Relevancy22: Contemporary Process Christianity: Post-Evangelic Topics and Theology

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

Friday, November 17, 2023

The Collected Papers of Process II - of Philosopher & Theologian Andrew M. Davis

The Collected Papers of Process II

Philosopher & Theologian Andrew M. Davis

Claremont School of Theology,

Religion: Process Studies,

Program Director, The Center for Process Studies

website

BOOKS

PAPERS - View PDF's here

"Possibility, Value and Mind: The Entangled Heart of Keith Ward's Philosophical Theology."

"On Helping God By Becoming God."

"God, Value and Ontological Gratitude: On the Axiological Foundations of Worship"

"Whiteheadian Cosmology Mediating Newton and Plato"

"The Emergence of Whitehead's God"

"Methodological Trajectories in Process Theology"

"Immortalities in Process Perspective: Hartshorne, Suchocki, Griffin, Ford"

"Griffin, Loomer and Process Theodicy"

"God and Creativity in Whitehead's Philosophy"

"Transcendence and Immanence as Basic Comparative Categories in Islam and Hinduism"

"Some Pluralistic Resources in the World's Religious Traditions: Judaism, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism"

"Hinduism and Buddhism in Basic Comparative Perspective"

"Methodological Approaches in Comparative Religion: Cantwell Smith, Ward, Bracken, Thatamanil"

"Comparative Resources Approaching Buddhist-Christian Ultimacy: Knitter, Abe, Cobb, Panikkar"

"The Integrative Coherence of Divine Mentality in Griffin and Ward"

"Platonic 'Forms,' Divine 'Ideas' and the Christian Inheritance of Middle Platonism"

"From Dangerous Idea to Gift: The Significance of Evolution for God in Some Modern Theologies"

"Some Questions and Themes in the Theology of Creation"

"Anatheism and the 'Panentheistic Turn'"

"Christian Natural Theology in Cobb and McGrath"

"Theodicy: The Problem Evil and Three Modern "Solutions" in Hick, Plantinga and Griffin"

"Some Historical Approaches of Atheism: Functionalism, Logical Positivism, Existentialism, Cognitive-Evolutionary"

"Religious Pluralism in Hick, Knitter, Heim and Griffin/Cobb"

"Non-Reductive Theories of Religion: James, Whitehead, Otto, Eliade"

"Arguments for God and Divine Attributes: A Select Survey"

"A Few Key Questions in Science and Religion"

"Emerging From the Silence: FASPE in Personal Retrospect"

"Aliens Not So Alien: Platonic Entities, Divine Realities and Shared Extraterrestrial Values"

"Divine Wilder/ness: Nature, Panentheism and Eco-Theological Ethics"

"The Divine 'Whence' of Absolute Dependence: Schleiermacher and the Panentheist Tradition"

"The Lure of What Could Be: Divine-Human Entanglements in Potentiality, Actuality and Mentality"

"Crossing the 'Religious-Mystical Bridge' into God: Panentheism, Pluralism and Inter-Experiential Dialogue"

"Evil, Suffering and the Anatheistic Worth of Panentheism"

"God Was in Christ: Whitehead and Process Christology"

"Ambiguities in Panentheism: Definitions, Distinctions and Demarcations"

"A Whirlwind of Theodicies: A Closer Look at Plato, Hick and Swinburne"

"Zarathustra: Ideological Innovations of an Iranian Revolutionary"

"Transcendent and Immanent Trajectories in Islam and Hinduism"

"Hinduism and Buddhism in Comparative Perspective"

"To Critique and Rescue: The Aim of Metaphysics and the Question of Auschwitz in Adorno and Whitehead"

"The Wall Between Them: 'Misplaced Concreteness' in Israel-Palestine"

"Evil, Power and Divine Butterflies"

"The State of Nature in Hobbes, Locke & Rousseau"

"The Riddle of God and Man"

"Nature, History and the Question of Teleology"

"God, Power and the Shadow side of Creation ex nihilo"

"Losses of Greek Thought in the Meeting of Athens and Jerusalem"

"Qur'anic Refinements to Biblical Anthropomorphism: A Comparative Exposition"

MEDIA - View Videos here

Andrew Davis - Process Theology:

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project

Elvi Bjorkquist - Process Thought, Aesthetic Qualities, and Beyond

...TO VIEW VIDEO PLEASE SUBMIT A DONATION OF SOME AMOUNT.

THIS WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE 2023 YEAR OF ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE

WHICH IS A LOT AND WELL WORTH THE EXPENDITURE...

Process Thought, Aesthetic Qualities, and Beyond

Elvi Bjorkquist, Artist, Graphic Designer,

and Graduate of the Cobb Institute Certificate Program

RR: Cobb & Friends Gathering: Elvi Bjorkquist

Cobb Institute

To View Video - Sign up at Cobb Institute: Here is the Video Link -

https://cobb.institute/meeting-recordings/meeting-recordings-2023/

Elvi's Design Group - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elvibjorkquist

Elvi's FB Page - https://www.facebook.com/elvi.bjorkquist/

Brief Bio

Former Owner/Principal at Elvi Design Group
Former Owner at Cultural Expeditions, inc.
Studied M.div. & M.A. Religion/philosophy at Iliff School of Theology, Denver
Lives in Denver, Color

Papers

Counter-Hegemonic Aesthetics and Spiritual Transformation In the Viceroyalty of Peru

Elvi pic print.tiff

Books

Process Thought and Universal Art, 2023

I will show the connection between Art and Process thought of Whitehead. Whitehead also believes that aesthetic apprehension is complementary to scientific apprehension and helps to complete it. He believes that deeply felt intuitions highlight and illumines nature and that there are multiple ways of knowing and can be jointly affirmed and harmonized. Thinking is actually a form of feeling; aesthetic wisdom and rational inquiry are complementary. Both can be contexts in which people discover higher ideals in which to live and give a sense for the mystery and beauty of the universe, it becomes a means to the end of cultural transformation. Art can play a part in a direct interaction of Asian texts like the Upanishads, Bhagavadgita, the Buddhist scriptures, and the Taoist canon with the Christian biblical text. This education explores forms that enliven the minds and hearts of students leading them to healthy cultural transformation. This leads to everyone listening to each other in a spirit of respect and humility, and learn from each other with a willingness to be changed themselves.

Inspire Philosophy & Process Art - Kids Island Nursery

Open Horizons - Process Thought & Spiritual Decentering

What is process philosophy and who is Alfred North Whitehead?

Process Philosophy Art

Saatchi Art

Saatchi Art

Andrew Davis - The Becomingness of Cosmology

Amazon link

The Meeting of Alfred North Whitehead and Steven J. Dick on God, Extraterrestrial Life, and Cosmic Destiny

In Metaphysics of Exo-Life, Andrew M. Davis offers a constructive philosophical response to historian Steven J. Dick’s “naturalistic cosmotheology” from within the process metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead. Davis articulates how Dick’s six core principles of cosmotheology, developed over the last two decades, can be substantially deepened when inversely approached through Whitehead’s organic metaphysics. Detailing how Whitehead’s aesthetic cosmotheological realism addresses significant metaphysical problems wedded to Dick’s proposal, Davis develops six alternative principles that include Dick’s naturalistic intuitions, but also transcend key conceptual and explanatory limitations of his antirealist cosmotheology. The result is a deeper Whiteheadian cosmotheology in a universe pervaded with life, mind, and meaning.

In Appendix A, Davis makes a case for the inclusion of process theology in current and future discussions of God and extraterrestrial life by reviewing a variety of neglected statements made by past and present process philosophers and theologians, including core thematic affirmations that emerge. Appendix B republishes Lewis S. Ford’s pioneering 1968 article “Theological Reflections on Extraterrestrial Life” as the first sustained consideration of the topic from the perspective of process philosophy and theology.

...TO VIEW VIDEO PLEASE SUBMIT A DONATION OF SOME AMOUNT.

THIS WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE 2023 YEAR OF ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE

WHICH IS A LOT AND WELL WORTH THE EXPENDITURE...

RR: Cobb & Friends Gathering: Andrew M. Davis

Cobb Institute

To View Video - Sign up at Cobb Institute: Here is the Video Link -

https://cobb.institute/meeting-recordings/meeting-recordings-2023/

This discussion may originally be found here in several

fuller articles beginning from last to first in chronology:

Andrew David - Process Cosmology

Process Cosmotheology and the Biological Universe, Part 4 - Andrew Davis' Response to Steven Dick's Naturalistic Cosmology

Process Cosmotheology and the Biological Universe, Part 3 - Steven Dick's Naturalistic Cosmology

Process Cosmotheology and the Biological Universe, Part 2 - A New Philosophic-Theology

Process Cosmotheology and the Biological Universe, Part 1 - Why a Process-based Universe is Essential

CI - Course Offering: Whitehead's Process Philosophy by Andrew Davis

Andrew David - Process Cosmology

Amazon link

This book newly articulates the international and interdisciplinary reach of Whitehead's organic process cosmology for a variety of topics across science and philosophy, and in dialogue with a variety of historical and contemporary voices.

Integrating Whitehead's thought with the insights of Bergson, James, Pierce, Merleau-Ponty, Descola, Fuchs, Hofmann, Grof and many others, contributors from around the world reveal the relevance of process philosophy to physics, cosmology, astrobiology, ecology, metaphysics, aesthetics, psychedelics, and religion.