What a week! On top of interacting with concerns of Roger Olson and Tony Jones about process thought, I have received amazing emails, tweets, blog and Facebook comments.
Here are the 4 biggest themes that emerged from those interactions.
How does Process affect your field of Practical Theology?
The first thing to understand that Practical Theology is kinda sociology with a theological lens. We use interviews, case studies & ethnographies (qualitative methods) to investigate how religion is lived out on the ground.
So a Practical Theologian does not need to subscribe to any particular school of thought per se. We do have to locate ourselves philosophically but no one approach is required.
Having said that … I am primarily concerned with pastoral theology and as a pastor, process theology has deeply impacted the way that I think, believe, lead and facilitate my interactions with the community of faith.
Doesn’t it seem weird to base so much on the philosophy of one guy in the 20th century?
Not exactly. Once you understand that all of christian history and specifically western theology is based and embedded with philosophy from day 1. If you don’t know how the Gospel of John or the Nicene Creed is laced with philosophical frameworks, this will be eye-opening to you.
Having said that, the philosophical approach that come from thinkers like Alfred North Whitehead is notable in a number a ways. It is naturalist (vs. empiricist) and it is advantageous in the areas of:
A) creation-care
B) give and take (symbiotic) relationship we have with the earth & the rest of creation
C) the realistic (not idealistic) way that things are after the industrial revolution
D) emergent thought and evolutionary history
When you put that all together, THEN add the fact that Whitehead had a Bible – what you end up with is an approach that is far more compatible with the way that the world actually works than anything we have inherited from centuries past.
Does it really matter?
100% Yes! Are you kidding me? When people question the nature of God’s power – why God doesn’t do the things that a god is supposed to do – when God, who could do anything if ‘he’ wanted to, doesn’t do them … both the world and the faith that we have inherited doesn’t make any sense.
Giving people both a permission to ask questions and a framework to process different approaches is a gift in the 21st century.
There is no school of thought that I have found more fruitful in engaging than process. Engaging biblical scholarship is a great starter. Asking big question about the nature of human violence (like memetic theory) is a catalyst. The pièce de résistance is found an alternative framework that not only asks different questions but allows for different answers.
Does it change how you pastor?
Absolutely! If the nature of God’s power is not coercive but persuasive, then it affects everything.
- The way you view administration
- The way you counsel people
- The way you preach
- The way you recruit help
- The way you pray
- The way you empower & delegate
- The way you do hospital visitation
- The way you respond to criticism
- The way discipleship is defined*
- The way the community conceives of itself and participates
- The way you perceive outsiders
I actually can not think of one aspect of church-life that is untouched by this upgrade in operating-systems.
As you can tell, I am having a blast, so feel free to keep the conversation rolling! What else do we want to address?
* In last night’s response “Is God Unique?” I made the case – based on the Advent podcast with John Cobb – that following Jesus in discipleship looks a little different.
Jesus was as open to and as faithful to the will of God as Mother Theresa was to her calling, Francis of Assisi was to being Francis, maybe even Buddha was to be Buddha … That is not what makes Jesus unique.
WHAT makes Jesus unique is WHAT God called Jesus to. It is possible that all of these people were equally open & available to god as Jesus was. The difference is what God called Jesus to.
Jesus played a unique role in human history. No has ever – or will ever – play that role. What God did in Jesus has impacted all of humanity. Jesus is unique.
NOW having said that … the art of following Jesus is being open to and available to the presence of God the way that Jesus was open to available to the will of God is Jesus’ life.
Being like Jesus is not doing what Jesus did (walking on water) but being available to God the way the Jesus was available to God. This is discipleship.