Process theology
Process theology (also known as
Neoclassical theology) is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical
process philosophy of
Alfred North Whitehead (
1861 -
1947).
Process theology has no relation to the
Process Church.
The concepts of process theology include:
*
God is not
omnipotent in the sense of being
coercive. The divine has a power of persuasion rather than force. Process theologians have often seen the classical doctrine of omnipotence as involving coercion, and themselves claim something more restricted than the classical doctrine. "Persuasion" in the causal sense means that God does not exert unilateral control.
* Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature. These events have both a physical and mental aspect.
* The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of
free will.
Self-determination characterizes everything in the
universe, not just human beings. God cannot totally control any series of events or any individual, but God influences the creaturely exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. To say it another way, God has a will in everything, but not everything that occurs is God's will.
* God contains the universe but is not identical with it (
panentheism). Some also call this "theocosmocentrism" to emphasize that God has always been related to some world or another.
* Because God interacts with the changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the course of time. However, the abstract elements of God (
goodness,
wisdom, etc.) remain eternally solid.
* Some process theologians believe that people do not experience a
subjective (or personal)
immortality, but they do have an
objective immortality in that their experiences live on forever in God, who contains all that was. Others believe that people do have subjective experience after bodily death.
*
Dipolar theism, is the idea that God has both a changing aspect (God's existence as a Living God) and an unchanging aspect (God's eternal essence).
The original ideas of process thought are found in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Various theological and philosophical aspects have been expanded and developed by
Charles Hartshorne (
1897-
2000),
John B. Cobb, and
David Ray Griffin.
Process theology soon influenced a number of
Jewish theologians including
Australian philosopher Samuel Alexander (
1859-
1938), and
Rabbis Max Kaddushin, Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan, Harry Slominsky and to a lesser degree,
Abraham Joshua Heschel. Today some rabbis who advocate some form of process theology include Donald B. Rossoff,
William E. Kaufman,
Harold Kushner,
Anton Laytner,
Gilbert S. Rosenthal,
Lawrence Troster and
Nahum Ward.
Alan Anderson and
Deb Whitehouse have attempted to integrate process theology with the
New Thought variant of
Christianity.
Thomas Jay Oord integrates process theology with evangelical, openness, and Wesleyan theologies. Oord argues that it is part of God's essence as relational to provide freedom to others. This loving act means that God cannot withdraw or override the freedom of others, but this inability is part of who God is and not imposed by outside forces or conditions.
*
Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki's
God Christ Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology (1989, ISBN 0824509706) is an excellent foundation piece for the integration of process philosophy with Christianity.
* C. Robert Mesle's
Process Theology: A Basic Introduction (1993, ISBN 0827229453) is arguably the most accessible introduction to process theology written for the layperson.
*Harold Kushner's
When Bad Things Happen to Good People (1981, ISBN 1400034728) and
Jewish Theology and Process Thought, (1995, ISBN 0791428109) eds. Sandra B. Lubarsky and David Ray Griffin.
* Excellent introductions to classical theism, limited theism and process theology can be found in
A Question of Faith: An Atheist and a Rabbi Debate the Existence of God (1994, ISBN 1568210892) and
The Case for God, (1991, ISBN 0827204582) both written by Rabbi William E. Kaufman.
* On the Christian side, excellent introduction may be found in Schubert M. Ogden's
The Reality of God and Other Essays, SMU Press (1992, ISBN 087074318X); John B. Cobb,
Doubting Thomas, (1990, ISBN 082451033X); and Charles Hartshorne,
Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes, State University of New York Press, (1984, ISBN 0873957717). In French, the best introduction may be André Gounelle,
Le Dynamisme Créateur de Dieu Van Dieren Editeur (reprint in 2000).
* For essays exploring the relation of process thought to
Wesleyan theology, see Bryan P. Stone and Thomas Jay Oord,
Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love: Wesleyan and Process Theologies in Dialogue (Nashville: Kingswood, 2001, ISBN 0687052203).
*
God*
Names of God*
Conceptions of God*
Existence of God*
The Center for Process Studies*
Process and Faith*
Process theology and Judaism*
Process theology and the New Thought movement*
A longer, scholarly introduction to process theology*
Center for the Study of Cosmic Spirituality
