Intro to Process Theology

1. How can I have a faith that honors both science and the Bible?

2. Why does God cause bad things to happen?

"The teacher, if indeed wise, does not bid you to enter the house of their wisdom, but

leads you to the threshold of your own mind."

-Kahlil Gibran

Some process theologians

Intro to Process Theology

Science and Religion (God and the World)

Evil and Suffering

Jesus and Creative Transformation

Ethics: Pluralism, Economism, and Ecology

2 ways to do theologyConfessional

assumes the truth of various doctrines is based in a supernatural, infallible origin

considers itself immune to rational critique

Transdisciplinary

committed to the assessment of the validity of religious beliefs

rejects the idea that truth-claims are immune to criticism

interested in the truth and coherence of worldviews

SCIENCE RELIGION

"You cannot shelter theology from science, or science from theology; nor can you shelter either of them from

metaphysics, or metaphysics from either of them. There is no short cut to truth."

-A.N. Whitehead

SCIENCE RELIGION

One, unified worldview

a more subtle

science a deepe

r

religion

Whitehead's passiondetermined to take all the evidence into account

create one rational scheme of thought that is better for science and religion, a "harmony of truth"

overcome the real problems facing civilization

religion and science can both be dangerous when they don't take the other into account 1861-1947

God & World

World, no God

World

God

God World

Supernaturalism or Deism

Pantheism Atheism

Panentheism

Whitehead's analysis

Main problem: naturalism SAM sensationism, atheism, materialism

Main problem: supernaturalism

Science Religion

both are exaggerations, wrong, must change

SCIENCE RELIGION

One, unified worldview

a more subtle

science a deepe

r

religion

Naturalism

prehensive

panentheistic

panexperientialist{

God & World

World

World, no God

God

God World

Supernaturalism or Deism

Pantheism Atheism

Naturalism: *Panentheistic

Prehensive Panexperientialist

Key themesrelational

interdependence

emergence with novelty

reality is a dynamic, always changing process

experiential

future is open

freedom is real, built into the nature of things

Process theology sees the universe as creative,

interrelational, dynamic, and open to the future. In process theology, God is relational,

present in every moment of our lives and in all entities and levels of being. The world is

interconnected, in effect a giant ecosystem where what harms or

blesses one, harms or blesses all.

Next week: Evil and Suffering