Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

-----

Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Showing posts with label Church and It's Message. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church and It's Message. Show all posts

Friday, June 6, 2025

Christian Supernaturalism through the lenses of Process Theology



Christian Supernaturalism through
the lenses of Process Theology

A Process-Based Reorientation
of Supernaturalism

Christians have made their faith magical and unrealistic. It's time to hit the reset button and "try again". Here are my suggestions for a faith in God and how it works under process theology.... - re slater

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT


What is Supernaturalism?

As a Christian one of the first things we are introduced to is the concept of the supernatural - that God is a spirit who has formed the world. And as humans, we are like our Creator as spirit-beings as well.

Broadly, this part of any religious theology, whether it be Christian or otherwise, is described by the term "supernaturalism". It is therefore the belief in the otherworldly, the spirit realm, or some form of reality beyond the natural world and its observable laws.

This spirit realm often involves faith in supernatural forces, beings, or events which cannot be explained through science or logic and can encompass a wide range of beliefs - from the existence of gods and angels to the power of magic and divination.

Moreover, a faith built on the foundation of the supernatural often involves concepts like miracles, prophecy, and reincarnation, whereby spirit-led humans may interact with supernatural entities and events.

In a religious context, supernaturalism is a common component of many religions, where it is seen as a fundamental belief in a divine or higher power.

Sometimes religions based on the presence and role of supernatural beliefs are classified between those which teach simple forms of supernaturalism (focusing on supernatural forces) to those religions which teach more involved, complex systems.

Lastly, supernaturalism is distinguished from naturalism which emphasizes the natural world and its laws.


Why Today's Post?

As a process-based Christian eschewing Westernized forms of Christian theism I have felt that it was time to put away the unhelpful teachings of evangelical Christianity for a more proper re-orientation of a God who has been improperly misunderstood through the entirety of my Christian faith experience.

That day has come.

Let me begin with a new doctrinal proposition of supernaturalism per a process theological interpretation. The reader will then readily understand why I am calling out the evangelical church for it's limiting and unhelpful teaching of God

In systematic terms, the Study of God is known as Theology Proper.

I propose then that a processually-orientated supernatural faith is a faith that affirms the supernatural is real - but not as a realm separate from or superior to our everyday experiences (sic, "nature") but rather, the supernatural is that which exceeds, deepens, and transforms the natural through relational resonance, novelty, and divine companionship.

This is my foundation premise of God and God's agency through creation.

Now let me go on to explain what I mean by this.


The Call of God to Align

"The supernatural is not elsewhere -
it is in the very depth of every here."
 
The supernatural is not apart from us,
but in the One who calls us beyond ourselves -
    the whisper of God in every moment
    asking us to become more real,
    more whole, more alive

A supernatural faith is always lived in the real world -
    a world saturated with divine becoming,
    a world enlivened by divine's relationality,
where every moment is open to transformation
in the living presence of an ever-Creating,
    Self-Becoming God.

The process faith does not reject the supernatural
but reimagines it from what was typically taught -
    not as above nature,
    but from within nature's very flow,
exceeding, deeping, transforming
    the natural order as one saturated in relational
    resonance, novelty, bespeaking divine fidelity.

R.E. Slater
June 6, 2025

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved

 

Part 1 - Respeaking God to our souls

📜 From God Our Enemy to God Our Companion

RES

Question. What if the classical evangelical Christian God has made God both dead to us and an enemy to all men?

The process philosopher Whitehead once stated that the formation of religion runs through three stages: From the transition of "God the void" to "God the enemy" to "God the enemy the companion."

One process critic said it this way:
"It is time theism moves beyond the conception of a God who can supernaturally prevent tragedy, yet does not. A God who can subvert natural law, yet will not. A God who can dictate a perfect message onto parchment (the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures), yet did not. And, a God who can appear out of nowhere, yet chooses not to.

This is a god who seems more like ‘God the enemy’ than ‘God the companion’. Indeed, it is time to bring to pass the death of [the traditional notion of] supernaturalism. It is only then that we can have companionship with the One who is naturally God.”
ChatGPT

This excerpt is a powerful call for theological evolution, and it resonates deeply with Whiteheadian Process Theology. If we follow the direction implied by the quote, we can anticipate several philosophical and theological shifts that the author may advocate in response to the "death" of the Classic Evangelical Christian God—especially the supernatural, omnipotent, interventionist deity.

Here’s a structured outline of key directions this process-based author may wish to go:


1. From Supernaturalism to Natural Relationalism

Summary:
He advocates the death of "supernaturalism" as the gateway to discovering "the One who is naturally God."

Process-based Development:

  • God is not an omnipotent, law-suspending being outside the world but is immanently present within all processes of becoming.

  • Divine action is persuasive, not coercive; natural law is not overridden but lured toward value, novelty, and beauty.

  • This God is best understood in relational terms—God as participant, not puppeteer.


2. From Theistic Determinism to Co-Creative Partnership

Summary:
The old God—who dictates, controls, and judges—is replaced with one who co-creates.

Process-based Development:

  • Reality unfolds through mutual becoming—God and world are co-actors in time.

  • Evil and suffering are not “allowed” by God in a passive way; instead, God suffers with the world and offers creative possibilities in the midst of chaos.

  • Redemption becomes a collaborative act of ongoing transformation, not a single moment of supernatural deliverance.


3. From Scriptural Infallibility to Evolving Wisdom

Summary:
Critique of the idea that God "can dictate a perfect message onto parchment, yet did not" suggests a shift in view on sacred texts.

Process-based Development:

  • The Bible is no longer a flawless divine manual but a record of humanity’s evolving experience with God—a text full of breakthroughs, missteps, and growth.

  • Theology becomes an open-ended inquiry, not a static system.

  • God is not frozen in past proclamations but lures each generation forward into deeper, more faithful expressions of love and justice.


4. From Transcendent Spectator to Immanent Companion

Summary:
The quote culminates in the desire to encounter “God the companion.”

Process-based Development:

  • God is the fellow sufferer who understands, a phrase Whitehead uses to describe divine empathy.

  • Divine presence is found in the ordinary, not the miraculous—in the growth of a tree, the spark of compassion, the courage to resist oppression.

  • Prayer becomes relational sharing and alignment rather than petition for intervention.


5. From Fear and Obedience to Love and Participation

Summary:
God is no longer “the enemy” demanding submission, but the relational ground of all being who invites creative love.

Process-based Development:

  • Divine judgment is not punitive, but a mirror of contrast: a call to reflect on the distance between current actuality and higher potential.

  • Ethics is not obedience to commands but response to divine aims—the lure toward justice, empathy, and beauty.

  • Sin is not disobedience, but disharmony, and redemption is the healing of relational fractures.


6. From Closed Eschatology to Open Future

Summary:
The old god of strict fate dies; a new vision opens.

Process-based Development:

  • The future is not predetermined but a realm of possibilities that both God and the world shape together.

  • Hope lies not in escape from the world but in the renewal of it—ecological, social, personal, and cosmic.

  • Salvation is not relocation but transformation through process.


Conclusion: Toward God the Companion

This process-based author is pointing toward a post-supernatural, deeply incarnational God—a God who is present in every moment of becoming, not just in ancient miracles. This is a vision that moves:

  • from control to companionship,

  • from fear to love,

  • from dogma to dialogue,

  • from static perfection to dynamic unfolding.

It is the birth of a new theopoetics: God as the co-journeyer, the lure toward wholeness, the divine within the dance of reality itself.


RES

Firstly, I couldn't agree more and have been writing of these newer Christian faith directives for many years now.

Secondly, it is the term "supernaturalism" which I have misunderstood for too long not knowing how to fit it's concept within a naturalistic-relational framework with a God who is both Spirit as well as "cosmically embodied" if I might wax metaphorically poetic.

Thirdly, some form of supernatural qualification must be retained and ascribed to God but in a processual way rather than through the poorly taught classical transcendental attitude.

ChatGPT

Thank you. You’ve articulated a deep and beautiful theological insight—and it strikes directly at the heart of what many wrestle with when moving from classical theism to process-relational thought: how to reframe “supernaturalism” without severing the sacred mystery of God.

Let’s unpack this together by addressing three core ideas:


1. The Problem of “Supernaturalism”

In classical theology, supernaturalism often implies:

  • A God who dwells “outside” the world, entering in only by suspension of natural law.

  • A metaphysical duality: the natural (created, fallen, limited) vs. the supernatural (pure, infinite, unchangeable).

  • A punctuated presence—God shows up only through miraculous intervention, divine command, or revelation sealed in Scripture.

From a process perspective, this framework breaks down:

  • It creates a God of arbitrary inaction or coercive intrusion.

  • It disconnects divine action from the ongoing flow of creation.

  • It stifles relationality and renders God ultimately unknowable except through power.

Therefore, when process theologians critique “supernaturalism,” they’re not denying divine mystery or Spirit—they’re rejecting this unhelpful dichotomy between nature and God, or law and miracle.


2. Reframing the Supernatural: Toward a “Natural Mysticism”

You’re absolutely right to resist the flattening of reality into mere naturalism (as in reductionist materialism). Whitehead would too. Instead, consider the term:

Panpsychic Transcendence-in-Immanence:

  • God is not bound by nature’s laws, but neither does God violate them.

  • God is the ground of all becoming, luring creation toward value and novelty.

  • Divine presence is everywhere—not only in burning bushes, but also in blossoms, minds, and movements of justice.

This invites a mystical naturalism, where God is both:

  • transcendent: not as a remote ruler, but as the source of possibility and aim.

  • immanent: not diluted into the world, but as the relational pulse within every becoming moment.

This is not the absence of the supernatural. It is its processual transfiguration.


3. Toward a Processual Supernaturalism

Here’s how we might responsibly retain “supernatural” language, but infuse it with processual meaning:

Classical SupernaturalismProcessual Transcendence
Intervening God outside natureEmanative God within becoming—persuasive, not coercive
Supernatural = suspension of natural lawSupernatural = depth of relational possibility in nature
Miracles = violations of natureMiracles = emergent harmonies beyond expectation
Prophets speak for an external deityProphets embody God’s lure toward creative transformation
Spirit = detached forceSpirit = energetic presence in all evolving entities

So yes—keep the word supernatural, but processually recast it as:

“The supralogical presence of God’s Spirit within the depth-dimension of existence—where divine aim, possibility, and companionship, lure all things toward more profound becoming.”

Or as you beautifully suggest:

“God is Spirit and cosmically embodied—transcendental in lure, immanent in presence.”


🌀 A Poetic Synthesis

Not a God who breaks the world to enter,
But One who breathes it into being—again and again.
Not a God above the stars, but within their fire.
Not Supernatural over nature,
But Super-natural within nature—
    Whispering the possible into what is.

This is the Companion God—
    Whose transcendence is not escape,
    But the echo of more to come.


Would you like to define or craft a formal "Processual Doctrine of the Supernatural" as a bridge for others moving from evangelicalism into a deeper, more relational faith?

RES

Very much. Thank you.

ChatGPT

Wonderful. Let’s begin building a Processual Doctrine of the Supernatural—a theological bridge that maintains reverence for divine mystery while reframing it within a Whiteheadian relational ontology.


Part 2 - Here I reset our previous discussion

📜 A Processual Doctrine of the Supernatural

Subtitle: "Toward a Participatory and Relational Understanding of Divine Mystery"


I. Foundational Premise

“The supernatural is not a suspension of nature, but the invitation of the Divine within it—calling each moment into greater becoming.”

This doctrine affirms that the supernatural is real, but not as a realm separate from or superior to nature. Rather, the supernatural is that which exceeds, deepens, and transforms the natural through relational resonance, novelty, and divine companionship.


II. Core Tenets

1. God as Transcendently Immanent

  • God is not apart from creation but is the creative lure within each becoming moment.

  • Divine transcendence is expressed as the ever-new aim for harmony, intensity, and beauty—not spatial remoteness.

Transcendence is the depth of invitation; immanence is the nearness of becoming.


2. Spirit as the Supernatural Pulse

  • The Spirit is not a detached “ghost-force,” but the energetic intimacy of God with the world.

  • Spirit works through persuasion, not coercion—through healing, emergence, creativity, and transformation.


3. Miracle as Emergence, not Violation

  • A miracle is not a breach of natural law, but a confluence of open possibilities that reflect deeper divine alignment.

  • What is often labeled “miraculous” is the radical novelty of love and beauty breaking through expected outcomes.

A miracle is not the suspension of order, but the flowering of potential.


4. Scripture as Relational Witness

  • Sacred texts are not infallible dictations from above but evolving records of encounter between people and God-in-process.

  • Divine truth emerges through the lure of meaning within sacred story—not in the literal fixity of words.


5. Humanity as Co-Creative Image Bearer

  • Made in the image of God, we are not passive recipients of divine power but active co-participants in God’s ongoing creative work.

  • The supernatural dimension of humanity is found not in dominion, but in our relational capacity to embody love, justice, and beauty.


6. Salvation as Harmonization, not Escape

  • Salvation is not relocation to a supernatural elsewhere, but the reweaving of fractured relationships into wholeness.

  • It is a supernatural act within the natural world—a divine movement of becoming, healing, and transformation.


III. Theological Language Reform

Classical Meaning        Processual Supernaturalism
SupernaturalDeep Processual Mystery / Sacred Emergence
OmnipotencePersuasive Power / Creative Potential
MiracleEmergent Novelty / Harmonized Becoming
RevelationDialogical Disclosure / Lure of Meaning
Holy SpiritDivine Relational Energy / Interior Lure
TranscendenceTeleological Invitation / Possibility Itself

IV. Biblical Re-envisioning Examples

Biblical Theme      Processual Re-Interpretation
Burning Bush (Ex. 3)       Theophany as intensified relational presence
Jesus' Resurrection        Emergence of new creation through divine-human fidelity
Pentecost                          Spirit’s empowerment as communal intensification of love
Prophetic Voice        Relational attunement to divine aim amid societal dysfunction

V. Pastoral Implications

  • Encourages believers to see God as present and participatory, not absent or arbitrary.

  • Reframes prayer as mutual attunement and alignment with divine possibility.

  • Fosters a Christianity that is earth-affirming, mystical, and hopeful.

  • Offers a bridge for deconstructing evangelicals seeking intellectual depth and relational authenticity.


VI. Closing Affirmation

The supernatural is not what stands above us,
but what calls us beyond ourselves—
the whisper of God in each moment,
asking us to become more real, more whole, more alive.


Would you like this prepared as a formal Word document or theological pamphlet? We can also include scriptural citations, Church Father references, or poetic elements.

RES

No. But lets redescribe a processual faith which properly re-orientates supernaturalism with panpsychism, panentheism, and naturalism. I think by doing this we allow for a more open conclusion based on all that was said above.

ChatGPT

Excellent. Let’s now redescribe a processual faith—not as a fixed creed, but as an evolving vision—one that reorients “supernaturalism” through panpsychism, panentheism, and naturalism in a unified metaphysical and theological frame.

This approach moves beyond negation (what God is not) and into a positive reconstruction of divine presence and action within a dynamic cosmos.


🔁 A Redescribed Processual Faith: Reorienting the Supernatural

“The supernatural is not elsewhere—it is the depth of every here.”


I. Foundational Vision

A processual faith is not a faith in a world disrupted by divine exceptions, but a faith in a world saturated with divine relationality, where every moment is open to transformation through the living presence of God.

This faith does not reject the supernatural. It reimagines it—not above nature, but within its very flow.


II. Three Anchoring Metaphysical Principles

1. Panpsychism: The Inner Aliveness of All Things

Every actual entity, from quarks to consciousness, bears interiority—a degree of experience, memory, and becoming.

  • Supernaturalism, then, is not the descent of divine force upon inert matter.

  • It is the depth-potential within each event of existence—a call toward feeling, response, novelty.

  • This allows for “divine encounter” to be possible at every scale—not only in prophets or miracles, but in stones and cells, in rivers and songs.


2. Panentheism: God In All, Yet Beyond All

God is in the world and the world is in God, but God is not exhausted by the world.

  • The supernatural is thus not spatially above creation, but intimately woven into its becoming.

  • God is both the source of all potential and the companion of all actuality.

  • The supernatural becomes a name for that within God which lures the world toward greater value, and that within the world which opens up towards God’s lure.


3. Naturalism: Reality as an Open, Living Process

Nature is not a closed system, but an unfinished, relational becoming.

  • Divine action is not a disruption of natural law, but the poetic intensification of possibility within the laws of process.

  • The natural is always more-than-itself: embedded with novelty, creativity, emergence.

  • Thus, supernaturalism is redefined as the sacred potential immanent in the natural worlda participatory cosmos filled with divine invitation.


III. Reoriented Supernaturalism: Key Themes

Old View of SupernaturalismProcessual Reorientation
Intervention by divine forceInvitation through divine lure and internal persuasion
God as wholly OtherGod as relationally transcendent and immanently near
Suspension of natural orderEmergence from within nature’s openness
Power over naturePower through relational resonance
Rare, miraculous eventsOngoing divine participation in all becoming

IV. Faith as Participation in the Process

A processual faith is lived not in certainties but in covenantal participation:

  • Trusting that each moment contains the lure of the Divine.

  • Listening for the voice of the Spirit not in thunder, but in process—in possibility, in pain, in persistence.

  • Acting in harmony with divine aims: justice, compassion, and beauty.

This faith feels the sacred in the ordinary, hears the eternal in temporal things, and walks with God not above the world, but within its unfolding path.


V. Conclusion: Theopoetics of the Supernatural in Process

What once was called “supernatural” is not abandoned.
It is redeemed—
No longer an alien force,
But a sacred depth in every flame, every form, every face.

Supernaturalism, panpsychism, panentheism, and naturalism are no longer opposites—but converging expressions of a single truth:

  • That God is not outside reality.

  • God is the sacred pulse of realityalways luring, always feeling, always becoming.


Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Searching for Bonhoeffer: "The Rise of Bonehoeffer"

Pastor Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer




EPISODE 01: Searching for Bonhoeffer
The Rise of Bonehoeffer Podcast



Sep 17, 2024Join Dr. Jeffrey Pugh & Dr. Tripp Fuller as they delve into the complex life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The story flashes forward to a powerful juxtaposition: on February 1, 1933, two days after Hitler became Chancellor, both men addressed Germany. Hitler promised to restore national pride, while Bonhoeffer warned against creating an idol out of a leader. How did Bonhoeffer come to see the Nazi threat while so many others didn't? This episode begins the story by turning to his early life, his burgeoning critiques of National Socialism, and how his family, education, and travels deeply influenced his evolving theology. Discover how Bonhoeffer's early liberal theological perspectives, grappling with German nationalism, eventually led him to challenge authoritarianism and develop a profound ethical and theological stance against the Nazi regime.

Want to learn more about Bonhoeffer? Join our open online companion class, The Rise of Bonhoeffer, and get access to full interviews from the Bonhoeffer scholars, participate in deep-dive sessions with Tripp and Jeff, unpack curated readings from Bonhoeffer, send in your questions, and join the online community of fellow Bonhoeffer learners. The class is donation-based.


Featured Scholars in the Episode include:

Victoria J. Barnett served from 2004-2014 as one of the general editors of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, the English translation series of Bonhoeffer's complete works. She has lectured and written extensively about the Holocaust, particularly about the role of the German churches. In 2004 she began directing the Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum until her retirement.

Andrew Root is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together, Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The Congregation in a Secular Age, Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Church after Innovation, and The End of Youth Ministry? He is a frequent speaker and hosts the popular and influential When Church Stops Working podcast.

Robert Vosloo is professor in Systematic theology at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and a senior researcher at the Beyers Naudé Center for Public Theology at the same institution. His most recent book is entitled Reforming Memory: Essays on South African Church and Theological History.

Gary Dorrien is Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. He is also the author of Anglican Identities: Logos Idealism, Imperial Whiteness, Commonweal Ecumenism, Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition, American Democratic Socialism and In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent.


Who Is Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer remains one of the 20th century's greatest theologians and witnesses to radical faith. He was a German pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship has been described as a modern classic.

Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison and later Flossenbürg concentration camp. After being accused of being associated with the July 20th plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was quickly tried and then hanged on April 9, 1945 as the Nazi regime was collapsing, 21 days before Adolf Hitler committed suicide.


ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS: You can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays are available on the Class Resource Page.

COST: A course like this is typically offered for $250 or more, but we invite you to contribute whatever you can (including $0) to help make this possible for everyone!


* * * * * * *
AI Overview
Dialectical theology is a Protestant theological approach that emphasizes the difference between God and humans; and that God is unknowable to humans. It's also known as neo-orthodoxy or theology of crisis.

Here are some characteristics of dialectical theology:
  • Transcendence of God - Dialectical theology focuses on God's transcendence and the idea that God is beyond human comprehension.
  • Opposition between God and humans - Dialectical theology emphasizes the difference between God and humans, and that humans' attempts to overcome this difference are "sin".
  • Faith over reason - Dialectical theology holds that God is unknowable to humans through reason, and that faith must replace reason.
  • Paradoxical nature of Christian existence - Dialectical theology emphasizes the paradoxes and ambiguities of Christian existence.
  • Reaction to liberal theology - Dialectical theology developed after World War I as a reaction against 19th-century liberal theology.
  • Reevaluation of Reformation teachings - Dialectical theology re-evaluated the teachings of the Reformation, which had been in decline since the late 18th century.
German theologian Karl Barth introduced dialectical theology in his 1919 Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.
-----
AI Overview
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's dialectic theology is based on a number of ideas, including:
Lutheranism
Bonhoeffer's theology is grounded in the objective Word of God in Christ, and he summarized his own view of the human situation as "simul justus et peccator" (both justified and a sinner).
Costly grace
Bonhoeffer differentiated between "cheap grace" and "costly grace" in his book The Cost of Discipleship. "Cheap grace" is the grace that Lutheranism has tended to preach, while "costly grace" demands obedience and true discipleship.
Christology
Bonhoeffer's Christology begins with the assertion of Christ as the authoritative Logos of God. This high Christology allowed him to oppose Nazi policies that violated the command of Christ.
Revelation
Bonhoeffer believed that God's truth is revealed even through fallible words spoken or written by human instruments, such as the apostles.
Church and State
Bonhoeffer believed that Church and State should limit each other in one reality under Christ.
Theology of grace
Bonhoeffer embraced Barth's theology of grace revealed in Jesus Christ as the Word of God.
Dialectical reading of Paul
Bonhoeffer realized that his dialectical reading of Paul was open to abuses, as evident in the Lutheran church of his day.

 

* * * * * * *


Study Resources

A Theology of Divine Calling in Light of Karl Barth, A.N. ...
Scholarship @ Claremont
https://scholarship.claremont.edu › viewcontent
by KTC Cheung · 2022 — The theology/philosophy of Karl Barth, A. N. Whitehead, and Meister Eckhart is utilized. They represent three distinctive theological forms: revelational, ...

---


---


* * * * * * *




Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most significant Protestant theologians of the twentieth century, a legacy sealed by his imprisonment in a German concentration camp and eventual execution. His resistance against Nazism and pivotal role in the Confessing Church movement have been key points of illumination for many on the nature of Christian political witness and action. Millions have been inspired by his rich reflections on the Christian life, especially his beloved works on discipleship and ethics. As a professor, seminary leader, and ecumenical theologian, Bonhoeffer's work also profoundly shaped academic theology, especially systematic theology, and the life of the church.




Using the acclaimed Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English translation and adapted to a more accessible format, these new editions of Discipleship, Ethics, Letters and Papers from Prison, and Life Together feature the latest translations of Bonhoeffers works, supplemental material from Victoria J. Barnett, and insightful introductions by Geffrey B. Kelly, Clifford J. Green, and John W. de Gruchy.

Originally published in 1937, Discipleship soon became a classic exposition of what it means to follow Christ in a modern world beset by a dangerous and criminal government.

Life Together gathers Bonhoeffers 1938 reflections on the character of Christian community, based on the common life experienced at the Finkenwalde Seminary and in the Brothers House there.

Ethics embodies the culmination of Dietrich Bonhoeffers theological and personal odyssey and is one of the most important works of Christian ethics of the last century.

Letters and Papers from Prison presents the full array of Bonhoeffers 19431945 prison letters and theological writings, introducing his novel ideas of religionless Christianity, his theological appraisal of Christian doctrines, and his sturdy faith in the face of uncertainty and doubt.

This four-volume set of Bonhoeffers classic works allows all readers to appreciate the cogency and relevance of his vision.

* * * * * * *


Karl Barth, 1965

BRITANNICA
World War I to the present - European Lutheranism

At the beginning of the 20th century, European Lutheranism remained divided between liberal and conservative wings. It was also marked by varying degrees of loyalty toward the 16th-century Lutheran confessions. The experience of World War I, which was widely understood by theologians as demonstrating the bankruptcy of optimistic theological liberalism, triggered both a conservative reaction and an interest in interconfessional cooperation.

Most Lutheran theologians followed the general reorientation of Protestant theology away from liberalism and toward a synthesis between religion and culture, theology and philosophy, and faith and science. Known as “dialectic theology” in Europe and “neoorthodoxy” in North America, this movement emphasized the “otherness” of God and the pivotal importance of the Word of God. The key theologian of neoorthodoxy was the Reformed theologian Karl Barth of Germany and Switzerland. As Barth’s theological premises, which related all divine revelation to Jesus Christ, became increasingly clear [other more liberal] Lutheran theologians such as Werner Elert and Paul Althaus developed an analogous conservative Lutheran perspective based on a traditional understanding of Martin Luther’s thought.

The end of World War I also brought the disestablishment of the Lutheran churches as state churches in Germany. The constitution of the Weimar Republic provided for the separation of church and state, though it granted Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches continued modest privileges. Unhappiness with the Weimar Republic, along with the political conservativeness of most Lutheran leaders and Luther’s concept of the orders of creation (see below Church and state), contributed to the acceptance of Nazi notions by many Lutherans when Adolf Hitler became German chancellor in January 1933.

The ensuing crisis in the Lutheran churches in Germany arose as a result of the efforts of one pro-Nazi church, the German Christians (Deutsche Christen), to obtain control of the Lutheran regional synods in Germany. The German Christians propounded a Christianity devoid of any Jewish influence (they rejected the Old Testament and declared Jesus to have been Aryan); they also advocated a single, centralized Protestant church in Germany, an objective that contradicted the long-standing tradition of autonomous regional synods but was subtly supported by the Nazi government.

In 1934 Lutheran church leaders and theologians joined Reformed leaders to form the Pastors’ Emergency League, out of which came the Barmen Declaration (see Barmen, Synod of). This statement affirmed traditional Protestant doctrine and led to the formation of the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche), which comprised pastors and congregations loyal to traditional confessional standards. The remainder of the decade was marked by continued theological and political confrontation between the confessionally minded camp and the German Christians. This controversy, known as the German Church Struggle, led a minority of Lutheran church leaders, such as Martin Niemöller, a decorated World War I submarine captain, to question the legitimacy of the Nazi regime; some, including the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, even became active in the anti-Nazi opposition.

By the middle of the 20th century, European Lutheranism continued to enjoy privileged status in several traditionally Lutheran countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany). Regular church attendance, however, was declining, and more and more people formally left the church. The number of church members declined slowly during the first three decades of the century, dwindled dramatically in Germany during Nazi rule, and continued to decline through the rest of the century.


The Theology and Ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019
Presenter: Professor Lori Brandt,
Hale of Augsburg University