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

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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

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Process Christianity vs 21st Century Forms of Christian Gnosticism, Part 1 of 2


Historic Gnosticism article link

Process Christianity vs 21st Century
Forms of Christian Gnosticism
Part 1 of 2

When the church rejects competent philosophic theologies such as Process-based theology (re Whitehead's process philosophy) as discussed in the this past week's four previous articles (Parts 1-4), it can find itself entertaining non-Christian ideas which conflict with the kind of God and outcome faith it seeks to have in Christ Jesus. The various forms of 21st century Christian Gnosticism is one such morass which Christianity can easily find itself influenced by. To help show why I have put forth a two-part discussion on what Gnosticism is and how Christian can react to Gnosticism's sundry influences by using process theology in counterpoint to it's beliefs and teachings.

R.E. Slater
January 12, 2025

AI Overview

Gnosticism is an ancient belief system that has evolved into modern religious movements, known as Neo-Gnosticism. Gnosticism originated in the Jewish-Christian communities of the first and second century CE. Some of its core beliefs include:
  • Dualism
    • The belief in a radical separation between the spiritual and physical, the immaterial and material, and the soul and the body
  • Evil matter
    • The belief that matter is evil, and the material world is dark
  • Divine spark
    • The belief that humans contain a piece of God or divinity within themselves
  • Docetism
    • The belief that Christ never died, and that he was not a fleshly incarnation
Some characteristics of Gnosticism include:
  • Cosmology
  • Monism and dualism
  • Moral and ritual practices
  • Female representation
  • Concepts such as the monad, pleroma, emanation, aeon, Sophia, Demiurge, and Archon

* * * * * *

I am currently exploring Bart Erhman's latest podcast lectures (his earlier lectures have not interested me as much) and though his agnostic(?) approach differs from my own Christocentric theistic center I still find his perspectives generally more helpful than I have thought them to be in earlier years when first developing Relevancy22.
Maybe it's me, or maybe it's him, but Erhman's dissenting voice is offering an outside view of Christianity which helps inform my own "inside" voice of Christianity. I may have similar feelings towards the Christian faith but still hold to the general tenets of the Christianity though now reconstructed to reflect process thought rather than the church's longtime eclectic use of Platonic, Scholastic, or Modernal thought as traditional Christianity has consistently applied itself over the centuries. Thus Christianity's many doctrinal emphasis reflecting those self-same philosophic environments besides the many other "isms" unmentioned here.
R.E. Slater
Decoding Gnosticism:
Secrets of a Heretical Christian Belief

By far the most mysterious, intriguing, and widely-interesting ancient "heresy" was Gnosticism. But what exactly is it and why does it matter? In this episode we consider the basic ideas that lay behind the Gnostic religions and explore just how radically different they are from the views that came to be regarded as orthodox. How could these religions be considered Christian if they didn't think Jesus' death mattered? How could they consider the God of the Old Testament to be a lower level and inferior divinity, and this material universe to be a cosmic disaster? Did Gnostics have their own Scriptures? Did they use the books that later became the New Testament? If so, why didn't they just admit their views were wrong? We will address these and other issues in this exploration of the highly unusual world of Christian Gnosticism.

This week, Bart and Megan talk about:
    • What are some of the commonalities we see in different Gnostic groups?
    • How does Jesus feature in this dualistic, spiritual/material world, and does it play into his identity as divine-human?
    • Where does YHWH, the god of the Hebrew Bible, come into this?
    • Is YHWY the divine being, or an Aeon, or what is God according to Gnostic belief?
    • If it’s the goal of the Gnostics to get back to the Pleroma, how is this to be done?
    • Did the Gnostics use different religious texts from the proto-Orthodox texts?
    • How did proto-Orthodox groups go about combating the Gnostics?
    • How did the Gnostics try and claim that they were correct, versus proto-Orthodox beliefs?
    • How does the afterlife work for Gnostics?
    • Gnostics see the material world as being “hellish”; are there then gradations of heaven?
    • Do we know how the Gnostics went about identifying which people had the spark of Sophia?
    • Do we have a sense of how widespread Gnosticism was in the ancient world?
    • Do you think that the potential widespread nature of Gnosticism owe anything to the mystery cults of the Classical world?
    • Did the Gnostics hold to the theory of atonement, or can we just not know?

* * * * * *

Gnosticism in modern times

Gnosticism in modern times (or Neo-Gnosticism) includes a variety of contemporary religious movements, stemming from Gnostic ideas and systems from ancient Roman society. Gnosticism is an ancient name for a variety of religious ideas and systems, originating in Jewish-Christian milieux in the first and second century CE.

The Mandaeans are an ancient Gnostic ethnoreligious group that have survived and are found today in Iran, Iraq and diaspora communities in North America, Western Europe and Australia.

The late 19th century saw the publication of popular sympathetic studies making use of recently rediscovered source materials. In this period there was also the revival of a Gnostic religious movement in France. The emergence of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 greatly increased the amount of source material available. Its translation into English and other modern languages in 1977 resulted in a wide dissemination, and as a result had observable influence on several modern figures, and upon modern Western culture in general. This article attempts to summarize those modern figures and movements that have been influenced by Gnosticism, both prior and subsequent to the Nag Hammadi discovery.

A number of ecclesiastical bodies that identify as Gnostic have set up or re-founded since World War II as well, including the Ecclesia GnosticaJohannite ChurchEcclesia Gnostica Catholica, the Ecclesia Gnostica Mysterioum, the Thomasine Church (not to be confused with the St. Thomas Christians of India), the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, the Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica, the Gnostic Catholic UnionEcclesia Valentinaris Antiqua, the Cathari Church of Wales, and the North American College of Gnostic Bishops.[1]

Late 19th century

Source materials were discovered in the 18th century. In 1769, the Bruce Codex was brought to England from Upper Egypt by the Scottish traveller James Bruce, and subsequently bequeathed to the care of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Sometime prior to 1785, The Askew Codex (a.k.a. Pistis Sophia) was bought by the British Museum from the heirs of Dr. Askew. The Pistis Sophia text and Latin translation of the Askew Codex by M. G. Schwartze were published in 1851. Although discovered in 1896, the Coptic Berlin Codex (a.k.a. the Akhmim Codex) was not 'rediscovered' until the 20th century.

Charles William King

Charles William King was a British writer and collector of ancient gemstones with magical inscriptions. His collection was sold because of his failing eyesight, and was presented in 1881 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. King was recognized as one of the greatest authorities on gems at the time.[2]

In The Gnostics and their Remains (1864, 1887 2nd ed.) King sets out to show that rather than being a Western heresy, the origins of Gnosticism are to be found in the East, specifically in Buddhism. This theory was embraced by Blavatsky, who argued that it was plausible, but rejected by G. R. S. Mead. According to Mead, King's work "lacks the thoroughness of the specialist."[3]

Madame Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, wrote extensively on Gnostic ideas. A compilation of her writings on Gnosticism is over 270 pages long.[4] The first edition of King's The Gnostics and Their Remains was repeatedly cited as a source and quoted in Isis Unveiled.

G. R. S. Mead

G. R. S. Mead became a member of Blavatsky's Theosophical Society in 1884. He left the teaching profession in 1889 to become Blavatsky's private secretary, which he was until her death in 1891. Mead's interest in Gnosticism was likely awakened by Blavatsky who discussed it at length in Isis Unveiled.[5]

In 1890–1891 Mead published a serial article on Pistis Sophia in Lucifer magazine, the first English translation of that work. In an article in 1891, Mead argues for the recovery of the literature and thought of the West at a time when Theosophy was largely directed to the East, saying that this recovery of Western antique traditions is a work of interpretation and "the rendering of tardy justice to pagans and heretics, the reviled and rejected pioneers of progress..."[6] This was the direction his own work was to take.

The first edition of his translation of Pistis Sophia appeared in 1896. From 1896 to 1898 Mead published another serial article in the same periodical, "Among the Gnostics of the First Two Centuries", that laid the foundation for his monumental compendium Fragments of a Faith Forgotten in 1900. Mead serially published translations from the Corpus Hermeticum from 1900 to 1905. The next year he published Thrice-Greatest Hermes, a massive, comprehensive three volume treatise. His series Echoes of the Gnosis was published in 12 booklets in 1908. By the time he left the Theosophical Society in 1909, he had published many influential translations, commentaries, and studies of ancient Gnostic texts. "Mead made Gnosticism accessible to the intelligent public outside of academia".[7] Mead's work has had and continues to have widespread influence.[8]

The Gnostic Church revival in France

After a series of visions and archival finds of Cathar-related documents, a librarian named Jules-Benoît Stanislas Doinel du Val-Michel (a.k.a. Jules Doinel) established the Église Gnostique (French: Gnostic Church). Founded on extant Cathar documents with the Gospel of John and strong influence of Simonian and Valentinian cosmology, the church was officially established in the autumn of 1890 in Paris. Doinel declared it "the era of Gnosis restored." Liturgical services were based on Cathar rituals. Clergy was both male and female, having male bishops and female "sophias."[9][10]

Doinel resigned and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1895, one of many duped by Léo Taxil's anti-masonic hoax. Taxil unveiled the hoax in 1897. Doinel was readmitted to the Gnostic church as a bishop in 1900.

Early to mid-20th century

Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung evinced a special interest in Gnosticism from at least 1912, when he wrote enthusiastically about the topic in a letter to Freud. After what he called his own 'encounter with the unconscious,' Jung sought for external evidence of this kind of experience. He found such evidence in Gnosticism, and also in alchemy, which he saw as a continuation of Gnostic thought, and of which more source material was available.[11] In his study of the Gnostics, Jung made extensive use of the work of GRS Mead. Jung visited Mead in London to thank him for the Pistis Sophia, the two corresponded, and Mead visited Jung in Zürich.[12]

Jung saw the Gnostics not as syncretic schools of mixed theological doctrines, but as genuine visionaries, and saw their imagery not as myths but as records of inner experience.[13] He wrote that "The explanation of Gnostic ideas 'in terms of themselves,' i.e., in terms of their historical foundations, is futile, for in that way they are reduced only to their less developed forestages but not understood in their actual significance."[14] Instead, he worked to understand and explain Gnosticism from a psychological standpoint. While providing something of an ancient mirror of his work, Jung saw "his psychology not as a contemporary version of Gnosticism, but as a contemporary counterpart to it."[15]

Jung reported a series of experiences in the winter of 1916-17 that inspired him to write Septem Sermones ad Mortuos (Latin: Seven Sermons to the Dead).[16][17]

The Jung Codex

Through the efforts of Gilles Quispel, the Jung Codex was the first codex brought to light from the Nag Hammadi Library. It was purchased by the Jung Institute and ceremonially presented to Jung in 1953 because of his great interest in the ancient Gnostics.[18] The first publication of translations of Nag Hammadi texts occurred in 1955 with the Jung Codex by H. Puech, Gilles Quispel, and W. Van Unnik.

French Gnostic Church split, reintegration, and continuation

Jean Bricaud had been involved with the Eliate Church of Carmel of Eugène Vintras [fr], the remnants of Fabré-Palaprat's Église Johannite des Chrétiens Primitifs (Johannite Church of Primitive Christians), and the Martinist Order before being consecrated a bishop of the Église Gnostique in 1901. In 1907 Bricaud established a church body that combined all of these, becoming patriarch under the name Tau Jean II. The impetus for this was to use the Western Rite. Briefly called the Église Catholique Gnostique (Gnostic Catholic Church), it was renamed the Église Gnostique Universelle (Universal Gnostic Church, EGU) in 1908. The close ties between the church and Martinism were formalized in 1911. Bricaud received consecration in the Villate line of apostolic succession in 1919.[9][10]

The original church body founded by Doinel continued under the name Église Gnostique de France (Gnostic Church of France) until it was disbanded in favor of the EGU in 1926. The EGU continued until 1960 when it was disbanded by Robert Amberlain (Tau Jean III) in favor of the Église Gnostique Apostolique that he had founded in 1958.[19] It is active in France (including Martinique), Ivory Coast, and the Midwestern United States.

Modern sex magic associated with Gnosticism

The use of the term 'gnostic' by sexual magic groups is a modern phenomenon. Hugh Urban concludes that, "despite the very common use of sexual symbolism throughout Gnostic texts, there is little evidence (apart from the accusations of the early church) that the Gnostics engaged in any actual performance of sexual rituals, and certainly not anything resembling modern sexual magic."[20] Modern sexual magic began with Paschal Beverly Randolph.[21] The connection to Gnosticism came by way of the French Gnostic Church with its close ties to the strong esoteric current in France, being part of the same highly interconnected milieu of esoteric societies and orders from which the most influential of sexual magic orders arose, Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of Oriental Templars, O.T.O.).

Theodor Reuss founded O.T.O. as an umbrella occult organization with sexual magic at its core.[22] After Reuss came into contact with French Gnostic Church leaders at a Masonic and Spiritualist conference in 1908, he founded Die Gnostische Katholische Kirche (the Gnostic Catholic Church), under the auspices of O.T.O.[9] Reuss subsequently dedicated O.T.O. to the promulgation of Crowley's philosophy of Thelema. It is for this church body, called in Latin the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC), that Aleister Crowley wrote the Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ Canon Missæ ("Canon of the Mass of the Gnostic Catholic Church"),[23] the central ritual of O.T.O. that is now commonly called the Gnostic Mass.

The Gnostic Society

The Gnostic Society, was founded for the study of Gnosticism in 1928 and incorporated in 1939 by Theosophists James Morgan Pryse and his brother John Pryse in Los Angeles.[24][25] Since 1963 it has been under the direction of Stephan Hoeller and operates in association with the Ecclesia Gnostica. Initially begun as an archive for a usenet newsgroup in 1993, the Gnosis Archive became the first web site to offer historic and source materials on Gnosticism.

Mid-20th century

The Gospel of Thomas, held to be the most complete of the Nag Hammadi texts, is the subject of the book The Mustard Seed by Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho.[26]

Ecclesia Gnostica

Established in 1953 by Richard Duc de Palatine in England under the name 'the Pre-nicene Gnostic Catholic Church', the Ecclesia Gnostica (Latin: "Church of Gnosis" or "Gnostic Church") is said to represent 'the English Gnostic tradition', although it has ties to, and has been influenced by, the French Gnostic church tradition. It is affiliated with the Gnostic Society, an organization dedicated to the study of Gnosticism. The presiding bishop is the Rt. Rev. Stephan A. Hoeller, who has written extensively on Gnosticism.[16][24]

Centered in Los Angeles, the Ecclesia Gnostica has parishes and educational programs of the Gnostic Society spanning the Western US and also in the Kingdom of Norway.[24][25] The lectionary and liturgical calendar of the Ecclesia Gnostica have been widely adopted by subsequent Gnostic churches, as have the liturgical services in use by the church, though in somewhat modified forms.

Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum

The Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum (EGM), commonly known as "the Church of Gnosis" or "the Gnostic Sanctuary," was initially established in Palo Alto by bishop Rosamonde Miller as a parish of the Ecclesia Gnostica, but soon became an independent body with emphasis on the experience of gnosis and the balance of the divine masculine and feminine principles. The Gnostic Sanctuary is now located in Redwood City, California.[24][25] The EGM also claims a distinct lineage of Mary Magdalene from a surviving tradition in France.[27]

Samael Aun Weor in South America

Samael Aun Weor had been a member of an occult order called the Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua, but left after the death of Arnold Krumm-Heller. He reported an experience of being called to his new mission by the venerable White Lodge (associated with Theosophy). Samael Aun Weor taught a "New Gnosis," consisting of sexual union between man and woman, without the ejaculation of the sexual liquid. He called this the Arcanum AZF. For him it is "the synthesis of all religions, schools and sects."[citation needed]

Moving through Latin America, he finally settled in Mexico where he founded the Movimiento Gnostico Cristiano Universal (MGCU) (Universal Gnostic Christian Movement), then subsequently founded the Iglesia Gnostica Cristiana Universal (Universal Gnostic Christian Church) and the Associacion Gnostica de Estudios Antropologicos Culturales y Cientificos (AGEAC) (Gnostic Association of Scientific, Cultural and Anthropological Studies) to spread his teachings.[28]

The MGCU became defunct by the time of Samael Aun Weor's death in December 1977. However, his disciples subsequently formed new organizations to spread his teachings, under the umbrella term 'the International Gnostic Movement'. These organizations are currently very active via the Internet and have centers established in Latin America, the US, Australia, Canada and Europe.[29]

Hans Jonas

The philosopher Hans Jonas wrote extensively on Gnosticism, interpreting it from an existentialist viewpoint.[30] For some time, his study The Gnostic Religion: The message of the alien God and the beginnings of Christianity published in 1958, was widely held to be a pivotal work, and it is as a result of his efforts that the Syrian-Egyptian/Persian division of Gnosticism came to be widely used within the field. The second edition, published in 1963, included the essay "Gnosticism, Existentialism, and Nihilism," where Jonas claimed that attitude previously manifest as ancient Gnosticism was transformed into Nihilism (largely identified as Nazism) by the secular-atheist approach typical of Sartre and Heidegger.[30]

Eric Voegelin's anti-modernist 'gnostic thesis'

In the 1950s, Eric Voegelin brought a German academic debate concerning the classification of modernity to the attention of English-language readers. He responded to Karl Löwith's 1949 Meaning in History: the Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History and Jacob Taubes's 1947 Occidental Eschatology. Voegelin put forward his version of a "gnosticism thesis": criticizing modernity by identifying an "immanentist eschatology" as the "gnostic nature" of modernity. Differing with Löwith, he did not criticize eschatology as such, but rather the immanentization which he described as a "pneumopathological" deformation. Voegelin's gnosticism thesis became popular in American neo-conservative and cold war political thought.[31] The category of gnosticism has been adopted by other scholars to frame several revolutionary phenomena (such as Bolshevism and Nazism, Puritanism, radical Anabaptism, Jacobinism,[32] and lastly Salafi-Jihadism[33]).

Gershom Scholem's Kabbalah as Jewish Gnosticism

Gershom Scholem (5 December 1897 – 21 February 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. Widely regarded as the founder of modern academic study of the Kabbalah, Scholem produced the hypothesis that the source of the 13th century Kabbalah (such as the Zohar) was Jewish gnosticism that preceded Christian gnosticism. For example, in the title of his 1960's Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition.

Late-20th century and 21st century

Neo-Gnostic movement in Finland

Pekka Siitoin founded the Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences (Turun Hengentieteen Seura) on September 1, 1971. Siitoin believed in neo-Gnosticism and Theosophy and combined these with antisemitism and satanism. To him, Lucifer, Satan and Jesus were subordinate to the Monad, and could be worshiped together. Lucifer was a Promethean figure who created the original humanity and granted them wisdom so that they would evolve to be equal to Gods in time, while Jehova-Demiurge created the Jewish race to usurp Lucifer's power and lord over humanity. Siitoin was also influenced by Christian apocrypha, like Gospel of Judas and to him Jesus was an agent of the Monad and Lucifer against the Demiurge.[34][35][36][37] Several of the perpetrators of the Kursiivi printing house arson in November 1977 were members of the society.[38]

The neo-Nazis arrested in the 2021 Kankaanpää terrorism arrests were also inspired by the neo-Gnostic movement and had built a shrine with gnostic symbols and literature.[39]

Dilexit nos

Pope Francis suggests that a modern form of Jansenist rigour which he has criticised in his encyclical letter Dilexit nos can be seen as "a recrudescence of that Gnosticism which proved so great a spiritual threat in the early centuries of Christianity because it refused to acknowledge the reality of 'the salvation of the flesh'." The aim of his letter, which focuses on "the heart of Jesus Christ", is to avoid the danger of withdrawal to a "disambodied spirituality" which treats matter as evil.[40]

Gnosticism has seen something of a resurgence in popular culture in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This may be related, certainly, to the sudden availability of Gnostic texts to the reading public, following the emergence of the Nag Hammadi library.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Taussig 2013, p. 532.
  2. ^ 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
  3. ^ Goodrick-Clarke (2005) p. 8-9
  4. ^ Hoeller (2002) p. 167
  5. ^ Goodrick-Clarke (2005) p. 8
  6. ^ Goodrick-Clarke (2005) pp. 56–57
  7. ^ Hoeller (2002) p. 170
  8. ^ Goodrick-Clarke (2005) pp. 31–32
  9. Jump up to:a b c Pearson, J. (2007) p. 47
  10. Jump up to:a b Hoeller (2002) p. 176-8
  11. ^ Segal (1995) p. 26
  12. ^ Goodrick-Clarke (2005) p. 1, 30-1
  13. ^ Goodrick-Clarke (2005) p. 30
  14. ^ Jung (1977) p. 652
  15. ^ Segal (1995) p. 30
  16. Jump up to:a b Goodrick-Clarke (2005) p. 31
  17. ^ Hoeller (1989) p. 7
  18. ^ Jung (1977) p. 671
  19. ^ Pearson, J. (2007) p. 131
  20. ^ Urban (2006) p. 36 note 68
  21. ^ Urban (2006) p. 36
  22. ^ Greer (2003) p. 221-2
  23. ^ The Equinox III:1 (1929) p. 247
  24. Jump up to:a b c d Pearson, B. (2007) p. 240
  25. Jump up to:a b c Smith (1995) p. 206
  26. ^ Osho (1974). The Mustard Seed – Commentaries on the Fifth Gospel of Saint Thomas. Switzerland: OSHO International Foundation.
  27. ^ Keizer 2000, p. 48.
  28. ^ Dawson (2007) p. 54-60
  29. ^ Dawson (2007) p. 60-65
  30. Jump up to:a b Sariel 2023, pp. 91–122.
  31. ^ Weiss (2000)
  32. ^ Pellicani (2003)
  33. ^ Arrigo (2021)
  34. ^ Western Esotericism in Scandinavia, 2016, p. 326-328. Edited by Henrik Bogdan and Olav Hammer.
  35. ^ Granholm, Kennet. “‘Worshipping the Devil in the Name of God’: Anti-Semitism, Teosophy and Christianity in the Occult Doctrines of Pekka Siitoin”, Journal for the Academic Study of Magic, no. 5 (2009): 256–286.
  36. ^ Pasanen, T. (2021). Christus verus Luciferus, Demon est Deus Inversus: Pekka Siitoin’s Spiritism Board. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 57(2), 181–207. https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.107763
  37. ^ Keronen, Jiri: Pekka Siitoin teoriassa ja käytännössä. Helsinki: Kiuas Kustannus, 2020. ISBN 978-952-7197-21-9
  38. ^ "Pekka Siitoin Was the New Face of Neo-Fascism in Finland [in Finnish]"Finnish Broadcasting Company. 4 May 2015. Archived from the original on 6 May 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  39. ^ "Terrorismirikoksista syytetyt kertovat, miten nimien julkitulo vaikutti työpaikkojen menettämiseen – varat jäädytettiin ja talo meni asumiskelvottomaksi"Kankaanpään Seutu. 5 December 2024.
  40. ^ Flader, J., Q&A with Fr Flader: The Sacred Heart, Jansenism and GnosticismThe Catholic Weekly, published on 13 November 2024, accessed on 10 January 2025
  41. ^ "Granica, która oddziela od światła. Obraz(y) czasu w twórczości Olgi Tokarczuk - Krzysztof Brenskott | Nowy Napis"nowynapis.eu (in Polish). 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2021-10-08.
  42. ^ Daugherty, Leo. "Gravers False and True: Blood Meridian as Gnostic Tragedy," Southern Quarterly, 30, No. 4, Summer 1992, pp. 122–133.
  43. ^ Owens, Barcley. Cormac McCarthy's Western Novels. University of Arizona Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8165-1928-5.
  44. ^ "Behind the Classics: Amy Hennig Talks Soul Reaver Secrets"blog.playstation.com. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  45. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (6 November 2014). "Psycho lizards from Saturn: The godlike genius of David Icke!"NewStatesman. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  46. ^ Aguilar, Father Alfonso (6–12 April 2003). "Gnosticism and the Struggle for the World's Soul"Catholic Education Resource Center. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  47. ^ Flannery-Dailey, Frances, and Rachel Wagner. "Wake up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in the Matrix." Journal of Religion and Film 5.2 (2001).

References

  • Arrigo, Giacomo Maria (2021). Gnostic Jihadism. A Philosophical Inquiry into Radical Politics. Milan: Mimesis International. ISBN 978-8-86977-304-4.
  • Crowley, Aleister (2007). The Equinox vol. III no. 1. San Francisco: Weiser. ISBN 978-1-57863-353-1.
  • Dawson, Andrew (2007). New era, new religions: religious transformation in contemporary Brazil. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-5433-9.
  • Goodrick-Clarke, Clare (2005). G. R. S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-55643-572-X.
  • Greer, John Michael (2003). The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St. Paul: Llewellyn. ISBN 1-56718-336-0.
  • Hoeller, Stephan (1989). The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead. Quest Books. ISBN 0-8356-0568-X.
  • Hoeller, StephanGnosticism: New light on the ancient tradition of inner knowing. Quest Books.
  • Jonas, Hans (1966). “Gnosticism, Existentialism, and Nihilism.” In The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical Biology, University of Chicago Press.
  • Jung, Carl Gustav (1977). The Collected Works of C.G. Jung. Princeton, NJ: Bollingen (Princeton University). ISBN 0-7100-8291-6.
  • Keizer, Lewis (2000). The Wandering Bishops: Apostles of a New Spirituality (PDF). St. Thomas Press.
  • Lasch, Christopher. "Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern: The Religion of the Future?," Salmagundi, No. 96, Fall 1992.
  • Mead, GRS (1906). Fragments of a Faith Forgotten (2nd ed.). Theosophical Society.
  • O’Reagan, Cyril (2001). Gnostic Return in Modernity, SUNY Press.
  • Pearson, Birger (2007). Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-3258-8.
  • Pearson, Joanne (2007). Wicca and the Christian Heritage. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-25414-4.
  • Pellicani, Luciano (2003). Revolutionary Apocalypse. Ideological Roots of Terrorism. Westport: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-98145-2.
  • Rossbach, Stefan (2000). Gnostic Wars, Edinburgh University Press.
  • Sariel, Aviram (2023). "Jonasian Gnosticism". Harvard Theological Review116 (1): 91–122.
  • Segal, Robert (1995). "Jung's Fascination with Gnosticism". In Segal, Robert (ed.). The Allure of Gnosticism: the Gnostic experience in Jungian psychology and contemporary culture. Open Court. pp. 26–38. ISBN 0-8126-9278-0.
  • Smith, Richard (1995). "The revival of ancient Gnosis". In Segal, Robert (ed.). The Allure of Gnosticism: the Gnostic experience in Jungian psychology and contemporary culture. Open Court. p. 206. ISBN 0-8126-9278-0.
  • Urban, Hugh B. (2006). Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in modern Western esotericism. University of California. ISBN 0-520-24776-0.
  • Taussig, Hal (2013). A New New Testament: A Reinvented Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780547792101.
  • Versluis, Arthur (2006). "Eric Voegelin, Anti-Gnosticism, and the Totalitarian Emphasis on Order." In The New Inquisitions: Heretic-Hunting and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarianism, Oxford University Press.
  • Voegelin, Eric (1956). Order and History, Louisiana State University Press.
  • Voegelin, Eric (1968). Science, Politics, and Gnosticism: Two Essays, Regnery Gateway.
  • Voegelin, Eric (1987). The New Science of Politics, University Of Chicago Press.
  • Weiss, Gilbert (2000). "Between gnosis and anamnesis--European perspectives on Eric Voegelin". The Review of Politics62 (4): 753–776. doi:10.1017/S003467050004273XS2CID 144643743. 65964268.
  • Wasserstrom, Steven M. (1999). Religion after religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University. ISBN 0-691-00540-0.

Further reading

  • Styfhals, Willem (2019). No Spiritual Investment in the World: Gnosticism and Postwar German Philosophy. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-3099-3.

Friday, January 10, 2025

Summary: Whitehead's Metaphysical Cosmology, Part 4 of 4


 article link

Summary:
Whitehead's Metaphysical Cosmology

Part 4 of 4: Observations 12-16 

Here in part 4 I wrap up the work a process theologian must do when reconciling the Christian faith and how to read the Scriptures in the many modern, postmodern and metamodern cultural adaptations to faith, science, and culture. As the first two observations, #12 and #13, point out below, the church must better, and more appropriately, respond to it's accumulated knowledge or be forced into the mystical-magical worlds of modern day gnosticism. It is why Whitehead's metaphysical cosmology is so very important for Christian theologians to consider... or for that matter, any religious theologian, whether Christian or not, to grasp and understand as a philosophic-theology which can helpfully navigate many of the problematic dispositions, discussions, and responses conflicting today's faith in the 21st century.
R.E. Slater
January 12, 2025

Observation 12

Let's backup... I mentioned several older philosophical categories utilized by medieval scholasticism, modern scientific enlightenment, German Idealism, and Calvinistic evangelicalism in observation 11, but perhaps, there are wider, more pertinent philosophic categories influencing the 21st century church?

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The Church and Contemporary Philosophy

Below are some broader contemporary philosophical/cultural categories—beyond medieval scholasticism, Enlightenment rationalism, German Idealism, and Calvinistic Evangelicalism—that many churches today find themselves grappling with. Each poses new questions about truth, ethics, social structures, and even the very nature of faith:


1. Postmodern & Post-Structuralist Skepticism

  • Key Idea: Challenges the existence of absolute truths, viewing reality as socially constructed.
  • Church Struggle: Reconciling Christian claims of universality (e.g., the gospel) with cultural relativism and deconstruction of tradition's grand narratives.

2. Critical Theory & Intersectionality

  • Key Idea: Interprets society through lenses of power, oppression, and liberation (e.g., race, class, gender).
  • Church Struggle: Facing calls for social justice and examining structures of privilege within the church, while balancing scriptural interpretations.

3. Scientism & Strict Naturalism

  • Key Idea: Holds that empirical science alone provides valid knowledge, often excluding any talk of the supernatural.
  • Church Struggle: Maintaining theological claims about God, miracles, or spiritual realities without dismissing rigorous science.

4. Post-Humanism & Transhumanism

  • Key Idea: Questions what it means to be human, especially in light of AI, genetic engineering, and rapid technological advances.
  • Church Struggle: Addressing theological anthropology (the “image of God”) when human nature may be artificially altered or extended.

5. Eco-Philosophy & New Materialism

  • Key Idea: Emphasizes the agency of the nonhuman world (animals, ecosystems), seeing matter as active rather than inert.
  • Church Struggle: Reinterpreting doctrines of creation, stewardship, and eschatology in light of climate change and environmental crises.

6. Political & Ideological Polarization

  • Key Idea: Ideologies (e.g., MAGA/trumpian conservatism, populism) merge with religious identity, potentially overshadowing theological nuance.
  • Church Struggle: Discerning how to remain faithful to gospel ethics rather than conflating faith with partisan politics or nationalist agendas.

7. Neo-Liberal Capitalism & Consumerism

  • Key Idea: Portrays market principles as shaping human life, from global economics to individual worth.
  • Church Struggle: Resisting the commodification of religion and the temptation to fit the church’s mission into market-driven metrics of success.

8. New Atheism & Secular Humanism

  • Key Idea: Critiques religion as irrational or harmful, proposes a purely secular ethic grounded in human reasoning.
  • Church Struggle: Engaging skeptics who demand a rational, evidence-based faith while preserving core spiritual convictions and values.

9. Metamodernism

  • Key Idea: A response to postmodern irony and modern earnestness, suggesting a “both/and” oscillation between sincerity and skepticism.
  • Church Struggle: Navigating a cultural ethos that is simultaneously cynical and hopeful, requiring authentic but adaptable forms of witness.

10. Integral & Holistic Approaches

  • Key Idea: Seeks an inclusive framework uniting science, spirituality, personal development, and social progress (e.g., Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory or Whitehead's process philosophy).
  • Church Struggle: Incorporating a broad range of insights (psychology, ecology, sociology) while retaining a distinctly Christian narrative and identity.

Why These Categories Matter

  • Each of these philosophical/cultural domains raises new kinds of questions about the nature of realitytruth, and the good life, pressing the church to adapt or respond creatively.
  • Many congregations find themselves ill-prepared for such multifaceted challenges if they only lean on traditional dogmatic or older philosophical systems (e.g., such as medieval scholasticism or Enlightenment rationalism).
  • Process thought (à la Whitehead) can offer a more relational, dynamic, and evolving framework that dialogues well with each of these currents—rather than dismissing or clashing with them outright.

These broader categories, then, reflect where much of the theological “struggle” is taking place today: at the intersection of rapidly shifting worldviewsemerging sciencespolitical polarizations, and cultural discourses that demand fresh theological engagement.


Observation 13

The above categories so mentioned are very helpful. In general, can they be more broadly categorized philosophically?

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Below is one way to cluster the previously listed philosophical/cultural categories into broader groupings. Of course, these groupings overlap, but they can help us see the larger frameworks in which these ideas operate:


1. Post/Neo/Meta Paradigms

  • Postmodern & Post-Structuralist Skepticism
  • Metamodernism

Broad Marker:

  • Focus on the limits of grand narratives and the oscillation between irony and sincerity.
  • Often questions notions of absolute truth, while simultaneously seeking new, authentic ways to engage reality.

2. Socio-Political Frameworks

  • Critical Theory & Intersectionality
  • Political & Ideological Polarization (e.g., MAGA/Trumpian Christianity)
  • Neo-Liberal Capitalism & Consumerism

Broad Marker:

  • Concerned with power structuressocial justice, and the economic underpinnings shaping society.
  • Churches grapple with the ethical, moral, and communal implications of these frameworks.

3. Science-Centered Worldviews

  • Scientism & Strict Naturalism
  • New Atheism & Secular Humanism

Broad Marker:

  • Prioritize empirical data as the primary or sole means of understanding reality.
  • Challenge religious or supernatural claims, pushing churches to articulate how faith aligns with or diverges from scientific explanations.

4. Human (and Post-Human) Questions

  • Post-Humanism & Transhumanism

Broad Marker:

  • Explore what it means to be human in light of rapidly advancing technology, AI, genetic engineering, etc.
  • Churches face theological questions about the image of Godfree willmorality, and embodiment when humanity itself seems malleable.

5. Philosophies of Nature & Materiality

  • Eco-Philosophy & New Materialism

Broad Marker:

  • Elevate the role and agency of the nonhuman (environment, matter, animals) and critique the notion of nature as a passive resource.
  • Challenge the church to revise doctrines of creation, eschatology, and human stewardship in ways that respect and include the broader Earth community.

6. Integrative or Holistic Approaches

  • Integral & Holistic Theories (e.g., Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory)

Broad Marker:

  • Seek a comprehensive framework that unites science, spirituality, psychology, and social progress.
  • Encourage inter-disciplinary dialogue and a synthesis of multiple viewpoints, nudging churches to think beyond traditional theological silos.

Why These Broader Categories Matter

  • The Church’s Ongoing Dialogue: Each grouping underscores a distinct set of challenges the church must address—whether about truth, ethics, authority, human identity, or the environment.
  • Potential for Conflict or Renewal: These categories can clash with older theological paradigms or spur innovative perspectives and theological growth (e.g., process thought).
  • Need for Adaptive Frameworks: A more dynamic, relational philosophy—like Whitehead’s process approach—can engage these broad trends by offering a flexible, inclusive lens that affirms science, fosters ethical inquiry, and remains open to ongoing cultural developments.

By viewing contemporary issues through these broader philosophical and cultural lenses, the church can more readily identify points of tension or synergy, thereby shaping a more nuanced and up-to-date theological response.


Observation 14

Besides Whiteheadian process thought what other philosophical approaches may address the above cultural "prenumerations"?

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Below are some alternative philosophical/theological approaches (beyond Whitehead’s process thought) that can engage many of today’s cultural “pre-numerations”—from postmodern skepticism and political polarization to new materialism and transhumanism. While each differs in emphasis, they offer frameworks that can speak constructively to contemporary social, scientific, and ethical challenges.


1. Pragmatism / Neo-Pragmatism

  • Key Idea: Truth is what works in practice. Emphasizes community inquiry, adaptable beliefs, and problem-solving.
  • Major Figures: Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and later Richard Rorty.
  • Relevance: Encourages churches to adopt a flexible, dialogical approach to theology that’s open to scientific and cultural feedback, focusing on practical outcomes rather than fixed dogmas.

2. Critical Realism

  • Key Idea: A middle ground affirming that objective reality exists but is always interpreted through human lenses.
  • Major Figures: Roy Bhaskar (philosophy of science), N.T. Wright (biblical scholarship).
  • Relevance: Invites theological engagement with science and culture without collapsing into either naive realism (everything is purely objective) or radical relativism (all views are equally valid).

3. Philosophical Hermeneutics

  • Key Idea: Stresses interpretation, historical context, and the fusion of horizons between texts and readers.
  • Major Figures: Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur.
  • Relevance: Churches can use hermeneutics to re-interpret Scripture and tradition in light of evolving cultural contexts—helpful when navigating postmodern or intersectional critiques.

4. Integral Theory

  • Key Idea: Seeks a comprehensive framework uniting science, spirituality, culture, and consciousness in multiple “quadrants.”
  • Major Figure: Ken Wilber.
  • Relevance: Offers a holistic lens for churches dealing with complex cultural phenomena (social justice, ecology, neuroscience) by integrating them under one broad, tiered model.

5. Radical Orthodoxy

  • Key Idea: Critiques secular modernity, reasserting a theologically grounded vision for philosophy, society, and culture.
  • Major Figures: John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, Graham Ward.
  • Relevance: Seeks to reclaim Christian thought’s robust metaphysical heritage as a viable alternative to both secularism and simplistic Christian fundamentalism—often engaging contemporary social/political issues with a “high” sacramental and communal vision.

6. Liberationist and Contextual Theologies

  • Key Idea: Prioritizes social justice, the experience of marginalized communities, and structural critique.
  • Major Figures: Gustavo Gutiérrez (Liberation Theology), James Cone (Black Theology), Rosemary Radford Ruether (Feminist Theology).
  • Relevance: Helps churches address intersectionality, political polarization, and systemic injustice from within a theological framework—particularly salient in debates over MAGA/trumpian Christianity or other power-based ideologies.

7. Speculative Realism & Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO)

  • Key Idea: Argues that reality extends beyond human concepts—emphasizing nonhuman agency, withdrawn essences, and the limits of correlationism (the idea that being is always “for us”).
  • Major Figures: Quentin Meillassoux, Graham Harman, Levi Bryant.
  • Relevance: Offers a post-anthropocentric perspective that can resonate with ecological concerns, transhumanist questions, and new materialist insights on matter and agency, challenging church anthropocentrism.

8. Neo-Thomism or “New Thomism”

  • Key Idea: Revisits Aquinas’s synthesis of faith and reason, incorporating contemporary philosophy and science.
  • Major Figures: Étienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, W. Norris Clarke.
  • Relevance: Retains a classical metaphysics but strives to update it in dialogue with modern scientific developments—potentially bridging scholastic theology and current intellectual climates without sacrificing a robust doctrine of God.

Why These Alternatives Matter

  1. Dialogue with Science: Many of these approaches emphasize interdisciplinary engagement, refusing to silo theology away from empirical inquiry.
  2. Ethical & Social Relevance: Whether through liberationism or hermeneutics, they strive to address contemporary injustices and global challenges in ways older frameworks may not.
  3. Metaphysical Depth: Like Whitehead’s process thought, some of these philosophies (speculative realism, neo-Thomism) offer a deep account of being that can accommodate evolving scientific paradigms.
  4. Cultural Critique & Transformation: Postmodern critiques, radical orthodoxy, and integral theory all propose fresh ways for churches to stand both critically and creatively within today’s cultural matrix.

In short, while Whiteheadian process philosophy excels at weaving together science, theology, and a dynamic cosmos, each of these alternative frameworks likewise offers its own toolkit for navigating the complexities of the modern (and postmodern) world—and for forging a meaningful faith that speaks to our era’s pressing questions.


Observation 15

Please take your last response and compare the pros-and-cons of each to process philosophy...

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Below is a comparative overview of each listed philosophical/theological alternative vis-à-vis Whiteheadian process philosophy. Each approach has strengths (pros) and weaknesses (cons) when placed alongside process thought’s emphasis on relationality, becoming, and a dynamic God-world relationship.


1. Pragmatism / Neo-Pragmatism

  • Pros:
    • Emphasizes practical, community-driven inquiry, which resonates with process thought’s insistence on contextual and evolving understanding.
    • Encourages adaptability and a non-dogmatic approach similar to process theology’s flexibility.
  • Cons:
    • Pragmatism can be light on metaphysics; it sometimes avoids deeper ontological questions about what reality ultimately is.
    • Lacks the strong cosmological vision of Whitehead (no robust metaphysical “process” of actual entities or occasions).

2. Critical Realism

  • Pros:
    • Balances the idea of an objective reality with the recognition that humans interpret this reality—compatible with Whitehead’s emphasis on perception as relational.
    • Promotes constructive dialogue between theology and science (similar to Whitehead’s aim of integrating both).
  • Cons:
    • Tends to center on epistemology (“how we know reality”) more than the nature of reality itself.
    • May not fully engage with the idea of an evolving cosmos or the metaphysical depth of Whitehead’s “creative advance into novelty.”

3. Philosophical Hermeneutics

  • Pros:
    • Focus on interpretation and context aligns with process thought’s recognition that reality is always in flux and meaning is co-created.
    • Sees understanding as a dialogical process, echoing Whitehead’s relational emphasis.
  • Cons:
    • Primarily a methodology for interpreting texts, culture, and history, not as comprehensive a cosmology as Whitehead’s.
    • May not address detailed scientific or metaphysical questions about cosmic becoming in the way process thought does.

4. Integral Theory

  • Pros:
    • Shares process philosophy’s desire to integrate multiple domains (science, spirituality, psychology, social systems).
    • Emphasizes a holistic, evolving worldview, akin to Whitehead’s relational cosmos.
  • Cons:
    • Can become overly schematic (e.g., quadrant models) and sometimes glosses over finer metaphysical distinctions.
    • Whitehead’s system is more philosophically rigorous in its understanding of how actual entities become, whereas Integral Theory can feel “all-inclusive” without as much ontological specificity.

5. Radical Orthodoxy

  • Pros:
    • Offers a theologically rich critique of secular modernity and can be open to creative theological reflection.
    • Emphasizes a sacramental, communal vision that resonates with relational aspects found in process theology.
  • Cons:
    • Leans heavily on Augustinian-Neoplatonic traditions rather than a fully process metaphysic of becoming.
    • Can be suspicious of attempts to integrate secular philosophies (including certain strands of science), whereas Whitehead welcomes dialogue with them.

6. Liberationist and Contextual Theologies

  • Pros:
    • Share with process theology a strong ethical orientation, prioritizing transformation, justice, and the communal well-being.
    • Emphasize embodied practice and social awareness, aligning with process thought’s sense of interconnectedness.
  • Cons:
    • Often focus more on socio-political liberation than on detailed cosmological or metaphysical systems.
    • May not provide a unified metaphysical basis for bridging theology and science (though they can integrate well with process thought).

7. Speculative Realism & Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO)

  • Pros:
    • Move away from anthropocentrism, highlighting the reality and agency of objects, which can resonate with process philosophy’s emphasis on the subjectivity/agency of all actual entities.
    • Offer a fresh, creative challenge to correlationism (the idea that being is always tied to human experience).
  • Cons:
    • Tend to downplay or sideline the experiential and relational aspects crucial to Whitehead; OOO sees objects as withdrawn from each other rather than constitutively relational.
    • Lack the panexperiential dimension of process thought (i.e., Whitehead’s sense that all entities have an experiential or subjective side).

8. Neo-Thomism or “New Thomism”

  • Pros:
    • Provides a rigorous metaphysical framework that has historically engaged science (e.g., in Catholic scholarship).
    • Like Whitehead, affirms a robust sense of causality and a created order that can be studied both theologically and scientifically.
  • Cons:
    • Tends to emphasize static essence and substance metaphysics (from Aristotle), contrasting with Whitehead’s dynamic process cosmology.
    • May not be as open to radical novelty or creativity at the metaphysical level as Whitehead’s “creative advance.”

Summary of Pros and Cons Relative to Whiteheadian Process Thought

ApproachProsCons
Pragmatism / Neo-PragmatismFlexible, practical, community-based, aligns with process fluidityLight on metaphysics; lacks robust cosmological vision
Critical RealismBalances objective reality & interpretation; fosters science-theology dialogueMore focused on epistemology than processual ontology; less cosmic “becoming” emphasis
Philosophical HermeneuticsDialogical, contextual, emphasizes interpretive processPrimarily methodological, not a full cosmology
Integral TheoryInclusive, holistic, multi-perspective approachCan be overly schematic; lacks Whitehead’s rigorous metaphysical detail
Radical OrthodoxyRichly theological, sacramental, communal visionTends to rely on older metaphysical traditions and can be wary of modern science-philosophy dialogue
Liberationist / ContextualStrong ethical/political orientation, aligns with process focus on justice/relationalityLess emphasis on developing a unifying metaphysical framework
Speculative Realism / OOOHighlights nonhuman agency, challenges anthropocentrismObjects often viewed as “withdrawn”; lacks the panexperiential, relational dimension central to process thought
Neo-ThomismClassical, rigorous metaphysical system, open to science in certain respectsSubstance-based metaphysics often contrasts with processual “becoming,” novelty, and relational ontology

In conclusion, each alternative can fruitfully engage contemporary social and scientific developments, yet they diverge from Whitehead in how deeply they integrate:

  1. Dynamic Becoming – Whitehead posits a universe in a state of creative advance, whereas many of these approaches preserve more static or hierarchical structures.
  2. Metaphysical Relationality – Process thought’s hallmark is relational ontology, while some alternatives focus on discrete entities or interpretive frameworks.
  3. Science-Theology Symbiosis – Whitehead’s vision is explicitly designed to bridge science and theology; many alternatives do so implicitly or only partially.

Thus, while all offer valuable tools, Whiteheadian process philosophy remains unique for its robust cosmological metaphysicsrelational ontology, and explicit aim to marry theological and scientific discourse under a unified processual framework.


Observation 16

Based on today's dialogue is there anything further which should be referenced?

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Below is a short collection of references—both primary and secondary—to help expand on today’s discussion topics. They include key works in process thought, natural theology, and the alternative philosophical/theological approaches we’ve mentioned. Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive, but it can serve as a starting point for deeper exploration.


1. Whiteheadian Process Thought

  • Alfred North WhiteheadProcess and Reality (Corrected Edition), ed. David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne (Free Press, 1978).

    • Whitehead’s seminal work, presenting his cosmology of “actual occasions” and “creative advance.”
  • Alfred North WhiteheadScience and the Modern World (Free Press, 1997).

    • Explores how modern science developed and how a process perspective might reorient our thinking.
  • John B. Cobb Jr. and David Ray GriffinProcess Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Westminster John Knox Press, 1976).

    • Classic introduction to process theology, explaining how Whitehead’s ideas reshape Christian doctrines.
  • Timothy E. EastmanUntying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020).

    • Merges Whiteheadian process philosophy with contemporary physics, including quantum and plasma physics.

2. Natural Theology & Science-Religion Dialogue

  • Ian BarbourWhen Science Meets Religion (HarperOne, 2000).

    • Classic categorization of four ways (conflict, independence, dialogue, integration) science and religion interact.
  • Arthur PeacockeTheology for a Scientific Age (Fortress Press, 1993).

    • A priest-biochemist exploring how scientific insights can inform Christian theology.
  • John PolkinghorneScience and Providence (Templeton Press, 1989).

    • A physicist-turned-priest’s reflections on divine action and the scientific worldview.

3. Broader Philosophical/Cultural Frameworks

Pragmatism / Neo-Pragmatism

  • William JamesPragmatism (Hackett Publishing, 1981 [1907]).
  • John DeweyExperience and Nature (Open Court, 1929).
  • Richard RortyPhilosophy and the Mirror of Nature (Princeton University Press, 1979).

Critical Realism

  • Roy BhaskarA Realist Theory of Science (Routledge, 2008 [1975]).
  • N.T. WrightThe New Testament and the People of God (Fortress Press, 1992) — see the introduction for his “critical realist” approach in biblical scholarship.

Philosophical Hermeneutics

  • Hans-Georg GadamerTruth and Method (Continuum, 2004 [1960]).
  • Paul RicoeurInterpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning (Texas Christian University Press, 1976).

Integral Theory

  • Ken WilberA Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality (Shambhala, 2001).

Radical Orthodoxy

  • John MilbankTheology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006 [1990]).
  • Catherine PickstockAfter Writing: On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 1998).

Liberationist & Contextual Theologies

  • Gustavo GutiérrezA Theology of Liberation (Orbis Books, 1973).
  • James H. ConeA Black Theology of Liberation (Orbis Books, 1990).
  • Rosemary Radford RuetherSexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (Beacon Press, 1993).

Speculative Realism & OOO

  • Quentin MeillassouxAfter Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency (Bloomsbury Academic, 2008).
  • Graham HarmanTool-Being: Heidegger and the Metaphysics of Objects (Open Court, 2002).

Neo-Thomism / New Thomism

  • Jacques MaritainExistence and the Existent (Pantheon, 1948).
  • W. Norris ClarkeExplorations in Metaphysics: Being—God—Person (University of Notre Dame Press, 1994).

Why These References?

  1. Process Thought Foundations: Whitehead’s primary texts remain essential for anyone exploring process metaphysics or theology. Works by Cobb, Griffin, and Eastman show how these ideas integrate with Christian doctrine and modern science.
  2. Science-Theology Nexus: Barbour, Peacocke, and Polkinghorne highlight the nuanced ways science and theology can complement rather than contradict each other—an approach in line with Whitehead’s integrative vision.
  3. Alternative Approaches: Each of the philosophical frameworks (Pragmatism, Critical Realism, etc.) has key texts that clarify how they engage knowledge, ethics, society, and belief—making it easier to see where they resonate (or conflict) with process perspectives.

With these resources, one can explore how churches might navigate today’s complex landscape—intellectually, ethically, and spiritually—while remaining open to science and the evolving cultural spheres.

Return to Part 1 of this discussion....