Process Thought

[www.telic21.org]

Not sure that this post belongs in this section, but I often have difficulty properly placing Process Thought. Is it a philosophy? Is it a theology? Is it a form of Christianity? Should it be a religion all by its lonesome?

I have been reading Carol Christ's book "She Who Changes; Re-Imagining The Divine in the World." Great take on a feminist version of Process Philosophy. Makes a boatload of sense to me. It seems to accept what we have learned from both genders.....accepts science and reason, but also accepts intuition, feelings, and our bodies as legitimate means for knowing spiritual things.

I wonder how popular Process Thought and Panentheism is in our culture. It has so clearly impacted many mainline seminaries as well as the the writings of popular authors like Borg and Spong. I know that I would be attending a Process Thought Church (at least on a regularly sporadic basis ) if one existed in our local area and they weren't leaning too far towards Christianity.

So....how about you? Anyone else into Process Thought?

[Cross_+_Flame]

I am. I recently read God Christ Church by Marjorie Suchocki, and it was an amazing book. I highly recommend it for its down-to-earth examples and practical implications of process thought. She also has an appendix that explains in technical detail the nuances of Process Theology.

(side note: Borg and Spong are not Process Theologians, though, but I really really dig Borg, and love his most recent book The Heart of Christianity. Process Theologians include Griffin, Cobb, Suchocki, and others mostly located around Claremont School of Theology in CA)

PT is more a cosmology, a re-centering of Christian theology on another scale than the linear worldview. It goes back to the hebrew origins of event-based history, and sees events as the defining characteristics of life. It is panentheism, but on an extreme scale where God is not substance at all, but possibility, but since everything exists in possibility, then everything exists in God. Think panentheism, but replace "Everything is in God's substance" with "Everything is in God's potentiality." Make sense?

Would love to keep talking about it.

[I, Brian]

Sounds like an interesting subject.

[bananabrain]

i've often heard chassidic thought described as panentheistic. in fact our own dear amberlaine's flavour of wicca is, according to her, also panentheistic.

dunno what process theology is though, though i have come across spong before. can't remember if i liked him or not.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[www.telic21.org]

Originally Posted by Cross_+_Flame

I am. I recently read God Christ Church by Marjorie Suchocki, and it was an amazing book. I highly recommend it for its down-to-earth examples and practical implications of process thought. She also has an appendix that explains in technical detail the nuances of Process Theology.

I will pick it up. Down-to-earth would be helpful. One of my beefs with Whitehead and some of the other Process folks is that it often seems that they are writing for themselves......and making up words as they go. Not all of us have the time to live in a seminary library. It must be the math.

Originally Posted by Cross_+_Flame

(side note: Borg and Spong are not Process Theologians, though, but I really really dig Borg, and love his most recent book The Heart of Christianity. Process Theologians include Griffin, Cobb, Suchocki, and others mostly located around Claremont School of Theology in CA)

Would you say that they are influenced by those folks?

Originally Posted by Cross_+_Flame

It is panentheism, but on an extreme scale where God is not substance at all, but possibility, but since everything exists in possibility, then everything exists in God. Think panentheism, but replace "Everything is in God's substance" with "Everything is in God's potentiality." Make sense?

Not sure. Define potentiality.....and then tell me if it could be both substance and potentiality.

Originally Posted by Cross_+_Flame

Would love to keep talking about it.

Do you think Process and/or Panentheism is forever tied to Christianity? Some of the folks over at www.positivedeism.com have developed quite a philosophy that they call Panendeism. Some have quoted Whitehead and Hartshorne......with a good dose of Wilber..... to back it up.

[Cross_+_Flame]

Originally Posted by www.telic21.org

Would you say that they are influenced by those folks?

Kinda. I haven't read enough of Spong to know, but Borg is a classically-trained theologian who is trying to get stuff to work out without a worldview shift. Still, I read both, and I don't have a problem with it!

Define potentiality.....and then tell me if it could be both substance and potentiality.

Potentiality is potential, as in possibility. If God knows everything, then God knows what might have been, or what could be. Therefore, God is not a substance, per se, or even an energy, but is the source of all possibility, and by being in communion and interaction to God, you are open to more possibility than you can perceive as a human. Thus, think of God of more than a muse than a king.

I know it sounds like a really weak God that Process comes up with, but when you think about it, it's a God that works much more intimately and powerfully in the world than some transcendant/yet/immanent being.

Do you think Process and/or Panentheism is forever tied to Christianity? Some of the folks over at www.positivedeism.com have developed quite a philosophy that they call Panendeism. Some have quoted Whitehead and Hartshorne......with a good dose of Wilber..... to back it up.

Interesting...I'll take a look!

[www.telic21.org]

I almost forgot to mention the first Process Deism site that was formed. It can be found at www.panendeism.com

Better late than not posted.