Toward Ecological Community & Civilization in Process Thought

As always I seem to be playing a little catch up with major events happening right under the bubble of economic/political news-events I never hear about or see. So here again I find another series of amazing discussions going on all around me while I am absorbed in my little worlds far, far away!

Not many years ago I obtained a Master Naturalist certification through Michigan State University's Community Extension School in which I became better acquainted with the green (land) and blue (water) ecological organizations in my area - locally, publicly, educationally, and in civic-minded townships, cities, and rural municipalities.

Certainly the linkages between these groups can be immense and wide as they are occurring everywhere at once not only in West Michigan where I live but across North, Central and South America. I found this to be true again when my wife and I travelled south to Mexico for a short vacation. There I saw glimpses of how the ancient Mayan people of the Yucatan Peninsula were trying to care for the land and water they depend despite the deep interruptions occurring across major commercial corridors of development. Like the efforts of many citizens in West Michigan, we hope to make an impact as we can upon the lives and consciousness of our fellow neighbors, communities and industrialists.

During the latter half of 2017 last year I began posting many articles on Process Thought in its derivative forms of Process Philosophy and Process Theology begun under the thinking of Alfred North Whitehead at the start of the 20th century. Much of this thinking is now being applied fundamentally towards what is known as "ecological societies" committed to "saving the earth" by re-envisioning how postmodern civilizations might live in harmony with one another as well as care for the precious resources we must share and cultivate with one another known as air, land and water. I find this heartening against the hard, cold facts of America's current Trumpian government's purposeful actions of denying and destroying everything necessary to restoring good earth practices back into our sphere/realm of influences and with our trading neighbors in general.

And so it is with great encouragement that I discovered a group of internationalists thinking along these same lines examining our behaviors and compacts with one another - how we might begin to improve our practices of consumption, reduce our ecological footprint upon this earth, and what it might mean to integrate human civilization into regional - if not global - green/blue communities.

Below is a list of topics and titles from the best of Whiteheadian thinking on ecological civilizations. Here is a world of envisioned alternative realities occurring from the best minds and hearts of progressive, process-based thinking by global citizens committed to humanity's best self rather than its too-often uglier side showcased in industrial pollution, oppressive governments, or nationalised militarization.

Yes. There can be another way. Another vision. A better reality than the one this world has made for itself. As a Christian I believe it begins with Jesus by following his code of love and goodwill. And from this ethic of belief to extend it both forwards and backwards into the recreation of renewed biotic communities of this earth we inhabit through the means of a Land Ethic once beautifully described by Aldo Leopold as inspiration to the efforts of all those who would heal the harms and wounds we have left upon so much of what we have touched. These are the grand visions and deep burdens of  people around the world. Visions and burdens to see practiced by humanity in its reforming legacies of international cooperation, communication, peace, love and harmonious care for one another and this old earth.

R.E. Slater

March 11, 2018

Information on this year's 2018 Ecological 

Civilization Conference:

http://postmodernchina.org/blog/event/12th-international-forum-on-ecological-civilization/

Ecological Civilization and Symbiotic Development

Conference Purpose

It is no secret that both China and the world are facing many disturbing problems today, and that we are heading in the direction of an ecological catastrophe. Finding an alternative to the current form of modernization has become an urgent issue. What are the root causes of the current crisis? What are the philosophical, political, economic, and cultural foundations of this crisis? How do we step out of this predicament and avoid destroying the earth’s ecosystems? Are there alternatives to the Western civilization that has formed the modern era? Is a new civilization—an ecological civilization―possible? What is “ecological civilization”? What are its philosophical foundations and its social, political, and economic implications? What kinds of kinds of sustainable practices are emerging today that may help us to create an ecological society? What kind of role can China play in creating an ecological civilization? The 12th International Forum on Ecological Civilization will contribute fresh reflection on these burning questions from an organic, relational, non-dualistic perspective that is far more congenial to classical Asian thinking in general, Chinese in particular.

Cosponsors:

This Conference will be hosted by the Institute for Postmodern Development of China, EcoCiv, the Center for Process Studies, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, The South China Institute of Environmental Science, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Huanghe Science and Technology College, and others.

Plenary speakers:

John B. Cobb, Jr., David Korten, Holmes Rolston , Philip Clayton, Steven Rowe, Clifford Cobb and others will speak at this conference

Main Topics:

I. Core Theoretical Issues concerning Ecological Civilization

• What is “ecological civilization”?
• What are its philosophical foundations?
• What are its social, political, and economic implications?
• Ecological Civilization and Symbiotic Development
• Ecological Civilization and Organic Thinking
• Marxist Ecological Thought
• Constructive Postmodernism and Ecological Marxism
• Organic Marxism and Ecological Marxism
• Process Philosophy and Ecological Civilization
• Chinese Traditional Culture and Ecological Civilization

II. Constructing Ecological Civilization

• How can we create an ecological civilization?
• Ecological Civilization and Green Development
• Ecological Civilization and Eco-cities
• Ecological Civilization and Ecological Agriculture
• Ecological Civilization and Ecological Economy
• Ecological Civilization and Green Community
• The Construction of Ecological Civilization in China
• Constructing Ecological Civilization around the World
• How to Tell the Story of Ecological Civilization: The Role of Ecological Literature
• Ecological Civilization and Green Language

III. Ecological Civilization and Education

• Ecological Civilization and Education Reform
• Ecological Civilization and Educational Innovations
• Ecological Civilization and Ecological Education
• Ecological Civilization and Education with Roots
• Ecological Civilization and Organic Education

Call for Papers

If you are committed to creating an ecological civilization and have interest in any of the above topics, you are invited to contribute a paper to the conference. Please submit a 1500 word abstract of your proposed conference paper. The deadline to submit your abstract is Feb. 28, 2018.

Contact Info:

Institute for Postmodern Development of China, USA
Email: eco-conference@postmodernchina.orgTel：909-450-1658
Fax: 909-621-2760

Toward Ecological Civilization Series

http://postmodernchina.org/blog/event/12th-international-forum-on-ecological-civilization/

This series proposes that the work of Alfred North Whitehead provides the best alternative to the pervasive worldviews that now threaten our civilization with catastrophe. His comprehensive and rigorous philosophy provides the more organic, relation, integrated, nondual, and processive conceptuality needed to support the emergence of an ecological civilization.

This series is connected with the 10th International Whitehead Conference, held June 4-7, 2015, in Claremont, California. The conference, called “Seizing an Alternative,” convened international presenters and work groups from every major field in the sciences and humanities to explore a sustainable way forward for the Earth and its inhabitants. Continuing the work of the conference is Pando Populus–a platform created as a forum for events, discussion, education, and community – sometimes in physical, always in virtual, space.

Books in this series:

• An Axiological Process Ethics, Rem B. Edwards
• Panentheism and Scientific Naturalism, David Ray Griffin
• Organic Marxism, Philip Clayton and Justin Heinzekehr
• Theological Reminiscences, John B. Cobb, Jr.
• Integrative Process, Margaret Stout and Jeannine M. Love
• Replanting Ourselves in Beauty, Jay McDaniel & Patricia Adams Farmer, eds.
• For Our Common Home, John B. Cobb, Jr., & Ignacio Castuera, eds.
• Whitehead Word Book, John B. Cobb, Jr.
• The Vindication of Radical Empiricism, Michel Weber
• Intuition in Mathematics and Physics, Ronny Desmet, ed.
• Reforming Higher Education in an Era of Ecological Crisis and Growing Digital Insecurity, Chet Bowers
• Protecting Our Common, Sacred Home, David Ray Griffin
• Educating for an Ecological Civilization, Marcus Ford and Stephen Rowe, eds.
• Socialism in Process, Justin Heinzekehr and Philip Clayton, eds.

Ecological civilization

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ecological civilization is the final goal of environmental reform within a given society. It implies that the changes required in response to global climate disruption are so extensive as to represent another form of human civilization, one based on ecological principles. Broadly construed, ecological civilization involves a synthesis of economic, educational, political, agricultural, and other societal reforms toward sustainability.^[1]

Although the term was first coined in the 1980s, it did not see widespread use until 2007, when “ecological civilization” became an explicit goal of the Communist Party of China (CPC).^[2][3] In April 2014, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the International Ecological Safety Collaborative Organization founded a sub-committee on ecological civilization.^[4] Ecological civilization emphasizes the importance of a long-term perspective on the current climate crisis, the need for major environmental reforms, and the need to reimagine the nature of society after these reforms.^[1]

History

In 1984, former Soviet Union environment experts proposed the term “Ecological Culture” (экологической культуры) in an article entitled “Ways of Fostering Ecological Culture in Individuals under the Conditions of Mature Socialism" which was published in Scientific Communism, Moscow, vol. 2.^[5] A summary of this article was published in the Chinese newspaper the Guangming Daily, where the notion of ecological culture was translated into Chinese as 生态文明 (shēngtài wénmíng), or ecological civilization.^[6]

Two years later, the concept of ecological civilization was picked up in China, and was first used by Ye Qianji (1909–2017), an agricultural economist, in 1987.^[7][8] Professor Ye defined ecological civilization by drawing from the ecological sciences and environmental philosophy.^[9]

The first time the phrase “ecological civilization” was used as a technical term in an English-language book was in 1995.^[10] Roy Morrison, an environmentalist, coined the phrase in his book Ecological Democracy, writing that “An ecological civilization is based on diverse lifeways sustaining linked natural and social ecologies.”^[11]

The term is found more extensively in Chinese discussions beginning in 2007.^[2][3] In 2012, the Communist Party of China (CPC) included the goal of achieving an ecological civilization in its constitution, and it also featured in its five-year plan.^[1][12] In the Chinese context, the term generally presupposes the framework of a “constructive postmodernism,” as opposed to an extension of modernist practices or a “deconstructive postmodernism,” which stems from the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida.^[1]

Both “ecological civilization” and “constructive postmodernism” have been associated with the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.^[1] David Ray Griffin, a process philosopher and professor at Claremont School of Theology, first used the term “constructive postmodernism” in his 1989 book, Varieties of Postmodern Theology.^[13]

The largest international conference held on the theme “ecological civilization” (Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization) took place at Pomona College in June 2015, bringing together roughly 2,000 participants from around the world and featuring such leaders in the environmental movement as Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, John B. Cobb, Jr., Wes Jackson, and Sheri Liao.^[14]

Since 2015, the Chinese discussion of ecological civilization is increasingly associated with an “organic” form of Marxism.^[1] “Organic Marxism” was first used by Philip Clayton and Justin Heinzekehr in their 2014 book, Organic Marxism: An Alternative to Capitalism and Ecological Catastrophe.^[15] The book, which was translated into Chinese and published by the People’s Press in 2015, describes ecological civilization as an orienting goal for the global ecological movement.^[16]

A defence of ecological civilization as the ultimate goal of humanity, has been mounted by Arran Gare in The Philosophical Foundations of Ecological Civilization: A Manifesto for the Future, ^[17] which was published in 2016.

See also

• Deep ecology
• Ecological crisis
• Ecological economics
• Ecological modernization
• Ecomodernism
• Environmentalism
• Environmental movement
• Sustainability

References

1. Zhihe Wang, Huili He, and Meijun Fan, "The Ecological Civilization Debate in China: The Role of Ecological Marxism and Constructive Postmodernism—Beyond the Predicament of Legislation", last modified 2014, Monthly Review, accessed November 1, 2016.
2. Zhang Chun, "China's New Blueprint for an 'Ecological Civilization'", last modified September 30, 2015, The Diplomat, accessed November 1, 2016.
3. James Oswald, "China turns to ecology in search of ‘civilisation’", last modified August 3, 2016, Asian Studies Association of Australia, accessed November 1, 2016.
4. Zhu Guangyao, "Ecological Civilization: A national strategy for innovative, concerted, green, open and inclusive development", last modified March 2016, United Nations Environment Programme, accessed November 1, 2016.
5. Липицкий, В. С., "Пути формирования экологической культуры личности в условиях зрелого социализма," Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 12, Теория научного коммунизма 2 1984: p43.
6. 张擅, “在成熟社会主义条件下培养个人生态文明的途径,” 光明日报, 18th February 1985.
7. 中国生态农业奠基人108岁叶谦吉教授在重庆仙逝
8. Arran Gare, [1], in Chromatikon V: Yearbook of Philosophy in Process, ed. Michel Weber and Ronny Desmet (Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain, 2009): 167.
9. Jiahua Pan, China's Environmental Governing and Ecological Civilization (Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2016), 35.
10. Jiahua Pan, China's Environmental Governing and Ecological Civilization (Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2016), 34.
11. Roy Morrison, Ecological Democracy (Boston: South End Press, 1995), 11.
12. John B. Fullerton, "China: Ecological Civilization Rising?", last modified May 2, 2015, Huffington Post, accessed November 1, 2016.
13. John B. Cobb, Jr., "Constructive Postmodernism", 2002, Religion Online, accessed November 1, 2016. See David Ray Griffin, William A. Beardslee, and Joe Holland, Varieties of Postmodern Theology (Albany, State University of New York Press, 1989)
14. Herman Greene, "Re-Imagining Civilization as Ecological: Report on the 'Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization' Conference", last modified August 24, 2015, Center for Ecozoic Societies, accessed November 1, 2016.
15. "Spotlight: Organic Marxism, China's ecological civilization drive in spotlight at int'l conference", last modified May 1, 2016, Xinhua News Agency, accessed November 1, 2016. See Philip Clayton and Justin Heinzekehr, Organic Marxism: An Alternative to Capitalism and Ecological Catastrophe (Claremont: Process Century Press, 2014).
16. Philip Clayton and Justin Heinzekehr, Organic Marxism: An Alternative to Capitalism and Ecological Catastrophe, trans. Xian Meng, Guifeng Yu, and Lixia Zhang (Beijing: The People's Press, 2015).
17. Jhttps://www.routledge.com/The-Philosophical-Foundations-of-Ecological-Civilization-A-manifesto-for/Gare/p/book/9781138685765

Structuring Theological Revolutions

I came across this article yesterday and thought to pass it along. Basically it confirms what we have been doing here at Relevancy22 for the past many years in discovering an updated contemporary theology more congruent with today's church and world.

Peace and Mercy this Advent Season -

R.E. Slater
December 14, 2016

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The Structure of Theological Revolutions

http://postbarthian.com/2016/12/12/structure-theological-revolutions/

Theology develops over time—it seems obvious to me, but I have friends who disagree. Every theological doctrine has a history, beginning with the first person to think it and describe it, and then it is refined over centuries by many others. Hans Küng keenly compares the development of theology to the development of science in his excellent book, the Theology for the Third Millennium.

Küng says that Thomas S. Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions applies to theological development. Science has developed through different models over time; the Ptolemaic model was replaced by the Copernican model, and then Newtonian model replaced it, and then the Einsteinian model replaced it, and so on. Each scientific model was made obsolete by later models that described the world more accurately. Küng says that theology has gone through the same revolution of models, such that the Augustinian model was replaced by the Thomistic model and then was replaced by the Reformation model, and so on. Each theological model improves upon the previous model and supplants the previous models.

The conclusion is that abandoning the Reformation model to return to a previous model such as the Augustinian or Thomistic models, would be tantamount to turning back from modern science such as the Einsteinian model to follow obsolete models such as the Ptometiac scientific model. Protestant theology is always returning to the bible, ad fontes, but never regressing entirely to outmoded theological models. We return to the Bible to advance our theological understanding of the Bible, but not to reject theological development, and nor to return to obsolete theological models of long ago.

Hans Küng on Theological Revolutions

In physics we can now distinguish between a Ptolemaic, a Copernican, a Newtonian, and an Einsteinian macromodel. Couldn't we make an analogous distinction in theology between a Greek-Alexandrian, a Latin-Augustinian, a Medieval-Thomistic, a Reformation, and one or several modern-critical interpretive models? [...]

Thus in physics, there would be macromodels for general scientific solutions (such as the Copernican, Newtonian, or Einsteinian model), mesomodels for the solution of medium-range problem areas (such as the wave theory of light, the dynamic theory of heat or Maxwell's electromagnetic theory), and the micromodels for scientific solutions of detailed problems (such as the discovery of X-rays).

The theological analogy for this would be macromodels for general solutions (the Alexandrian, the Augustinian, the Thomist, the Reformation model), mesomodels for the solution of intermediate problem areas (doctrine of creation, grace, the sacraments), and micromodels for solutions of detailed problems (doctrine of original sin, the hypostatic union in Christology). [...]

Even very well scrutinized "classical" theories like those of Newton or Thomas Aquinas have proved inadequate and in need of overhauling. There is no reason, then, to absolutize a method, a blueprint, or model. Instead we have every motive for an unrelenting new search, for permanent criticism and rational supervision: on the way through pluralism to even greater truth. [1]

References:

[1] Küng, Hans. Theology for the Third Millennium: An Ecumenical View. New York: Doubleday, 1988. 134-35. Print.

Phase III - Building a Postmodern Theology that is both Weak and Apocalyptic

Initially entitled:

Comparisons between Postmodern Christianity, Radical and Liberal Theology

 

by R.E. Slater

July 26, 2013

 

As Americans, we have read our view-of-the-world from an American perspective within the pages of Scripture. A perspective that is robust, militant, and rigorously individualistic. So when reading the Bible, or thinking of the God of Scriptures, we tend to believe God as robust (He can do anything as a controlling force in the universe and in our lives); that God is militant (God's truth-and-righteousness will win out as we, His divine minions, bow to His almighty will and rage economic, political, and ideological warfare upon the world-at-large); and God is rigorously individualistic (God will do what God will do, ultimately encapsulated in our conscripted reading of the Hebraic idiom "I AM whom I AM").

Our American churches have likewise acquired this selective method of reading God's Word within its congregations gained from the perspective of all our past wars and industrial feats of technical prowess. Beginning with the American Revolution and proceeding forwards through the 20th century's major world wars, America has shown a commitment to a number of regional warfares waged upon cultures vastly different from our own. Each war demanding newer technologies, more efficient distribution and logistical solutions, and a populace at one with itself in the face of its perceived enemy. In effect, America has been fighting for the human rights, liberties and equality, of not only itself, but for other societies as well, through its democratized republic full of purpose-and-will. Similarly, we have read these primal American idealisms backwards into Israel's Old Testament struggles with her surrounding heathen neighbors as they fought-and-warred with one another over the many, many, long centuries.

Certainly, we do not wish to discount the American ideal of Life, Liberty, and Equality. And indeed, from the reports we've read, many who live beyond America's borders would wish those majestic qualities upon themselves benighted within oppressive countries of totalitarianism, hopeless states of unending abject poverty, and the cruel forms of slavery everywhere abounding. Moreover, we are not so naïve as to disbelieve that these forms of oppression, poverty, and slavery do not also exist within America's borders itself, even though we still tend towards the idealisms of Americanism as expressed by our national motto of Life, Liberty, and Equality for All. And because of its importance to us, these idealisms have also influenced our reading of the Bible, our understanding of God, and how we might conduct ourselves in this world as we  have perceived and constructed it.

Hence, our more popular theologies found within American churches tend towards a high view of Calvinism that emphasizes God's strength, power, and will; an absolutist call of Christ to enforce our perspective of God and Scriptures upon all nations, religions, and faiths unlike ourselves; and a strict humanism that is both secular and individualistic as a means to encompass our views and objectives. Which brings us to the idea of postmodernism. An idea that rejects modernity in its egresses; that disdains the secularity our American churches have embraced; that wishes to temper our view of an all-controlling God in the face of natural disasters which have left us horrified by the suffering left in their wake; that cannot comport with man's wickedness and evil when small children are shot and killed; or, when sex slavery is dismayingly discovered running rampant throughout our American cities; and questions whether we Americans are truly the Masters-of-our-Fate in the strident courses of our business ethics when money and politics are involved.

Postmodernity looks at modernity's shortcomings and says that maybe there is another way. We see that in our kids who have endured two recent Global Recessions (2001-2004 and 2008-2010); lived in a constant state of terrorism and terroristic acts (both within our American homeland and abroad); grew up with the knowledge that American is at war with somebody over something at all times; have seen the failures of their homes broken beneath the weight of workaholic mom-and-dads, domestic abuse and anger, and the shallowness of material wealth; and the results of addictions within a society placing a heavy emphasis on hedonistic behavior. These kids then do something amazing. Something which is totally unexpected by us, their parents, teachers, coaches, civil magistrates, and youth workers. They become unlike us. They center on the truer values of ethics again. They reach out in compassionate projects of service to those in need. They see the circus of career, job and dollar, and ask if whether life might offer more than these things. They show to us a color-blindness towards race, gender equality, and same-sex marriage. And they become intensely interested in the ecological health of this world that is burgeoning with over-population and the scarcity of resources, time, and production.

Yes, postmodernism is here (and more likely merged into a form of post-postmodernism by now). And yes, with its coming some important questions have arisen as to whether our Americanized view of God and the Scriptures might be a little askew of where they should be for the church today. Thus my interest in producing Relevancy22 beginning in the late spring of 2011. Phase I found my first six months questioning my Evangelic roots as I witnessed well-meaning Christians venting Calvinistic and Reformed views upon Rob Bell's book, Love Wins. It was not pretty and gave me time to reflect and react upon the state of Evangelicalism itself rather than on Rob's book in particular. At which time I chose to balance the subject off by speaking to the themes of God's love (relational theism), arminianism (which emphasizes prevenient grace and human free contra Calvinism), a non-coercive divine sovereignty (as opposed to meticulous sovereignty), missional pluralism (reaching beyond our enculturated gospel) and many other classic doctrines gone askew in the hands of an over zealous Evangelicalism within whose womb I had grown up. It gave me a chance to percolate and become up-to-date with Christianity's more popular forms of expression.

After the first six months I slipped into what I would call Phase II and began writing about a more expansive expression of Christianity that was less sure about things, more in doubt of itself, and more willing to explore supposedly "non-classical" doctrine as it was deemed by those who were clearly laying claim to a very narrow selection of preferred dogmas.... Even though they were just as clearly wrong though I knew it not at the time I began. This was my deconstructive phase where I more-or-less moved towards a form of Emergent, Postmodernism in a re-interpretive (or reconstructive) understanding of God and Scriptures. And which, in many ways, I am still even now pursuing. However, in my continued interest in enlarging my personal and interpretive hermeneutic of Scriptures, I have come to what I might call Phase III of this re-interpretive project to re-write a more current postmodern understanding of God and the Scriptures (that is, a Postmodern Theology if you well).

Hitherto I have written only a few articles about God's weakness (known as "weak theology") and our correspondent responsibilities as followers of Jesus in light of God's preference that His Church now act in His place as His divine substitute, answer, and source of repentance, reclamation, rebirth, renewal, and resurrection . Nor have I written enough (if anything) about eschatology - especially from an apocalyptic angle that is radical and revolutionary (if not even anarchistic to our global societies' posthuman secularisms). Moreover, I wish to continue to explore a kind of anthropologic hermeneutic that synchronizes God's Love and Divine Sovereignty with Jesus' radical presence, death, and ministry through the Holy Spirit. For this I will need to look into Radical Theology as expressed most recently through the past 150 years of German Idealism before mashing it into an Emergent, Postmodern framework of discussion. (By definition, a radical theology is any faith teaching that clashes with the standard faith teaching of the time.... You see this with the prophets in the OT, with Jesus in the NT (John the Baptist, the Apostles, and early Church), and with any believer wishing to speak to the egresses of the believing community. Radical Theology is not new - but in its contemporary forms is always new - as it recalls one-and-all back to God's heart of purpose and living.)

 

Thus, as I have time to research and write, I wish to explore the ideas of Hegel, Ricouer, Heidegger, Tillich, Derrida, Zizek, and Caputo. Now don't be alarmed because even Karl Barth needed to interact with the Continental Philosophers of his day in order to produce his guiding theologies that God had laid upon his hear for the church-of-tomorrow. And having done that, had produced innumerable theologians who have spawned countless workers for the harvest of the gospel. But if we do not think through these issues, than Christianity will become irrelevant to the countless masses of men and women seeking a better spoken biblical theology than the one we are presently seeing in print and in media (mostly what I see disturbs me - thus my passionate articles and blog).

Hence, we have laid before us a worthy task if done right. And if not undertaken, than I'm afraid that we will see some lesser mutations of God's Word become popularized to the harm of Christian orthodoxy's sustainable presence. And yes, it is true, that we will be moving from Christian orthodoxy's Medieval classical expressions of itself (founded upon Greek thought at the time) even as we also move away from its Reformational and Evangelical expressions of itself (founded upon the Enlightenment and later-arising Modernity), to a Postmodern expression for the 21st Century. Thus we will be no less guiltless of interacting with our present world than past godly men and women who had wished to do the same however the spirit we might ascertain. And though creedalism and confessional theology is a bad word among postmodernists, I also realize that we are symbolic creatures that will need help in remembering who God is, and what He intends. Thus, as a historic Christian I do not wish to forgot those past statements of classically-inspired orthodoxy and creedal-sacramental confessionalism, but to build on top of them towards a newer, more contemporary expression for today.

But it will also require a more expansive hermeneutic than the one we presently are witnessing under Evangelicalism's more popularly acclaimed literalistic (if not dogmatic) reading of God's Word that is restricting today's church to time-bound, modernal interpretations of Scripture.... Interpretations that I've reacted to over these past two years to little avail.... But if done right, might allow us to see God better, along with better envisioning God's will for His Church today in this life of ours. While perhaps avoiding the many nuanced expressions of a segmented Christianity fractured by too many conflicted dogmas and stylisms; interpretive preferences and bigoted statements; and generally refusing to embrace the radical reversalisms found in Jesus' teachings and ministries. At least this is my hope as I explore Weak Theology and Apocalypticism for the postmodern orthodox church of the 21st Century.

By God's grace I have awaken from my dogmatic slumber and would wish the same for God's church today as it arises to the conflicts lying within herself and this world's conflicted needs. And by God's grace I wish to begin by re-introducing postmodernism's relationship with radical theology in comparison with liberal theology from a more positivistic plane of biblical discussion than from the more cursed anathemas that the church has heaped upon either. At the last, I am learning not to be afraid of words as I once was taught. For I am finding words to be quite helpful when re-contextualized outside of the phrases of religious men and institutions. Words that can help provide the freedom of expression I could not find earlier until creating mine own. And especially when formed around the person of Jesus and His Word rather than around the extra-biblical dogmas and folklored, Christianized religion I grew up within. It has not been for naught these past two years of writing that I have written about my faith in a more expansive form than formerly presented in mine own life of study, worship, and observation. And if you have not yet had a chance to catch up then mark this date because Phase III has begun as we build towards a postmodern theology that is both weak and apocalyptic and unafraid to rethink what a biblical Christianity might really mean shed of its pretentious statements and debilitating words. Thank you for your consideration.

 

R.E. Slater
July 26, 2013

 

 

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Postmodern Christianity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_Christianity

 

from Wikipedia

 

Postmodern Christianity is any form of Christianity which has been influenced by postmodern philosophy. Although it is a relatively recent development within Christianity, some Christian postmodernists assert that their style of thought has an affinity with foundational Christian thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, and famed Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart and Angelus Silesius.

 

In addition to Christian theology, postmodern Christianity has its roots in post-Heideggerian continental philosophy, developed ca. 1960s to present.

 

Some people who eschew the label "postmodern Christianity" because the meaning of the term "postmodern" is frequently debated, even between those who use the label. Therefore some say [who?] it has almost no determinate meaning and, in the United States, serves largely to symbolize an emotionally charged battle of ideologies. Moreover, such alleged postmodern heavyweights as Jacques Derrida and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe have refused to operate under a so-called postmodern rubric, preferring instead to specifically embrace a single project stemming from the European Enlightenment and its precursors. Nevertheless, postmodern Christianity and its constituent schools of thought continue to be relevant.

 

 

Liberal Christianity

Main article: Liberal Christianity

 

Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, has an affinity with certain current forms of postmodern Christianity, although postmodern thought was originally a reaction against mainstream Protestant liberalism. Liberal Christianity is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically informed movements and moods within 19th and 20th century Christianity.

 

Despite its name, liberal Christianity has always been thoroughly protean. The word "liberal" in liberal Christianity does not necessarily refer to a leftist political agenda but rather to insights developed during the Enlightenment. Generally speaking, Enlightenment-era liberalism held that humans are political creatures and that liberty of thought and expression should be among the highest human values. The development of liberal Christianity owes much to the works of philosophers Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schleiermacher. Overall, liberal Christianity is a product of a continuing philosophical dialogue.

 

In the 19th century, self-identified liberal Christians sought to elevate Jesus' humane teachings as a standard for a world civilization freed from cultic traditions and traces of "pagan" belief in the supernatural.[1] As a result, liberal Christians placed less emphasis on miraculous events associated with the life of Jesus than on his teachings. The effort to remove "superstitious" elements from Christian faith dates to intellectual reformist Christians such as Erasmus and the Deists in the 15th–17th centuries.[2] The debate over whether a belief in miracles was mere superstition or essential to accepting the divinity of Christ constituted a crisis within the 19th-century church, for which theological compromises were sought.[3]

 

[As an extreme example],the Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was Thomas Jefferson's effort to extract the doctrine of Jesus by removing sections of the New Testament containing supernatural aspects as well as perceived misinterpretations he believed had been added by the Four Evangelists.

 

Many 20th century liberal Christians have been influenced by philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. Examples of important liberal Christian thinkers are Rudolf Bultmann and John A.T. Robinson.

 

 

Christian existentialism

Main article: Christian existentialism

Søren Kierkegaard

Christian existentialism is a form of Christianity that draws extensively from the writings of Søren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard initiated the school of thought when he reacted against Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's claims of universal knowledge and what he deemed to be the empty formalities of the 19th century church. Christian existentialism places an emphasis on the undecidability of faith, individual passion, and the subjectivity of knowledge.

 

Although Kierkegaard's writings weren't initially embraced, they became widely known at the beginning of the 20th century. Later Christian existentialists synthesized Kierkegaardian themes with the works of thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, and Martin Buber.

 

Paul Tillich, Lincoln Swain, Gabriel Marcel, and John Macquarrie are examples of leading Christian existentialist writers, building upon a legacy of neo-orthodox thinkers like Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, who similarly disdained the propositionalism of traditionalist Protestantism.

 

 

Continental philosophical theology

 

Continental philosophical theology is the most recent form of postmodern Christianity. The movement was fueled heavily by the slew of notable post-Heideggerian philosophers that appeared on the continent in the 1970s and 1980s. Groundbreaking works such as Jean-Luc Marion's God Without Being and John D. Caputo's The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida ushered in the era of continental philosophical theology.

 

Radical orthodoxy

Main article: Radical orthodoxy

 

Radical orthodoxy is a form of continental philosophical theology that has been influenced by the phenomenological writings of French Catholic philosopher Jean-Luc Marion.

 

Radical orthodoxy is a style of theology that seeks to examine [and maintain] classic Christian writings and related Neoplatonic texts from a contemporary, philosophically continental perspective. The movement finds in writers such as Augustine of Hippo and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite valuable sources of insight and meaning relevant to modern society and Christianity at large.

 

John Milbank and James K.A. Smith are leading proponents of radical orthodoxy.

[Radical orthodoxy is substantially different from Radical Theology. The former wishes to resurrect classical Christian doctrine in postmodern dress, while the latter wishes to push on beyond classical Christian expression using postmodern thinking and hermeneutics. - res]
 

 

Hermeneutics of religion

See also: Biblical hermeneutics

 

The hermeneutics of religion is another form of continental philosophical theology. The system of hermeneutic interpretation developed by Paul Ricœur has heavily influenced the school of thought. A central theme in the hermeneutics of religion is that God exists outside the confines of the human imagination. Richard Kearney is a prominent advocate of the movement.

 

Non-dogmatic theology (weak theology)
Main article: Weak theology

 

Weak theology is a manner of thinking about theology from a deconstructive point of view. The style of thought owes a debt to Jacques Derrida, especially in light of his idea of a "weak force." Weak theology is weak because it takes a non-dogmatic, perspectival approach to theology. Proponents of weak theology believe that dominant contemporary explications of theology are inherently ideological, totalizing, and militant. In response, weak theology expresses itself through acts of interpretation.

 

According to Caputo, the distinctive reinterpretive act of weak theology has resulted in the notion of the weakness of God. In the body of thought, the paradigm of God as an overwhelming physical or metaphysical force is regarded as mistaken. The old God-of-power is displaced with the idea of God as an unconditional claim without force. As a claim without force, the God of weak theology does not physically or metaphysically intervene in nature. Weak theology emphasizes the responsibility of humans to act in this world here and now. Because God is thought of as weak and as a call, weak theology places an emphasis on the "weak" human virtues of forgiveness, hospitality, openness, and receptivity. In each of these virtues, a metaphoric "power of powerlessness" is at work.

 

John D. Caputo and Gianni Vattimo have recently completed works that further develop the idea of a weak theology. Earlier, liberation theologians such as Jurgen Moltmann also dealt with concepts such as the kenotic, or self-emptying nature of God in Christ.