A Process Theist (beliefs, hell, theology)

[PantaRhea]

Hello,
I did a search on the forums and couldn't find anything under Process Theology. Am I all alone?

[Scuba Pete]

Welcome to RF.

So, what IS process theology?

[jewscout]

not sure what a process theist is...but...

Shalom and welcome!!!

[Mister Emu]

Hey, welcome to the forums.

I find myself dissapointingly in the dark about process theology. Care to enlighten?

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by PantaRhea

Hello,
I did a search on the forums and couldn't find anything under Process Theology. Am I all alone?

Namaste PantaRhea,

No, you're not alone. Tho I would not identify myself as a process theist, there are many aspects of process theology that resonate with me. And I would bet this it true of others here, tho they may not be familiar with the jargon.

Go Hartshorne!

Oh, and btw, welcome to the forums!

[Watcher]

Welcome to the board!!!

[Scott1]

Hello and welcome... please start a new thread and educate us about your beliefs!

[michel]

Hi PantaRhe, Namaste.

Welcome!
I had never heard of Process theology, either -
Process theology (also known as Neoclassical theology) is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947).
The concepts of process theology include:

• God is not omnipotent in the classical sense of a coercive being. The divine has a power of persuasion rather than force.
• Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature.
• 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 force anything to happen, but rather only influence the exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities.
• God contains the universe but is not identical with it (panentheism)
• Because God contains a 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.
• 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.
• Dipolar theism, or the idea that our idea of a perfect God cannot be limited to a particular set of characteristics, because perfection can be embodied in opposite characteristics; For instance, for God to be perfect, he cannot have absolute control over all beings, because then he would not be as good as a being who moved by persuasion, rather than brute force. Thus, for God to be perfect, he must be both powerful and leave other beings some power to resist his persuasion.

The original ideas of process theology were developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), and were later expounded upon by John B. Cobb and David Ray Griffin. While process theology first was adopted by some liberal Protestant Christians, it soon influenced a number of Jewish theologians, including British philosopher Samuel Alexander (1859-1938), and Rabbis Max Kadushin, Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan, Harry Slominsky and, to a lesser degree, Abraham Joshua Heschel. Today some rabbis who advocate process theology or a related theology include Rabbis William E. Kaufman, Harold Kushner, Anton Laytner, Nahum Ward, Donald B. Rossoff and Gilbert S. Rosenthal.

More recently, Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have attempted to integrate process theology with the New Thought variant of Christianity

Oh dear! More reading!

You might like to have a look at :- Articles for New Members ; from there, there is a link to the forum rules, which you ought to see.

Happy posting!

[PantaRhea]

Hmmmm. I had a most excellent brief summary of Process Theism typed out, the phone rang and I answered it, I hit the button to post it, and it flew off into the nether regions of cyber space. And it was the shortest explanation I've ever been able to come up with.

Process Theology is a natural theology and thus appeals to reason and experience rather than basing its claims on supernatural revelation. It presents a worldview based on the speculative philosophy of A. N. Whitehead and Charles Harteshorne. It seeks to make sense of the concept that "God is Love" and in doing so, it requires that we re-examine our understanding of God and the world. There are Process Theologians who identify with Christian liberal, evangelical, and Catholic communities, as well as Jews and Buddhist. It seems to be having a larger measure of acceptance in Japan and China perhaps than here in the States. Many who label themselves as PanEntheist also identify with Process Theology. A fairly new key term for Process Theology is "Panexperientialism".

Any more questions?

I would be interested in beginning a new thread if nothing exists on this site on the subject... but I how do I do it and where?