process Theology without detailed explanations and complications. 2. As we progress in the course, refer back to this regularly. 3. This is the skeleton upon which the course is built. 17

18 Process Thought Overview The Process Vision 1. All things flow and evolve. Reality is a social process (not essence or matter as Plato and Aristotle argued) 2. Freedom is inherent in the world. To be a human or an elementary particle is to be self-creative. 3. Experience is rich and complex. Adequacy to this wealth of experience is the ultimate test of our ideas. 4. The universe does not center around human beings. We are participants along with God in a complex and fragile web of relationships through which we have significant value. 18

19 Process Thought Overview Process Theism 1. God is Love. 2. God is the unique Subject, whose love is the foundation of all reality. 3. It is through God s Love that all things live and move and have their being. 4. God is the Supremely Related One, sharing the experience of every creature and being experienced by every creature. 19

20 Process Thought Overview Process Theism 5. God s power in the world is necessarily persuasive, not coercive. 6. God acts by self revelation. 7. God, who is the source of our freedom, CANNOT coerce the world. 20

21 Process Thought Overview Process Theism 8. We need a new model of Jesus (the Jesus Myth) based upon the historical Jesus stripped from its Traditional Theology and understood in a Process Theology way. 9. Jesus too had freedom. 10. Jesus is the mythical character that chose to be fully responsive to God s call and love. 11. Jesus life and death thereby reveal the character of God s love and God s call to each of us. 21

22 Process Thought Overview Process Theism 12. Because God loves perfectly, God suffers with the world. 13. God calls us in each moment through divine self-revelation, sharing a vision of the good and the beautiful. 14. God CANNOT overrule our freedom, but awaits our free response, constantly and with infinite patience seeking to create the best that can be gotten from each choice we make. 22

23 Process Thought Overview Process Theism 15. God is omniscient knowing everything there is to know. But this means knowing the future as open, as a range of possibilities and probabilities, not as fixed or settled. 16. God is co-eternal with the world and shares the adventure of time with us. There has always been a world of some sort in which God has been active. 17. God is omnipresent. Every person in every moment is experiencing God as the ground of both order and freedom. 23

24 Process Thought Overview Process Theism 18. Our experience of God is interwoven with our experience of the world. 19. God struggles to reach us through the dark glass that obscures our vision. Hence, revelation is omnipresent and ongoing, but appears ambiguous. 20. God is the ground of the world s becoming. The power of God is interwoven with the power of the world. Hence, every event reflects both the power of God and the power of the world. 24

25 Overview of the Short Course on Process Theology Topic Date Introduction (1) Part I: A God Worthy of Worship (11) June 11, 2014 Chapter 1 Love, Power, and Worship (13) Chapter 2 God s Love and Our Suffering (17) June 18, 2014 Chapter 3 Love, Power, and Relatedness (25) Chapter 4 Freedom, Time, and God s Power (33) June 25, 2014 Part II the World and God (41) Chapter 5 Time (45) Chapter 6 A World of Experience (51) July 2, 2014 Chapter 7 How God Acts in the World (58) Part III A Liberating Theology (65) Chapter 8 How Religion Becomes Oppressive (69) July 9, 2014 Chapter 9 A Process Theology of Liberation (75) Chapter 10 Women s Experience and Process Thought (80) July 16, 2014 Chapter 11 Revelation, Scripture, and Liberation (85) Chapter 12 Committed Relativism An Approach to Ethics and Global Community (91) July 23, 2014 Chapter 13 Religious Pluralism (98) Chapter 14 Jesus (104) July 30, 2014 Chapter 15 Prayer, Liberation, and Healing (110) Chapter 16 Miracles (117) August 6, Part IV Naturalism and Theism (123) 2014 Chapter 17 Process Naturalism (127) Chapter 18 Process Theism By John Cobb, Jr. (134) August 13, Conclusion

26 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship In Process Theology, God is constantly, in every moment and in every place, doing everything within God s power to bring about the good. 1. However, divine power is persuasive rather than coercive. 2. God CANNOT (really cannot) force people or the world to obey God s will. 3. God works by sharing with us a vision of the better way, of the good and the beautiful. 4. God s power lies in patience and particularly LOVE, not in brute force. 26

27 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Process Theology does not confuse power with brute force. 1. Brute force power is seldom associated with love. 2. God is Love. 3. Thus God s power (and all true power) comes through Love not brute force. 4. God s power is not like that of an Emperor, Caesar or King but more like that of a Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Mandella. 27

28 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Process Theology does not confuse power with brute force. 1. This is the key message that Jesus preached. 2. God is Love. Love your enemy, love your neighbor, 3. Jesus came to announce the Kingdom of God 4. The Kingdom of God is not like that of an Emperor, Caesar or King but more like that of a Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Mandella. 28

29 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Fear verses awe, worship and Love. 1. One might FEAR a God of ultimate Brute force. 2. But one is in awe of a God of ultimate Love. 3. One might worship a God of ultimate Love. 4. One might love a God of ultimate Love 29

30 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship To worship properly is to center our lives around something, to see it as the proper focus of our ultimate commitment. Raw power may evoke fear and even awe, but not worship. Worship awaits something or someone worth giving our lives to. A God that calls us to be the best we can be, to give the best we can give, to share in the great good work. 30

31 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship It would be a huge mistake to think the God of Process Theology is weak. God is LOVE and LOVE is the most Powerful thing in the Universe We must understand that it is goodness, not coercive power, that is worthy of ultimate commitment of worship. Ethically, God is worthy of Love because God is perfectly Loving. 31

32 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Theology effects translation of Scripture (eg: Romans 8:28): KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. RSV: 28 And We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. 32

33 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. The first issue is the phrase: know that all things work together. 1. In the original Greek, the word panta (all things) can be either the subject or the object of the verb sunergei (work together) 2. The KJV translates it as the subject. 3. RSV, NIV and the CEV all translate it as the object. 4. Later Greek manuscripts modify the Greek to assure that panta is the object. 33

34 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. RSV: We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. NIV: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. CEV: We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose, 34

35 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. The second issue is the verb: sunergei. (work together) 1. In the original Greek, the verb sunergei means that God works together with people. 2. The KJV misses this completely. 3. RSV, New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) and an alternative given in the footnotes of the NIV get this right. 4. However, traditional theology does not contemplate God working together with people but rather God working for people. 35

36 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. RSV: We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. NJB: We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good. 36

37 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship RSV: 28 We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. The RSV above is the best translation. 1. The RSV is consistent with the Greek grammar. 2. The RSV stresses that God works for good. 3. The RSV stresses that God works with those who love him. 4. For a more detailed discussion of the issues of translation of Romans 8:28, please go to: Tim Geddert, Prof. of New Testament, Fresno Bible College 37

38 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Theology effects translation of Scripture (eg: Romans 8:28): KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. RSV: 28 And We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. 38

39 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Theology Implies that effects it is known translation and fixed of Scripture (eg: Romans 8:28): KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. RSV: 28 And We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Emphasizes God works WITH 39

40 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Theology Implies a select effects group translation that is predetermined of Scripture (eg: Romans 8:28): KJV: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. RSV: 28 And We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Implies all who love God are called 40

41 Chapter 1 Love, Power and Worship Summary of Chapter 1 on Process Theology 1. The battle between good and evil is a real one. 2. God cannot guarantee the outcome within this world. 3. What can be guaranteed is God s steadfast love and constant working for the good. 4. God will be with us in each moment, sharing our struggles, sharing our experiences of sin and suffering, and loving us in the midst of them all. 41

42 NEXT WEEK Wednesday June 18 Chapters 2 and 3 of the text Now time for discussion NOTE: You can find all class materials online at: 42