process theology based on the textbooklecture-notes.tripod.com/handouts/ptsession8.pdf · 2014. 8....

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Process TheologyA Short Course

Michael A. Soderstrand

Wellspring UCC Wednesday Morning Group

June 11 – August 27, 2014

Based on the textbook:

C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology A Basic Introduction, Chalice Press, St. Louis, MO, 1993 (final chapter by John B. Cobb, Jr.)

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Lecture 8Part III: A Liberating Theology

Ch 14: Jesus

Ch 15: Prayer, Liberating and Healing

It is, I think, a particular virtue of

process theology that it is able to treat

Jesus in a way respectful of both the Christian tradition and the truth of other

religious traditions . (Mesle, p. 104)

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Ch 14: JesusOften the Traditional views of Jesus form the

greatest barrier to Christian dialogue with other

religions:

1. Jesus is the one and only true incarnation

of GOD.

2. We are saved into heaven only by belief in

Jesus.

3. People in all other religions are hopelessly

lost – thus we must evangelize and bring

them to the truth.

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Ch 14: JesusTraditional views of Jesus are also plagued by

internal problems:

1. Why did God have to go to all this trouble?

2. There had to be a “fall” for us to be saved from.

3. Judas had to betray Jesus.

4. Jesus had to die – or we would not be saved.

5. If Jesus the preacher and teacher had

succeeded, Jesus the Savior would have

failed.

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Ch 14: Jesus

Traditional views of Jesus are also plagued by

internal problems:

1. Calling Jesus both fully human and fully

divine requires belief in a blatant contradiction!

2. Belief in this contradiction is a proof of faith.

3. Those familiar with history may understand how

the trinity was helpful in early Christian

struggles and even can be helpful today, but it

is still a contradiction.

4. Most Christians today simply have no interest

in testing faithfulness by believing

contradictions.

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Ch 14: Jesus the ChristThe Trinity contradiction, is only a contradiction if we think in terms

of substances rather than relationships:

1. If humanity and divinity are two substances, then the model is either: purely one, purely the other or some mixture –

you can’t be fully both!

2. In Physics they would follow Fermi-Dirac statistics and the

poly-exclusion principle (fermions).

3. If humanity and divinity are relationships associated with

interactions, the model is quite different.

4. In Physics they would follow Bose-Einstein statistics and in our

model could be simultaneously present at the same place at the same time (Bose-Einstein condensate – bosons).

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Ch 14: Jesus the ChristKey aspects of the Trinity:

1. Incarnation: Jesus is a fully human

being who was also fully divine.

2. Unity in diversity: When we say

that God is a Trinity in Unity, we mean

that there is a unity in diversity, and

that the diversity manifests itself in

Persons, in characteristics and in

operations.

3. Equality in dignity: There is perfect

equality in nature, honor and dignity

between the Persons.

4. Diversity in operation: The Father

works through the Son by the Spirit.

http://www.hyperbible.com/articles/trinity.asp

http://www.hyperbible.com/articles/trinity.asp

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Ch 14: Jesus the ChristProcess Theology Incarnation:

1. God and human beings arise out of a set of relationships from which they

create themselves.

2. Those relationships (God, people and events) out of which we create ourselves

are literally part of us.

3. The human being is a process, not a substance, which we can and should

define so as to protect the rights of the

weakest.

4. We become more fully human as we become more loving, more fully

related to others, more responsive to our environment.

C.Robert Mesle, p. 106

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Ch 14: Jesus the ChristProcess Theology Incarnation of Jesus:

1. Jesus was responsive to God in a special way.

2. Incarnation in Process Theology is taking God into ourselves and

creating ourselves out of God.

3. The Process Theology Christ Model represents the fully responsive

version of incarnation.

4. In Process Theology, the affirmation that “Jesus responded fully to God” is transformed into a

theological affirmation “Jesus incarnated the divine Word in

human form.”


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Ch 14: Jesus the ChristProcess Theology Incarnation

of Jesus:

1. Cobb suggests that the historical Jesus

became able to incarnate the Divine

Logos in his life.

2. In doing so, he became more sensitive,

more responsive, more relationally

powerful.

3. This points to the Christ model in which

more loving is both more fully human

and more fully divine.

4. Relational power allows sharing of

suffering with healing love which is

fully human and fully divine.


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Ch 14: Jesus the ChristProcess Theology Incarnation

of Jesus:

1. In ways very responsive to the

Christian Tradition, Cobb uses the

Christ Model for that eternal call

of God to the world.

2. The Christ Model is the lure for

goodness, truthfulness and beauty.

3. This call is a dimension of divine

life – not something separate from

divinity.

4. Cobb says “Jesus became the

Christ, the incarnation of the

divine call in the world.”


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Ch 14: JesusTraditional Theology and “THE FALL”

1. The fall of humanity from

innocence and obedience to God

to guilty disobedience to God.

2. The sinfulness to that estate

wherein humans fell consists in

the guilt of Adam and Eve's

first sin.

3. The whole nature of

humanity is corrupted with

what is commonly called

original sin or iniquity together

with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.


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Ch 14: JesusProcess Theology avoids the strange story:

1. Humans must fall.

2. Jesus teaching

ministry must fail and Judas must

betray Jesus.

3. Jesus must be crucified and then

rise from the grave to save us.


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Ch 14: JesusProcess Theology avoids the strange story:

1.Process Theology recognizes the

Genesis stories as mythical

expressions of the human condition.

2.As Michael Dowd said: “Original Sin is our mismatched

instincts.”

3.Our falling short is an ongoing fact, not about one moment in

the past.

4.We may be “fallen,” but there is

no “Fall.”


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Ch 14: JesusThe Process Theology Story:

1. As humans evolved they became

more capable of moral and religious sensitivity.

2. We evolved into creatures with

greater capacity to accept or reject God’s call.

3. At a critical point in history,

Jesus responded to God with amazing fullness.

4. Sadly, the world did not

respond so fully.


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1. Jesus died not because of “God’s

Plan,” but because God could not prevent it.

2. God called others too, not just

Jesus.

3. But Jesus responded so fully that

others resented him and his

revelation of their sinfulness.

4. Sadly, we killed Jesus for this.

5. And we continue to Kill Jesus

when we fail to respond to God’s call

and act in selfish and unloving ways.


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1. It was not necessary for Jesus

to die as part of God’s plan.

2. Jesus could not turn away from

the path of love.

3. Jesus and God did everything

possible (in a loving way) to avoid his death.

4. God and Jesus redeemed from

this sad event all good that was possible to redeem.

5. So successful was this

redemption that Christians

have come to see the cross as

God’s greatest victory.


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Ch 14: JesusThe Process Theology Story: 1. This Process Theology

view of Jesus is shaped by Christian

Tradition.

2. But Process Theology

shapes this

Tradition in an important way.

3. The Process Theology story of how Jesus shaped the divine lure

does not preclude others from shaping the divine lure – in fact

it challenges other to follow God.

4. Process Theology sees Mohammad, Moses, Jesus, Buddha

and Gandhi as powerful incarnations of the Logos within

their own cultural framework.

5. Process Theology leads naturally to Religious Pluralism.


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Summary of the Jesus of

Process Theology

1. Both the Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ are honored.

2. Religious Pluralism is emphasized.

3. Christ is a model (not the only model) of perfect relationship of human and divine.

Ch 14: Jesus

http://www.etsy.com/listing/44075206/jesus-christ-ultimate-rebel-slacker

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Ch 14: Jesus

http://splitsider.com/2014/08/jesus-youre-funny-black-jesus-and-the-long-history-of-comedic-

messiahs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAwl+(The+Awl)

http://splitsider.com/2014/08/jesus-youre-funny-black-jesus-and-the-long-history-of-comedic-messiahs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAwl+(The+Awl)

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Ch 14: Jesus

http://splitsider.com/2014/08/jesus-youre-funny-black-jesus-and-the-long-history-of-comedic-

messiahs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAwl+(The+Awl)

http://splitsider.com/2014/08/jesus-youre-funny-black-jesus-and-the-long-history-of-comedic-messiahs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAwl+(The+Awl)

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Ch 15: Prayer, Liberation and Healing

Prayer Makes a Lot of

Sense in Process Theology

1. Prayer is NOT magical or supernatural.

2. Prayer is NOT about changing God’s mind.

3. Prayer is an effort to change ourselves and the world in cooperation with GOD.

http://www.watton.org/clipart/prayer/prayer.shtml

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Do Our Prayers Match

Our Image of God?

1. “Dear God we ask your spirit to be with us in this hour”.

2. “Dear God, please be with the leaders of our nation, and all the world’s nations, that they may be led to work for a more just and peaceful world”.

3. “Dear God, we call on you in Jesus Name to heal this person

who is suffering so greatly”. http://media.photobucket.com/image/prayer/villagecharm/IMG_0324.jpg?o=13

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http://media.photobucket.com/image/prayer/PyroX792/prayer.png?o=73

Is Our Prayer an

Excuse Not to Act?

1. Prayer should never be a substitute for action.

2. Prayer should help us focus on what we are called to do.

3. Prayer and Meditation are closely related and should be very helpful in spurring

us to right actions.

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http://www.i-heart-god.com/free_prayer_clip_art.htm

OT Prophets on Prayer

…even though you make

many prayers, I will not

listen; your hands are full of blood.

16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from

before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the

oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:15-17)

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23Take away from me the

noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody

of your harps. 24But let justice roll down like

waters, and righteousness

like an ever-flowing stream.

(Amos 5:23-24)

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“With what shall I come before the

LORD, and bow myself before God on

high? Shall I come before him with

burnt offerings, with calves a year

old? Will the LORD be pleased with

thousands of rams, with ten

thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give

my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my

soul?” He has told you, O mortal,

what is good; and what does the

LORD require of you but to do

justice, and to love kindness, and

to walk humbly with your God?

(Micah 6:6-8)

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But What About the Lord’s Prayer?

1. The Lord’s Prayer is a revolutionary manifesto.

2. The Lord’s Prayer is a hymn of radical hope.

3. It is NOT a Jewish Prayer or a Christian Prayer – It is a prayer that speaks to the conscience of the

entire world.

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ABBA: A very personal,

intimate relationship

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The holy name and divine reputation of

the Biblical God concerns distributive

justice and restorative righteousness and

that our holiness is a participation in that

divine character, identity, and name.

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The difference between God’s kingdom

and Rome’s empire, between Jesus and

Pilate, between Jesus’ companions and

Pilate’s followers is that Jesus’ kingdom

is non-violent, Rome’s is violent.

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Jesus concentrated on the challenge of

God’s present but collaborative kingdom,

so that his original words and deeds had

very little if anything to say about the

future.

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This reminds us of the many feedings

that Jesus did during his ministry.

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This also reminds us of the Last Supper

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32Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and

soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but

everything they owned was held in common. 33With great power the

apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and

great grace was upon them all. 34There was not a needy person among

them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought

the proceeds of what was sold. 35They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it

was distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 32:35)

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Debts is intended to refer to monetary debt.

Jesus meant that eternal dyad of enough

bread for today and no debt for tomorrow.

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Sin and debt are intimately linked.

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The sins referred to in the Lord’s Prayer

are economic sins! When debt creates

too much inequality, it has become sinful.

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Jesus insists on total non-violence.

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The “Last Temptation” of us, the disciples in

general and their leader, Peter, in particular

– is defensive counter-violence.

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Does Prayer Work? 1. Some scientific studies

indicate positive psychological effects for those who pray.

2. Some scientific studies show positive effects on people who are prayed for.

3. But other studies show no statistically significant effect or in a few cases negative

effects of prayer. http://tybw.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/02/living_on_a_prayer.html

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A Scientific Look at Spirituality

1. From a journalists perspective.

2. Brought up in Christian Science but now a progressive with respect for both religion and science.

3. Each chapter deals with specific issues – one chapter

is on prayer.

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Does Prayer Work?

A 2001 study published in the British Medical Journal showed significant correlation between praying the Rosary or using a Yoga mantra and the ability to control blood pressure.

Bernardi L, Sleight P, Bandinelli G, et al. (2001). "Effect of rosary prayer and yoga mantras on autonomic cardiovascular rhythms: comparative study". BMJ 323 (7327): 1446–9.

http://lccf.netii.net/prayer.html

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Does Prayer Work?

A 2008 study published in Mental Health, Religion and Culture, showed significant correlation between praying and mental wellbeing (self-reported).

Francis, Leslie; Robbins, Mandy; Lewis, Christopher Alan; Barnes, L. Philip (2008). "Prayer and psychological health: A study among sixth-form pupils attending Catholic and Protestant schools in Northern Ireland". Mental Health, Religion & Culture 11: 85.


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Does Prayer Work?

A 2001 study published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, showed significant correlation between praying and health and vitality (self-reported).

Meisenhelder, Janice Bell; Chandler, Emily N. (2001). "Frequency of Prayer and Functional Health in Presbyterian Pastors". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40: 323.


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Does Prayer Work?

A 2008 study published in Al Ameen Journal of Medical Sciences, showed significant correlation between Suryanamaskar (a Hindu Yoga exercise) and cardio-respiratory health.

Bhutkar, Pratima M.; Bhutkar, Milind V.; Taware, Govind B.; Doijad, Vinayak; Doddamani, B. R. (2008). "Effect of Suryanamaskar Practice on Cardio-respiratory Fitness Parameters: A Pilot Study". Al Ameen Journal of Medical Sciences 1 (2): 126–9. http://ajms.alameenmedical.org/articel_vol2/AJMS.2.P-126-129-C.pdf. http://lccf.netii.net/prayer.html

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Does Prayer Work?

A 1988 study published in The Southern Medical Journal, showed those at SF General prayed for had a statistically significant improved recovery rate from coronary surgery compared to a control group.

R.C. Byrd, Positive herapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population, South Med J. 1988 Jul: 81 (7): 826-9 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3393937


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Does Prayer Work?

A 1998 study published in The Western Journal of Medicine found similar results to the SF General Study in advanced AIDS patients.

Sicher F, Targ E, Moore D and Smith HS, A Randomized Double-Blind Study of the Effect of Distant Healing in a Population with Advanced AIDS, West J Med. 1998 Dec;169(6):356-63. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9866433


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Does Prayer Work? SF General findings were confirmed in A 1999 study published in The Achieves of Internal Medicine. The SF General Study , the AIDS Study and this Harris Study are basis for scientific evidence for intercessory prayer.

Harris WS, Gowda M, Kolb JW, Strychacz CP, Vacek JL, Jones G, Forker A, O’Keef JH and McCallister BD, A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Effects of Remote, Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients Admitted to the Coronary Care Unit. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Oct 25; 159(19):2273-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10547166 http://lccf.netii.net/prayer.html

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Does Prayer Work?

A 2003 study published in The American Psychologist, showed those prayed for has a statistically significant improved recovery rate from acute illness compared to a control group.

Powell LH, Shahabi L, Thoresen CE (January 2003). "Religion and spirituality. Linkages to physical health". The American Psychologist 58 (1): 36–52.


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Shocker!

Just when it was beginning to look like science was confirming the power of intercessory prayer – the most extensive and tightly controlled study funded by the Templeton Institute suggested there might be danger in prayer!


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Shocker!

A 2006 Study published in the American Heart Journal reported on a 6-year study of 1802 coronary patients: 1. Three groups: Control,

Prayed for but not told, Prayed for and told.

2. The Prayed for and told group did worst!

3. Suggested there might be danger in prayer!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?_r=2

http://www.watton.org/clipart/prayer/prayer.shtml

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Process Theology and Prayer

1. Always pray as a means of changing you – aligning you with God.

2. When you pray for others – focus on what you can do for them.

3. Make sure prayer is not an excuse for not acting.

4. Be careful in telling others you are praying for them.

http://tybw.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/02/living_on_a_prayer.html

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http://tybw.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/02/living_on_a_prayer.html

Process Theology and Prayer

1. Always pray as a means of changing you – aligning you with God.

2. When you pray for others – focus on what you can do for them.

3. Make sure prayer is not an excuse for not acting.

4. Be careful in telling others you are praying for them.

https://evolutionspace.wordpress.com/category/sarcasm/

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NEXT WEEK

• Chapter 16: Miracles

• Part IV – Naturalism and Theism

• Chapter 17: Process Naturalism

• Now time for discussion

• http://class-notes.us

http://class-notes.us/

process theology based on the textbooklecture-notes.tripod.com/handouts/ptsession8.pdf · 2014. 8....

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