| Title | : | The Lure and Necessity of Process Theology (Critical Essay) |
|---|---|---|
| Author | : | Cross Currents |
| Release | : | 2008-06-22 |
| Kind | : | ebook |
| Genre | : | Education, Books, Professional & Technical |
| Size | : | 98893 |
| What is process theology? Where did it come from? And why should Claremont School of Theology make a deep investment in sustaining it? My assignment is to address these questions, with particular reference to John B. Cobb Jr. role in the process theology movement, something I do with deep appreciation for a treasured friend and Christian intellectual. John Cobb is the chief builder, thinker, and leader of process theology, but process thought is based on the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshome, and there was a tradition of process theology at the University of Chicago before John came along. From the beginning it was a high-flying enterprise with a complex, opaque, esoteric, and scholastic jargon, because Whitehead was a metaphysical philosopher who developed a technical vocabulary for his system. But for all its forbidding intellectualism, process thought as developed by John Cobb and many others is also practical, ethical, spiritual, beautiful, and at least implicitly, postmodern. Otherwise it would not be the dominant school of thought in liberal theology today, and we would not be seeking to ensure its future at Claremont School of Theology. |
