Christian Militaristic Imagery & it's Influence on the Christian Faith, Part 1

Christian Militaristic Imagery

& it's Influence on the Christian Faith

Part 1

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT 5

"Onward, Christian Soldiers" is a 19th-century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, and the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. Sullivan named the tune "St Gertrude," after the wife of his friend Ernest Clay Ker Seymer, at whose country home he composed the tune. The Salvation Army adopted the hymn as its favoured processional. The piece became Sullivan's most popular hymn. The hymn's theme is taken from references in the New Testament to the Christian being a soldier for Christ, for example II Timothy 2:3 (KJV): "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

Introduction

Christianity is often imagined as a faith of peace and reconciliation, but much of its musical and textual tradition in the 19th and 20th centuries contains strong militaristic imagery - "armor," "soldier," "battle," "victory," "armies," "conquest." While this language can be traced to biblical metaphors (e.g., Paul’s “armor of God” in Ephesians 6), its prominence in modern hymnody and church life was deeply influenced by nationalism, imperial expansion, and the wars of the modern era.

From the 1800s through the late 1900s, Christian worship in the English-speaking world leaned hard on military metaphors. Yet, these terms were not invented in modernity - they echo biblical imagery such as Yahweh as warrior in Exodus 15 - the "armor of God" in Ephesians 6 - and Revelation’s apocalypticism. In the church these images became supercharged with empire imagery - nationalism, mass war, and by extension, missionary expansion.

Biblical hymns and favorite verses became carriers of civic religion - where the nation’s cause and God’s cause blurred. Some communities heard "spiritual struggle" while others heard "a green light for earthly violence".

By the century’s end, pacifist traditions, liberation voices, and process-oriented theologians began to push the usage of military language from the Christian lexicon and to re-center the Sermon on the Mount in it's place.

This project traces how, and why, worship language prefers marching to strong militaristic metaphors in its cultural struggles and "warfare" upon the societies it finds itself within.

1. Biblical and Theological Roots -->

                                    Militaristic Metaphor -->

                                                    Re-literalization of the Christian Faith

• Hebrew Bible - Yahweh as "Warrior" (Exodus 15); Conquest narratives in Joshua; the Royal Warrior psalms resonating in King David (Psalm 144). These bible texts formed Israel’s memory of deliverance under threat. Not a standing license for conquest but they seeded their faith vocabulary with divine power.

• New Testament - Further elucidated the biblical text's shift towards metaphorical combat: Ephesians 6 frames armor of God (Eph 6.10-17) as truth, righteousness, gospel, faith, salvation. In Tim 2.3-4, the faithful remnant of Christ is a good soldier.

• In later centuries the church re-literalized its bible to fit nationalistic or imperial goals. From once stressing the church's spiritual struggle against flesh and blood and other-worldly principalities, to now actively committing warfare upon society itself in authoritarian struggles against national constitutions constructed for pluralistic societies.

• Early Christian communities - often held pacifist stances. Martyrdom was understood as a Christian witness and testimony to Christ. But, in the church's more recent eras Christian witness is understood as supporting civil counter-violence.

• Across history - especially after Constantine, martial metaphors sometimes slid toward the literal sanction of church-state power. But in modernity, that cultural slide now re-appears as churches blending biblical "warfare" with national military goals.

• The idea of separating "church from state" is no longer in vogue. Rather, the church wishes to become the replacement for empire and imperial power. 

2. 19th Century: Empire, Mission & Evangelical Expansion

• Socio-historical backdrop: Victorian British imperial expansion. America's westward push against indigenous tribes and European colonial power. Reciprocating post-Napolenonic European colonial expansion across the New World.

• Socio-missionary movements: Westernized assimilation framed as the evangelization of pagans to "conquer the world for Christ." The accepted Christian language for faith-advance used terms like marching, banners, victory; useful, and quite natural, for promoting Christian imperial culture.

• Hymnbook headliners

  • Onward Christian Soldiers. Written by Sabine Baring-Gould (1865). Originally for a children’s Whitsuntide procession. Quickly became a global anthem of confident Christendom.

  • Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. By George Duffield Jr. (1858). Written after the death of revivalist preacher, Dudley Tyng. Recasts steadfast discipleship as soldierly courage.

  • The Son of God Goes Forth to War. By Reginald Heber (1812). Martyrs are represented as the church’s true soldiers . Bespeaks literal soldierly valor.

  • Occurring earlier, but influential in 19th c. circulation: Soldiers of Christ Arise. By Charles Wesley (1742). Recital of Ephesians 6 and widely reprinted globally.

• Favorite verses in pulpits and mission rallies

  • 2 Timothy 2.3-4. Endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ.

  • Psalm 144.1. Blessed be the Lord my strength who trains my hands for war. Often abstracted from its royal-psalm context.

  • Revelation 19.11-16. Apocalyptic imagery visualizing Jesus Christ on a white warhorse. The imagery gives to the church assurance of history’s final victory over evil when aligning with it's efforts to Christianized civilization. It sees itself as ushering in the Age of the Kingdom as opposed to Christ heavenly work of the same.

• Muscular Christianity - Set in bloody, cruel, and oppressive Victorian imagery , the church imagines itself in bodily vigor, manliness, and moral crusades, against society-at-large much like the Crusades of yesteryear. Adding to the illusion are Church parades, church uniforms and dress, and hymns normalized martial tone in consecrated religion.

3. Early 20th Century: Wars & Sacralized Sacrifice

World War I & II Influence:

Hymns and sermons became overtly patriotic, tying Christ’s cause to national war aims.

• World War I Influence: Churches framed the war as a moral trial; sacrifice on the battlefield was likened to Christ’s sacrifice.

• Hymns in Uniform: Onward, Christian Soldiers, Fight the Good Fight, Lead On, O King Eternal — sung at troop send-offs and memorials.

• Evangelical Role: Billy Sunday preached enlistment as Christian duty. Evangelical hymnals of the period leaned heavily on “battle” themes, reinforcing the war effort.

Cold War Militarism:

• Evangelicals in the U.S. adopted a "spiritual warfare" rhetoric against communism.

• Popular verses such as found in Ephesians 6:11–12 ("Put on the whole armor of God") were used to frame ideological struggle as holy war.

Civil Rights Era and Vietnam War:

• Hymns like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" - originally an abolitionist song, were repurposed for diverse political causes.

• "Victory in Jesus" (1939) became popular in revivalist circles, combining personal salvation with triumphant conquest language.

4. World War II & Cold War Civil Religion Matures as Vocabularies Harden

• Between wars - patriotic services became fixtures - with flags near pulpits - national hymns were sung alongside sacred ones.

• World War II intensified the identification of Axis powers with "evil" and Allied cause with "freedom." Preachers drew on apocalyptic texts to frame a cosmic struggle using patriotic services and flags in sanctuaries.

• Evangelical Role: Billy Graham’s "crusades" framed evangelism within Cold War opposition to "godless communism." Evangelical schools and camps reinforced “armor of God” training for children.

• Hymns and favorites

  • "Battle Hymn of the Republic" surged in public liturgies in a fusion of judgment & justice accompanied by a marching cadence fit for mass mobilization.

  • "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" functioned as a language of resilience against imagined invasion by the world into church culture.

• Ambiguities

  • Some German churches colluded with nationalism - others resisted. The same repertoire could buttress state violence or shelter dissent - showing how context steers interpretation.

5. The Cold War: Anti-Communism & the Rise of Spiritual Warfare

• The 1940s and 50s United States and Allies used their conflict with communism to cast it as a moral and theological war. "Freedom under God" became a civil religious creed.

• Evangelical subculture popularized "spiritual warfare" language - drawing on Ephesians 6, Revelation, and it's language of cosmic dualism pitting God against the powers of evil. Para-church groups used military language of ranks, discipline, and warlike campaign metaphors.

• Favorite verses and songs

  • Ephesians 6 appeared on posters, tracts, and youth curricula.

  • Revivalist and gospel songs like "Victory in Jesus" (1939) fusing it with personal salvation for an overall triumphant-martial affect.

  • Patriotic hymns like "God of Our Fathers" and "My Country 'Tis of Thee" lived inside Sunday services on civic holidays - cementing church - nation linkage.

6. The Civil Rights Era: Vietnam & Counter-Liturgies of Love & Peace

• The 1960s cracked the consensus. Civil Rights leaders often sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as an abolitionist-justice anthem - re-directing "divine glory" towards Black civil liberation - and not at war.

• Tensions: Civil Rights leaders repurposed Battle Hymn of the Republic for justice; peace churches and mainline hymnals softened or removed battle imagery.

• Evangelical Role: White evangelicalism often avoided or opposed Civil Rights, prioritizing “order” over prophetic justice. Many evangelicals supported the Vietnam War, equating antiwar protest with unpatriotic rebellion.

• Vietnam provoked liturgical self-critique in mainline churches so that hymnals were reduced or rephrased in the use of martial language.

• Peace-forward songs entered congregational life

  • "Let There Be Peace on Earth" (1955). A simple, universalist statement orientated toward peace-loving communities.

  • "They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love" (1966) Grounded Christianity identity in love, not conquest.

  • "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace" (A Prayer of St. Francis) was reset in Catholic circles and widely sung across inter-denominations.

• Pacifist traditions such as found in the Mennonite, Quaker, and Brethren, churches offered robust counter-liturgies that emphasized The Beatitudes, loving one's enemy, and emphasizing ministries of reconciliation.

7. Late 20th Century: Moral Majority & Culture Wars

Contemporary praise music diversified the sound but kept some martial tropes - mighty warrior, the army of God, an enemy’s camp. Charismatic deliverance language sometimes mirrored warfare idioms.

Shift to Domestic Enemies: Evangelicals and the Religious Right declared a “war” on secularism, feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion.

Language and Music: “Army of God” motifs in youth rallies, Promise Keepers, Christian media; “enemy” increasingly identified as fellow citizens with differing values.

Editorial pushback grew:

• Several denominational hymnals either dropped "Onward - Christian Soldiers" or footnoted its metaphorical intent.
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• Text changes proliferated, swapping soldiers for people or pilgrims and replacing battle with journey or struggle.

National liturgies around Memorial Day, Independence Day, Remembrance Sunday, kept the civil-religious militaristic thread alive - even within otherwise peace-leaning congregations.

8. 21st Century: Enter MAGA Christianity

• Holy War Politics: MAGA rallies use "armor of God" branding, apocalyptic rhetoric, and worship-like atmospheres for partisan mobilization.

• Internal Enemies: Political opponents, immigrants, and dissenting Christians labeled as threats to the nation’s divine destiny.

• January 6 as Case Study: Shofars, "Jesus Saves" banners, and prayer on the Senate floor alongside violent insurrection.

• Evangelical Role: A large bloc of white evangelicalism now openly fuses faith with nationalist identity, sanctifying political conflict as God’s work.

9. Theological Appraisals: What Militarized Worship Does to People

• Potential goods - when handled as metaphor

  • Names real conflict with evil, injustice, addiction, even despair.

  • Encourages courage - perseverance - communal solidarity.

• Recurrent harms - when metaphor fuses with state or tribe

  • Confuses the church’s mission with national goals - baptizing violence as vocation.

  • Moves towards legitimizing domination, victory, and humiliation of enemies, rather than seek reconciliation, healing repair, or love of enemy.

  • Marginalizes the Sermon on the Mount re sentiment "the ends justify means."

• Constructive correctives

  • Girardian readings warn that sacred violence hides scapegoating.

  • Liberational, feminist, postcolonial, and process theologies insist that divine action is persuasive, relational, noncoercive, and that Christian formation should habituate peacemaking, truth telling, and repair.

10. Text, Tune & Translation: How Editors Re-Arm the Bible

• Common edits in late 20th century hymnals

  • “Lead On - O King Eternal” - lines about “holy warfare” retuned to “holy calling” or “holy mission.”

  • “Onward - Christian Soldiers” - omitted in some books - or reframed with notes about spiritual - not physical - conflict.

  • “Stand Up - Stand Up for Jesus” - softened terms like “ye soldiers of the cross” in some editions to broader discipleship language.

• New classics are reoriented towards peace, justice, and community repair

  • “For Everyone Born - a Place at the Table” - inclusive ethics over conquest.

  • Global song - Taizé chants - Iona Community hymns - that center lament - healing - and pilgrimage more than battle.

• A Scriptural reframing in lectionaries and preaching

  • Emphasis on Isaiah 2 - Micah 4 - Matthew 5 - Romans 12 - 2 Corinthians 5 (ministry of reconciliation) - to pull the center of gravity from conquest to communion.

11. Cultural Mechanics: Why Martial Metaphors Remain

• March music captivates people. The meters and cadences of martial songs produce mass solidarity and resolve.

• The visual spectacle of flags, uniforms, and processions create a sense of emotional identity and belonging.

• The simplicity of binary framing, of "us versus them," is cognitively regenerative... that is, it is easily mapped onto the human psyche and easily relevant to spiritual growth if communities are not vigilant.

• Print capitalism and mass media including cheap hymnals, motivating radio crusades, even emotionally moving television services, can easily spread a shared militarized repertoire at scale across the gospel of Christ affecting church beliefs and doctrines.

12. Research Project: Review, Code & Compare

• Corpus - assemble hymnals from 1800s to 2000s across denominations - plus major revival songbooks - praise compilations - and liturgical books.

• Tagging - annotate lyrics for military lexemes (battle - soldier - victory - conquer - armor - enemy - sword - banner) versus peace lexemes (peace - shalom - reconcile - heal - mercy - justice - repair).

• Timeline - map frequency trends against historical events - wars - imperial milestones - civil rights - and denominational statements.

• Scripture usage - compile sermon collections - tract literature - evangelistic manuals - and curricula - then count verse usage - especially Ephesians 6 - 2 Timothy 2 - Psalm 144 - Revelation 19 - Isaiah 2 - Matthew 5.

• Case studies - a British parish - an American mainline church - an American evangelical megachurch - a Mennonite congregation - to show how context redirects the same texts.

• Outcome - a comparative matrix that reveals not only shifts in words - but shifts in affections - practices - and communal ethics.

13. Constructive Proposals: De-militarizing Church Language

Without Flattening Zeal and Courage

• Keep moral seriousness - swap weapons for virtues - courage - fidelity - patience - truthfulness - solidarity.

• Retrain the “enemy” concept - target systems of harm - not persons - and always hold open the door for enemy conversion.

• Rebalance the canon - pair every Ephesians 6 reading with Matthew 5 - every Revelation vision with the Lamb’s nonviolent witness.

• Lament and healing - normalize songs of grief - confession - and communal repair so worship is not only triumphal.

• Embodied practices - peacemaking liturgies - foot washing - reconciliation testimonies - community organizing blessings - to give courage a non-military shape.

Conclusion: What We Have Learned & Where to Take It

Across two centuries, militarized language in Christian worship rose with the idea of Western empire. It then hardened in both civic and spiritual warfare, maturing under the combined auspices of civil+religion.

From this grew a chorus of alternative Christian denouncement and critique urging peacemaking traditions and theologies centered on relational, persuasive, divine action of God. The biblical mustard seed of re-statement likewise used metaphorical language to inspire its Christian ideals: using metaphors of armor as virtues, victory as love’s perseverance, the conquering Lamb as the One who suffers love.

And yet, modernity repeatedly re-literalized the metaphors to infect and bind church affections to national power.

Presently, the remaining remnant of the church's task is not to purge courage - but to redirect it towards proper targets. A de-militarized worship still names evil, still calls for resolve, still charges people to risk comfort, status, and even safety for the good of neighbor and enemy alike.

However, the non-martial church simply just stops all references and training of Christians from warlike endeavor to calls to action to love, to healing, to reconciliation. These are the real Christian victories and not nationalized power, cruelty, nor oppression of one's fellow man.

Gospel Love and Reconciliation re-centers the strange and difficult, violent grammar of the bible, and of the Cross, where power becomes service, where enemies become neighbors, and where the church’s march is a pilgrimage of healing, redeeming, repair.

Developing 21st-Century Process Thought

Developing 21st-Century Process Thought:

A Pragmatic and Philosophical Roadmap

by R.E. Slater and ChatGPT 4/5

Introduction

Process thought, inaugurated by Alfred North Whitehead in the early 20th century, offers a relational and dynamic vision of reality that integrates metaphysics, theology, science, and ethics. As the 21st century unfolds, new challenges and opportunities call for its evolution—not only to address urgent global concerns but also to remain philosophically innovative. This document presents a roadmap for developing a post-Whiteheadian process philosophy and theology that is both pragmatically impactful and intellectually at the forefront.

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Post-Whiteheadian Process Thought: Conceptual Framework

Whiteheadian Core — The Chrysalis

• Reality as unfolding process; creativity as the ultimate category.

• Relational ontology: all entities exist in and through relationships.

• God as dipolar: primordial (eternal possibilities) and consequent (responsive, evolving).

• Divine action as persuasive, never coercive.

• The aim of reality as beauty, harmony, and intensity.

Emerging Extensions — The Unfolding Wings

• Cosmic-interdimensional teleology: engaging speculative cosmology and Many-Worlds.

• Panpsychic incarnating constructs: atoning, redeeming, transforming as universal processes.

• Processual Christology: Christ as archetype of divine-creature co-creation.

• Interfaith pluralism: grounded in process metaphysics.

• Political and social processualism: participatory governance and restorative justice.

• Process–AI synergy: AI as an emerging co-creative partner.

Applications — Where the Wings Take Flight

• Reframing scripture as dynamic narrative.

• Expanding ethics beyond anthropocentrism toward planetary co-creation.

• Metamodern spirituality: balancing tradition and innovation.

• Integrative synthesis with Badiou, Teilhard, Daoism, and Buddhist thought.

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Catalysts for Metamorphosis

• Scientific frontiers: quantum biology, AI consciousness, cosmology.

• Philosophical cross-pollination: speculative realism, posthumanism, metamodernism.

• Ethical crises: climate change, inequality, displacement.

• Experiential shifts: mysticism, contemplative practice, psychedelic research.

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Signs of Transformation

• From discussing process to living process as a planetary method.

• Expanding creativity to include planetary and technological agencies.

• Moving toward cosmo-pluralism.

• Integrating non-binary and quantum logics.

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Other Emerging Layers

• Processual cosmotechnics: embedding ethics in technological development.

• Interdimensional metaphysics: addressing multiple ontological layers.

• Mythopoesis: renewing symbolic language as metaphysical expression.

• Processual praxis: translating relational metaphysics into governance and economics.

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Four Stages of Process Thought

1. Foundational Architecture (1920–1950s)

2. Theological Expansion (1960–1990s)

3. Interdisciplinary Integration (2000–2020s)

4. Meta-Process Era (2025 → …): self-evolving categories responsive to emergent realities.

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The Meta-Process Era

• Cross-pollinations: speculative realism, posthumanism, metamodernism, indigenous and Eastern traditions.

• Expanded categories: creativity inclusive of all agencies; value reframed in cosmo-pluralist terms.

• Practical initiatives: processual diplomacy, economics, cosmotechnics, mythopoetic revitalization.

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Challenges and Opportunities

• Accessibility of resources: leveraging AI for synthesis and connection.

• AI collaboration in mapping, modeling, and extending process categories.

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Conclusion

The future of process thought lies in its ability to adapt, integrate, and inspire across disciplines and cultures. By entering the Meta-Process Era, it can serve as a self-aware, pragmatic, and visionary framework—capable of guiding humanity, technology, and the wider cosmos toward beauty, truth, and justice.

Process Theology & the Westminster Confession of Faith

Process Theology & the

Westminster Confession of Faith

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT 5

Part 1 -

Calvinist and Arminian Traditions: Denominations, Hybrids, and the Politics of Doctrine

Part 2 - Open and Relational Theology in Evangelical & Processual Contexts

Part 3 - Comparisons between Processual and Reformed Soteriologies

Part 4 - Process Theology & the Westminster Confession of Faith (here)

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I.

What is the Westminster Confession of Faith?

The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith that was drafted by the Westminster Assembly in 1646 as part of the Westminster Standards. It was intended to be a confession for the Church of England, but it became the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been widely influential in Reformed and Presbyterian churches globally.

Key aspects of the Westminster Confession:

Reformed Theology:

The confession is rooted in Reformed theology, emphasizing God's sovereignty, the authority of Scripture, and the doctrines of grace.

Doctrinal Framework:

It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding key Christian doctrines, including the nature of God, creation, sin, salvation, the church, and the sacraments.

Influence:

The Westminster Standards, which include the Confession, the Larger Catechism, and the Shorter Catechism, have significantly shaped Presbyterian theology and practice.

Historical Significance:

The confession emerged from the Westminster Assembly, a gathering of theologians and ministers convened during the English Civil War to address religious reforms.

Scriptural Basis:

The Confession is meticulously referenced to Scripture, providing a biblical foundation for its theological claims.

Emphasis on God's Sovereignty:

A central theme is God's absolute sovereignty in creation, providence, and salvation.

Doctrine of Salvation:

The Confession outlines the process of salvation, including God's eternal decree, redemption through Christ, effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, and perseverance.

Sacraments:

It addresses the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, emphasizing their significance in the Christian life.

Church Governance:

The Confession also addresses the nature and governance of the church, including the roles of elders, deacons, and synods.

Civil Magistrate:

It discusses the role and responsibilities of the civil magistrate in relation to religion and the church.

Liberty of Conscience:

The Confession acknowledges the importance of Christian liberty and liberty of conscience, while also addressing the potential for erroneous opinions and practices that may disrupt the peace and order of the church

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II.

What are the Doctrines of the Westminster Confession?

The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) is one of the most influential and foundational doctrinal statements in Reformed theology. It was written in the 17th century (1646-1647) by the Westminster Assembly, a group of English and Scottish theologians and scholars. The confession was developed to provide a unified statement of faith for the Church of England, but it eventually became a key doctrinal document for various Reformed and Presbyterian denominations around the world.

Key Themes and Structure of the Westminster Confession:

1. Scripture
   The confession begins with a strong affirmation of the authority of the Bible. It asserts that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the "only rule of faith and obedience." This means that all Christian belief and practice must be measured by Scripture.

2. God and the Trinity
   It affirms the doctrine of the Trinity, stating that God exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, yet these are one God in essence, undivided in being but distinct in their persons and roles.

3. Creation and Providence
   The confession acknowledges God as the Creator of all things and affirms His ongoing providence in upholding and governing the universe. This includes the belief that God’s providence is at work in all aspects of life, from the natural world to the affairs of individuals.

4. Humanity and the Fall
   It outlines the fall of man, affirming the historicity of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. The confession teaches that all humanity inherited a sinful nature due to the Fall, resulting in total depravity, where every part of the human being—mind, will, and emotions—is tainted by sin.

5. Christ and Salvation
   The WCF places a strong emphasis on the person and work of Jesus Christ. It teaches that Christ, as both fully God and fully man, came to redeem His people through His life, death, and resurrection. His death is seen as a substitutionary atonement, where He bore the penalty for human sin.

6. Justification and Sanctification
   The confession teaches the doctrine of justification by faith alone, affirming that sinners are declared righteous before God solely based on the work of Christ. Sanctification, however, is the ongoing process by which believers are made holy, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in accordance with God's will.

7. Church and Sacraments
   It stresses the importance of the Church as the body of Christ, and outlines the two sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—which are essential practices for the Christian life. The confession describes how the sacraments function as signs and seals of God's covenant with His people.

8. The Last Things
   The WCF outlines a reformed eschatology, teaching the future return of Christ in glory to judge the living and the dead. It affirms the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and the eternal punishment of the wicked.

Influence and Legacy

The Westminster Confession of Faith is highly regarded within Presbyterian, Reformed, and other Calvinistic traditions. It has shaped the doctrinal standards of many churches, including the Reformed Church of America (RCA), the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Church of Scotland, and many other global Reformed denominations.

The confession has also influenced the development of Reformed liturgy, worship, and ecclesiology, and it has been foundational in the formation of many educational institutions and theological frameworks within these traditions.

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III.

Critique of the Westminster Confession of Faith
through the Lens of Process Theology

Process theology offers a distinctive perspective on God, humanity, and the world that is at odds with some key theological concepts in the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), particularly in relation to God's sovereignty, the nature of divine love, and the authority of Scripture. Process thought, particularly as articulated by Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, frames God as relational, evolving, and persuasive rather than all-powerful and unchanging. Below is a critique of the WCF in light of process theology's key elements.

1. God’s Sovereignty in Process Theology

The Westminster Confession holds that God is sovereign, ruling over all creation with absolute authority and control. This sovereignty is closely tied to divine omnipotence, where God's will is often seen as being irresistibly executed in the world. God is depicted as omnipotent, omniscient, and immutable.

Critique from Process Theology:
Process theology challenges the classical understanding of God’s sovereignty as absolute and deterministic. In process thought, God is seen as a persuasive rather than a coercive force in the world. God is not the omnipotent ruler who unilaterally dictates every event in creation but is, instead, a God who influences, guides, and invites creation to grow and evolve.

In process theology, God’s power is not exercised coercively, but is instead persuasive—God works with the world, coaxing it toward higher levels of creativity, beauty, and relational harmony. This framework rejects the idea of God’s omnipotence in the classical sense, as process thinkers argue that the universe is not fully controlled or predetermined by God. The suffering, evil, and chaos present in the world are not seen as being under the direct will of God but are the result of creaturely freedom within the world that God does not fully dictate.

Thus, process theology would critique the Westminster Confession's view of God's sovereignty as overly deterministic, suggesting instead that God’s reign is one of ongoing relationship and mutual influence. God’s power is persuasive rather than coercive, and creation is more dynamic and co-creative, where the future is not fully determined by God but open to possibility and evolution.

2. The Nature of God’s Love in Process Theology

The Westminster Confession asserts that God is loving and that God’s love is central to the Gospel. However, this love is framed within a sovereign, judicial framework, where divine love acts through the substitutionary atonement of Christ, as a way of satisfying divine justice that demands a payment for sin through Christ's sacrifice.

Critique from Process Theology:
In process theology, love is relational and non-coercive. God is seen as the ultimate source of love, but God’s love is not about enforcing legalistic justice or satisfying a divine wrath through penal substitution. Instead, God's love is patient, nurturing, and persuasive, working to heal and transform creation.

Process theology would critique the Westminster Confession's view of love because it implies that God loves only in a compensatory, transactional way, as God's love is bound up in an economy of sin and divine justice that demands satisfaction. In contrast, process theology proposes that God’s love is not transactional but rather relational and ongoing. God is always calling creation toward its highest potential, but the possibility of evil and suffering remains as a result of the creature's freedom and the evolving nature of reality.

The claim that God’s love is ultimate in process theology can be seen as more fully inclusive, not tied to a legal framework of punishment, but understood as transformative in nature. Thus, the Westminster Confession’s framing of divine love is critiqued for being too tied to a retributive justice system that diminishes the relational and co-creative aspects of divine love.

3. The Authority of Scripture

The Westminster Confession holds that the Scriptures are the authoritative Word of God, holding a place of final authority in all matters of faith and practice. The confession also assumes a belief in the infallibility of Scripture, asserting that the Bible is without error in all that it teaches.

Critique from Process Theology:
Process theology does not deny the value of Scripture but offers a different view of its authority. Scripture in process theology is understood as a human document reflecting an evolving understanding of God’s interaction with the world. Rather than seeing Scripture as an infallible, final authority, process theology views the Bible as a collection of living documents that witness to an evolving revelation of God’s presence and activity in history.

Process thinkers argue that God is always in process, and human understanding of the divine is also evolving. This suggests that Scripture is not static but is to be interpreted in light of current knowledge and revelatory progress. The Bible should not be viewed as an inerrant text but as a record of historical struggles, human attempts to understand God, and divine relationality through time.

Process theology's approach would thus critique the WCF’s view of infallibility as too rigid. The Scriptures are seen more as a dialogical text, engaging in an ongoing conversation with the broader reality of human experience and divine evolution. This would make the idea of an infallible Bible less meaningful, as God’s revelation is continuous and not confined to a singular, final moment in time.

4. God’s Immutability

The Westminster Confession affirms that God is immutable, meaning that God does not change in essence or being. This attribute of immutability is tied to God’s sovereignty, justice, and perfection.

Critique from Process Theology:
Process theology radically disagrees with this view of God’s immutability, arguing that God is not unchanging but is ever-evolving, responsive to the world and its unfolding events. God’s nature is dynamic, not static. God’s relationality and creativity are intrinsic to who God is.

For process theology, change is an essential part of God’s being. God evolves with creation, both experiencing and contributing to the creative processes of the world. The idea that God is completely unchanging limits the depth of divine relationality, as it implies a distance between God and creation that is difficult to reconcile with God’s intimate involvement in the world.

In contrast to the Westminster Confession’s emphasis on divine immutability, process theology would critique this attribute as a misunderstanding of divine love, relationality, and evolution, where God’s perfect nature is not static but in continuing process alongside the world.

5. Free Will and Divine Control

The Westminster Confession tends to view human free will within the context of divine providence, where God ordains all events but allows for human freedom within that ordained framework. The tension between divine control and human freedom is seen in terms of God's sovereignty over all things.

Critique from Process Theology:
Process theology allows for genuine human freedom within a relationally open universe. Human freedom is not a mere illusion but a genuine possibility within the parameters of God’s persuasive power. Instead of the rigid determinism of classical theism, process theology posits that the future is open and that God’s power is persuasive rather than coercive.

Process theology would critique the Westminster Confession’s view of free will as too deterministic, as it ultimately places all things under the direct control of God, even while allowing for the illusion of human choice. Instead, process thought would affirm the genuineness of human agency and the relational dynamics between free will and God’s persuasive influence.

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6. Jesus Christ and Atonement Theology in Process Theology

The Westminster Confession of Faith affirms Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA), which teaches that Christ’s death on the cross was a sacrificial act in which Jesus bore the penalty for human sin, satisfying divine justice and reconciling humanity to God. This view is rooted in the sovereign, judicial framework of the Confession, where God’s justice must be satisfied through punishment or payment, with Christ acting as the substitute for sinners.

Critique from Process Theology:
Process theology offers a relational, non-violent interpretation of the Atonement. In process thought, Jesus' life and death are not seen as a transaction that satisfies divine wrath or a payment to appease God’s justice. Instead, Christ’s suffering and death are viewed as expressions of God’s participation in the world’s pain and suffering, showing God's deep solidarity with creation.

In process theology, the cross becomes an act of divine empathy, where God, through Christ, enters into the fullness of human suffering, offering love, healing, and redemptive transformation. Rather than a substitutionary payment, the Atonement is understood as a revealing of God’s luring love to draw creation toward wholeness and healing. Christ's suffering becomes a symbol of divine persuasion that invites humanity to respond to God’s transformative call toward a better, more relational life.

Whereas the Westminster Confession’s view of Atonement is largely based on satisfying a divine justice that requires punishment, process theology shifts the focus to the transformative nature of God’s love and the healing that results from God's continuous invitation to redemption. Christ's atoning work is seen less as a legal transaction and more as a cosmic event that helps to overcome the violence and brokenness of creation.

Thus, process theology critiques the Westminster Confession’s view of Atonement for its substitutionary nature, proposing instead that Christ's death represents God’s solidarity with human suffering, offering healing and reconciliation in a manner consistent with God's relational and persuasive nature.

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7. The Importance of Process Theology in Keeping Christian Commitments to Love and Loving Action

Throughout the history of the Church, Christian doctrine has often been grounded in theological systems that focus on doctrinal precision, divine sovereignty, and absolute truth claims. Augustinianism, Scholasticism, and Reformed theology, for example, often emphasized God’s sovereignty, omniscience, and immutability, sometimes at the expense of a more dynamic, relational understanding of divine love and human engagement with the world. In many eras, the Church’s focus on doctrinal purity led to practices that sometimes disconnected love from action, framing love more as a theological concept than as an active force for social and cosmic healing.

Process theology stands out because it emphasizes that divine love is not just a concept to be debated, but a living reality to be enacted in the world. It offers a vision of God who relationally engages with creation and calls all Christians to actively participate in the divine work of redemption, reconciliation, and creative transformation. The Atonement, for example, is not just a static transaction but a transformational process, one that invites human beings to co-create with God for the betterment of creation.

Importance for Christian Doctrine:

• Process theology keeps Christian commitments to love central to doctrine and action by framing God’s love as active, persuasive, and transformative rather than static or transactional. It encourages believers to live relationally and creatively, actively engaging in the world’s healing rather than retreating into abstract theological categories.

• This approach challenges the historical focus of the Church on institutional power and theological orthodoxy by stressing love as dynamic, relational, and transformational. It aligns the Church’s practice more closely with the Jesus model, where love is not just a doctrinal statement but the active force of redemptive action in the world.

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Conclusion

Grounding Christian doctrine in process theology offers a vision of God and creation that is relational, dynamic, and co-creative, setting it apart from more static, deterministic theological systems. Process theology allows for a deeper and more personal relationship with a loving, persuasive God who is constantly working with creation, guiding it toward fulfillment. In comparison to traditional theological paradigms, process theology offers a hopeful, inclusive, and transformative framework for Christian doctrine, better aligning with the evolving needs of humanity and the world. Through this relational, evolving vision of God, the Church is invited to actively participate in God’s ongoing work of redemption and reconciliation, embracing a theology that is open, adaptive, and responsible in the face of contemporary challenges. Process theology also reinterprets Atonement not as a transaction of divine justice but as a transformative event of divine empathy and relational healing. Most importantly, process theology affirms and grounds the Church’s commitment to love as an active force for healing, redemption, and creative action in the world.

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IV.

The Importance of Grounding Christian Doctrine in Process Theology

Process theology, with its emphasis on relationality, change, and ongoing divine creativity, offers a dynamic, evolving framework for understanding Christian doctrine that is distinct from other major philosophical and theological traditions in the history of the Church. While classical theism, Scholasticism, and Reformed theology have provided robust systems for understanding God's nature and relationship to creation, Process theology offers several key advantages in grounding Christian doctrine for contemporary faith and practice. Here’s why grounding Christian doctrine in process theology is significant compared to other theological traditions:

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1. Relational Understanding of God and Creation

Classical Theism (e.g., in the tradition of Augustine, Aquinas, and later Reformed theology) often presents God as an unchanging, immutable, and omniscient being who exists apart from creation. God’s interactions with the world are generally understood as acts of will or decree. Creation is viewed as a fixed, preordained reality, and God’s will is assumed to direct all outcomes, from cosmic events to individual lives.

Process Theology offers a shift in this paradigm by viewing God as relational, open, and dynamic. God’s power is not coercive but persuasive, and the world is seen as a co-creative process, with God and creation evolving together. This framework allows for a more interactive relationship between God and creation, where human freedom and creaturely participation are integral to God’s work in the world.

Importance for Christian Doctrine:

• A relational God is better able to account for the personal experience of faith, particularly in the context of suffering, prayer, and transformation. God is not a distant observer but an involved participant in creation.

• Christian doctrines of salvation, such as incarnation and redemption, are more congruent with the idea that God is always present, offering transformative influence in every moment and every relationship. God does not just dictate but lures creation toward its potential.

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2. Emphasis on Change, Process, and Redemption

Traditional theological systems like Scholasticism (influenced by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas) and Reformed theology (influenced by John Calvin) tend to emphasize God’s timelessness and immutability, which can lead to a static view of creation and divine action. Atonement, salvation, and divine justice are often framed in terms of divine decree, where human beings are either elected or damned, and redemption is a static declaration.

Process theology, on the other hand, sees the cosmos as dynamic, with creation unfolding through time and God’s presence evolving alongside it. This processual understanding reflects a universe that is in constant becoming, where salvation is seen as an ongoing process of transformation, not merely a legal transaction or a one-time event.

Importance for Christian Doctrine:

• Salvation in process theology is not limited to a singular act of justification but is understood as a transformative relationship, a constant invitation from God to become more fully who we are meant to be in Christ.

• Process theology provides a more open and inclusive approach to salvation, where divine action is seen as relational and adaptive to the evolving needs of creation, rather than a one-time, final declaration of legal righteousness. This resonates more with the biblical narrative of a God who actively works with humanity through time (e.g., the Abrahamic covenant, the life of Christ, and the eschatological fulfillment of God's Kingdom).

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3. Ethical and Moral Implications of Divine Love

In theological systems like Augustinianism, Scholasticism, and Reformed theology, God’s sovereign will often governs human action through prescribed moral laws, where the focus is on obedience and justice, sometimes at the expense of relational love. Divine sovereignty is linked to the imposition of God's will upon creation, and human freedom is often framed within a context of divine predestination or necessity.

Process theology offers a vision of divine love that is relational, non-coercive, and persuasive. God works with creation to bring about justice, beauty, and well-being rather than demanding blind submission. The moral life, in process thought, becomes an invitation to cooperate with God's evolving creation, growing in love and creativity.

Importance for Christian Doctrine:

• Moral teachings in Christianity, such as love of neighbor, compassion, and justice, are better grounded in a dynamic vision of God’s love that invites human participation. Process theology emphasizes cooperation with God’s will in a free and relational manner, rather than focusing primarily on divine punishment or retribution.

• The ethical implications of process theology encourage a participatory ethics, where human beings are seen as active agents in the process of redemption, contributing to cosmic harmony and creational well-being.

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4. A Theological Vision for the Future: Hope and Eschatology

Traditional theological frameworks such as Premillennialism and Postmillennialism (common in Evangelicalism and Reformed theology) often emphasize the future victory of Christ in terms of final judgment and divine sovereignty. The future is framed as a fixed conclusion where divine justice will ultimately triumph over evil.

Process theology, by contrast, offers a hopeful and open-ended eschatology, where the future is not fully determined. God is luring creation toward greater freedom, justice, and peace, but the ultimate fulfillment of God’s purposes is open, involving human responsibility and the creative participation of all creatures. The future of creation is a dynamic process, not a preordained conclusion, where hope is found in ongoing transformation rather than in static victory.

Importance for Christian Doctrine:

• Eschatology in process theology allows for a more hopeful vision of the future, where God's creative action continues to unfold and the possibility of human participation in God’s plan is not only central but essential.

• This future-oriented perspective provides a hopeful framework for living in the present, where human agency and divine action coalesce to bring about a just, loving, and harmonious future. The idea of a cosmic process toward greater flourishing aligns well with Christian notions of redemption and restoration.

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5. Addressing Contemporary Challenges in the Church and the World

In contrast to more static theological systems, process theology addresses contemporary concerns, such as environmental crises, social justice, and technological advancements, in a manner that reflects an evolving, co-creative vision of God and humanity. Other theological traditions may struggle to provide a framework for engaging these issues, often relying on older, more static models that do not fully account for the dynamic nature of the world and the Church’s mission in it.

Importance for Christian Doctrine:

• Process theology encourages the Church to be actively engaged with the world, embracing the dynamic nature of God's ongoing creation. It calls Christians to co-create with God, addressing the challenges of modern life in ways that reflect God’s relational nature and creative power.

• By grounding Christian doctrine in process thought, the Church can embrace a vision of faith that is not only theologically rich but also responsive to the real-time challenges of a rapidly changing world.

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Conclusion

Grounding Christian doctrine in process theology offers a vision of God and creation that is relational, dynamic, and co-creative, setting it apart from more static, deterministic theological systems. Process theology allows for a deeper and more personal relationship with a loving, persuasive God who is constantly working with creation, guiding it toward fulfillment. In comparison to traditional theological paradigms, process theology offers a hopeful, inclusive, and transformative framework for Christian doctrine, better aligning with the evolving needs of humanity and the world. Through this relational, evolving vision of God, the Church is invited to actively participate in God’s ongoing work of redemption and reconciliation, embracing a theology that is open, adaptive, and responsible in the face of contemporary challenges.