Religion has always been humanity’s attempt to orient itself within the vastness of existence - to seek meaning, purpose, and connection with the sacred, the cosmos, and one another. Traditional theology often treats religion as a set of fixed truths: doctrines that never change, rituals that repeat, and divine realities that remain unmoved. Yet this view tends to neglect the obvious: religions themselves evolve, communities reinterpret, and new experiences constantly reshape how people live their faith.
A process-based approach to religion begins with the insight that reality itself is not static but dynamic, relational, and becoming. From this perspective, religion is not a finished product but a living practice. God (or the sacred) is not a remote, immovable being or truth but a relational presence or dynamism, deeply involved in the unfolding beauty of cosmic creation. Religious traditions are not frozen monuments but ongoing conversations between the divine, cosmic reality, human and non-human life.
To explore this topic, we might look at major world religions to highlight their non-processual elements (what resists change, emphasizes fixity and impassive immutability) and their processual elements (what emphasizes change, creativity, relationship, and co-creation).
Processual Quotes
Alfred North Whitehead (founding process philosopher)
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“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” - Process and Reality
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“God is not to be treated as an exception to the cosmos' metaphysical principles, to be invoked to save their collapse. Rather, God is their chief exemplification.” - Process and Reality
Teilhard de Chardin (who is not strictly a process metaphysician)
Catherine Keller (a Whiteheadian metaphysician)
Alfred North Whitehead (on the process of religion)
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“Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness.” — Religion in the Making
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“Religion will not regain its old power until it faces change in the same spirit as do the sciences.” - Religion in the Making
Buddhist Wisdom
Indigenous Native American Perspective
Processual Summary
Christianity
Christianity, with its many branches, provides a vivid case study of how religion can tilt toward either static or dynamic understandings. Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism all bear witness to both rigid, timeless claims and to vibrant, adaptive streams of thought.
On the non-processual side, Christianity has often emphasized doctrines of divine immutability, treating God as an unchanging essence unaffected by the world. Scripture has been held by many traditions as an inerrant, closed deposit of truth. Salvation is sometimes reduced to a single juridical act, fixed in the past, and eschatology is framed as a predetermined end in which God conquers the world through final judgment. These emphases draw boundaries around God and faith that resist further development.
Yet Christianity has also been a source of powerful processual insights. Its deepest affirmation is that “God is love,” a love expressed not in detachment but in action and relationship. Scripture itself can be seen not as a static law book but as a record of evolving encounters with God, full of human struggle and divine compassion. Christ is not merely a past event but an ongoing presence drawing creation toward renewal. Process theology, liberation theology, feminist and ecological theologies, all stand within this stream, lifting up relationality, creativity, and justice as central to the gospel. Christianity, at its most dynamic, offers a God who suffers with the world, responds to its cries, and co-creates a future of hope.
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Non-processual elements:
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Doctrine of divine immutability (God as unchanging essence).
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Inerrant, once-for-all view of the Bible.
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Salvation as a completed juridical act rather than an ongoing relational transformation.
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Emphasis on final eschatological victory framed in terms of conquest or judgment.
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Processual elements:
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God as love-in-action (dynamic, relational, responsive).
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Scripture as a living record of evolving encounters with God, not a static code.
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Christ understood not merely as a past event but as ongoing presence, drawing creation into fuller becoming.
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Eschatology seen as open-ended hope, a co-creative future with God.
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Liberation theology, process theology, feminist and ecological theologies—all emphasizing change, justice, and participation.
Judaism
Judaism is often seen as a tradition of law, but its story is also one of interpretation, dialogue, and struggle.
The non-processual dimension appears in the Torah understood as a fixed revelation given once and for all. Covenant, in some readings, is framed in juridical terms: God commands, Israel obeys. The law (halakhah) can be seen as immovable, a boundary that defines identity through strict adherence.
But alongside this, Judaism has always carried a processual current. The rabbis of the Talmud engaged in centuries of ongoing interpretation, arguing and reinterpreting texts in light of new circumstances - a tradition of dynamic reading rather than rigid closure. The Hebrew Scriptures themselves depict a God who argues with Abraham, relents at Moses’ plea, and changes the divine plan in response to human action. Judaism’s ethical vision, especially in concepts like tikkun olam (“repairing the world”), reveals a profoundly relational, processual orientation, where humanity partners with God in mending creation.
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Non-processual elements:
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Torah as fixed revelation, given once and for all.
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Covenant viewed in juridical terms (obligation/obedience).
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Strong emphasis on law as immovable boundary.
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Processual elements:
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Ongoing interpretation (Midrash, Talmud) as a living process of re-reading.
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God as both transcendent and responsive (Abraham, Moses argue with God).
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Ethical imperatives toward justice (tikkun olam, repairing the world).
Islam
Islam presents a faith that treasures the eternal word of God while also containing a lively history of interpretation and mystical experience.
The non-processual emphasis lies in the Qur’an, understood by most Muslims as God’s final, unalterable revelation. God is proclaimed as utterly transcendent and unchanging, beyond all likeness. Islamic law (sharīʿa) is sometimes treated as an eternal framework, binding across all times and places.
And yet, processual dimensions shine through. Islamic mysticism (Sufism) emphasizes union with God as an ongoing, relational path. God’s ninety-nine names, especially al-Raḥmān (the Merciful) and al-Raḥīm (the Compassionate), reveal divine qualities that are dynamically expressed in history. Islamic philosophy and jurisprudence developed multiple schools, each offering fresh interpretations of revelation in light of new contexts. Far from being monolithic, Islam has carried within it a process of constant debate, renewal, and spiritual creativity.
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Non-processual elements:
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Processual elements:
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Rich mystical tradition (Sufism) emphasizing relational union with God.
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Concepts of God’s mercy and compassion as dynamic attributes.
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Ongoing debates and schools of interpretation within Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy.
Hinduism
Hinduism is among the oldest and most diverse and fluid of religions, holding together both rigid social structures and profoundly dynamic cosmologies.
The non-processual face of Hinduism is found in its concept of eternal dharma, sometimes tied to caste, ritual, and social order. In certain schools, the ultimate goal (moksha) is portrayed as escaping the cycle of becoming, rising above process altogether.
Yet Hinduism overflows with processual imagery. Samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth, expresses a universe of continuous becoming. The gods themselves embody dynamism: Vishnu takes new avatars in each age; Shiva dances creation into being. The bhakti traditions highlight an ongoing, evolving relationship of devotion between human and divine, where love is not frozen but constantly renewed. Hinduism’s sheer plurality is itself a testimony to process: it refuses to be a single static truth, instead offering a kaleidoscope of ways to imagine and live in relation to the sacred.
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Non-processual elements:
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Processual elements:
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Emphasis on cyclical becoming (samsara).
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God(s) in dynamic forms (Vishnu’s avatars, Shiva’s dance).
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Bhakti traditions highlight relational devotion as a living, evolving bond.
Buddhism
Buddhism, often thought of as a philosophy of liberation, balances between transcending process and embracing it.
On the non-processual side, some schools present nirvana as an end to becoming, a cessation of the wheel of life (similar to the Christian concept of "heaven"). Strict adherence to monastic rules can be seen as an unchanging framework.
But at its heart, Buddhism is one of the most processual faiths. The central teaching of impermanence (anicca) recognizes that all things are in flux. The doctrine of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) describes reality as a web of relational becoming, echoing process metaphysics closely. In Mahāyāna traditions, the bodhisattva path emphasizes an open-ended, co-creative compassion for all beings - a refusal to finalize the journey until all can share in liberation. Buddhism sees wisdom not as possession of a static truth but as a practice of attunement to the changing reality of life.
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Non-processual elements:
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Processual elements:
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Central doctrine of impermanence (anicca).
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Dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) resonates strongly with process thought.
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Mahāyāna bodhisattva path as an open-ended co-creative compassion with all beings.
Confucianism
Confucianism is often perceived as rigid, but it too contains both static and dynamic strands.
The non-processual emphasis lies in its hierarchies of family and state, its insistence on ritual propriety (li) as an enduring framework, and its structured sense of social order.
Yet Confucianism also carries processual wisdom. Its vision of harmony resonates with the Dao, suggesting that true order arises from dynamic balance, not static control. Moral cultivation (ren, humaneness) is not a one-time achievement but an ongoing process of relational becoming. The Confucian ideal is not a perfect system frozen in time but a continual effort to embody virtue in shifting circumstances.
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Non-processual elements:
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Processual elements:
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Dao-like vision of harmony as dynamic balance.
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Emphasis on moral cultivation as an ongoing, relational process.
Daoism (the closest to the process metaphysic)
Daoism, perhaps more than any other tradition, lives in process.
There are non-processual strands where Daoist texts are treated as esoteric secrets or where rituals become fixed formulas.
But the processual heart of Daoism is unmistakable. The Dao itself is the ever-flowing process of reality, ungraspable yet present in all things. Wu-wei, often translated as “non-coercive action,” is about moving with the flow of becoming, not against it. Yin and yang are polarities in constant transformation, never absolute, always relational. Daoism celebrates the ever-shifting, evolving nature of existence as sacred.
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Non-processual elements:
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Processual elements:
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Dao itself: the ever-flowing, evolving process of nature.
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Wu-wei (non-coercive action) as aligning with the flow of becoming.
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Yin–yang as relational polarity, constantly shifting.
Indigenous and Earth-based Religions
Finally, indigenous and earth-centered religions often embody relational worldviews that resonate deeply with process thought as reality itself - and the cosmos - are each processual in their metaphysical ideations and quantum structures.
Some traditions may lean toward non-processual aspects when mythic frameworks or rituals are treated as absolute and unchangeable.
Yet overwhelmingly, these religions express processual wisdom: the land is alive, ancestors remain present, and the sacred is woven into the cycles of season and renewal. Sacredness is not confined to one place or time but is dynamic, relational, and communal. Here, religion is understood not as doctrine but as lived reciprocity with the earth and its beings.
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Non-processual elements:
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Processual elements:
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Deep sense of relationality with land, ancestors, spirits.
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Emphasis on cycles, seasons, and renewal.
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Sacredness as dynamic, woven through lived community.
What a Process Religion might look like?
From these comparisons, we can say that process religion is any religious orientation that:
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Sees reality as fundamentally dynamic, relational, and creative.
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Views the divine (or ultimate reality) as engaged in process with the world.
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Treats scriptures, rituals, and doctrines as evolving, open to reinterpretation.
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Emphasizes ethical co-creation, justice, and relational harmony.
Process religion, then, is not a new faith but a way of inhabiting all faiths. It does not demand that Christians cease to be Christian, Muslims abandon Islam, Buddhists turn away from the Dharma, or indigenous peoples surrender their ancestral traditions. Rather, it invites adherents of every path to discover, within their own heritage, the living pulse of relationality and change.
Instead of seeing religion as a fortress of unalterable dogma, process religion views each tradition as a river: it has a source, it has shaped landscapes through which it has flowed, and it continues to wind, merge, and transform as it journeys forward. This vision recognizes that all religions contain seeds of dynamism, creativity, and interconnection - though often hidden under layers of rigidity or fear of change.
When these seeds are nurtured, faith becomes less about defending absolutes and more about cultivating life. A process-oriented religion is one that draws from its deepest wells of compassion, justice, and community while remaining open to new insights from science, culture, and interfaith encounter. It is not uniformity it seeks, but harmony in diversity - an evolving chorus of traditions, each contributing its voice to the song of becoming.
In this way, process religion offers a shared horizon for humanity. It calls us to engage our faiths as living companions rather than frozen monuments, and to participate with God—or the sacred, the Dao, the Dharma, the Great Spirit—in the unfolding of a future where love, justice, and creativity are not only preserved but multiplied.
Conclusion
Process religion does not dismiss or belittle tradition. It honors the wisdom of the past while refusing to let it harden into stone. Where static religion clings to immovable walls of doctrine, process religion finds the sacred in flowing rivers and evolving relationships. It understands faith not as a frozen monument but as a living journey, always responding, always becoming.
At its heart, process religion is not a new faith but a way of inhabiting all faiths. It does not ask us to abandon our roots but to re-inhabit them with fresh eyes. Every tradition carries within it seeds of dynamism, creativity, and relationality - seeds that can lie dormant when religion is reduced to rigidity, but which can blossom when nourished by openness, compassion, and dialogue.
To see religion as process is to see it as a conglomeration of comingling rivers rather than fortress, as evolving symphonies rather than finished score. It is to recognize that God, or the sacred, or the Dao, is not distant and immutable but deeply interwoven with our lives and histories - luring us toward possibilities of love, justice, and beauty not yet imagined.
When religions open themselves to this processual horizon, they become partners in co-creation with one another and with the cosmos itself. They discover their truest vocation: not to guard old walls, but to help cultivate a flourishing world.
Process religion, then, is a call to live our traditions dynamically, to honor their past while allowing them to breathe, adapt, and grow. It is a summons to trust that in the unfolding of life - in its uncertainty, struggle, and surprise - divine presence is not only with us but moving ahead of us, around us, within us, drawing all creation towards a future where love, creativity, and relational harmony will have the final word.
A Creed for Process Religion
by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT
We believe reality is ever in motion,
dynamic, relational, and creative.
We believe the divine is not remote,
but deeply present, luring the world toward love.
We believe scriptures, rituals, and doctrines
are living streams, not finished monuments.
We believe faith is not to be defended as fortress,
but cultivated as garden,
tended with care, courage, and imagination.
We believe all peoples and all creatures
are participants in one great becoming,
called into justice, compassion, and co-creation.
Therefore, we walk in hope,
trusting that nothing is wasted,
and that every moment adds its thread
to the fabric of a future still unfolding in God.
R.E. Slater & ChatGPT
September 28, 2025
@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved
A Process Poem for Religion
by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT
Not a wall,
but a river.
Not a monument,
but a journey.
The sacred is not locked in the past,
but moving ahead of us,
weaving threads of love
into futures not yet seen.
Every tradition carries seeds:
some buried deep in fear,
others breaking open
toward the light of justice,
the rain of compassion,
the soil of shared becoming.
To live process religion
is to tend these seeds,
to trust the river,
to walk together
in the unfolding song
of God and world
becoming more.
R.E. Slater & ChatGPTSeptember 28, 2025
@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved
Bibliography:
Process Theologians Writing From Within Their Traditions
How to Use This List
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For core Christian process: start with Cobb, Griffin, Suchocki, Keller.
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For Jewish: Artson is your cornerstone.
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For Islamic: begin with Farhan Shah’s essays/dialogues; watch emerging scholarship by Azadegan and others.
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For South & East Asian traditions: Ames & Hall (Confucian/Daoist), Abe & Loy (Buddhist), and Jeffery Long (Hindu).
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For interfaith method: Cobb’s “mutual transformation,” McDaniel’s ecological pluralism, Keller’s polyphonic relationality.
Interfaith & Comparative (Process authors building bridges)
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John B. Cobb Jr. Transforming Christianity and the World: A Way Beyond Absolutism and Relativism (1999). Process pluralism; outlines “mutual transformation.”
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Cobb & Christopher Ives (eds.) The Emptying God: A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation (1990). Landmark three-tradition dialogue.
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Jay McDaniel Earth, Sky, Gods and Mortals (1990) and Gandhi’s Hope (2005). Process comparative theology with Hindu/Buddhist interlocutors and ecological praxis.
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Catherine Keller & Laurel Schneider (eds.) Polydoxy: Theology of Multiplicity and Relation (2010). Constructive essays modeling relational, non-hegemonic theology across traditions.
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Philip Clayton Adventures in the Spirit (2008). Panentheist/process-friendly comparative work on science, religion, and global pluralism.
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Andrew M. Davis (ed.) Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Reality (2020). Broad process-relational collection touching multiple traditions.
Christianity (Process & Process-adjacent Authors within Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant streams)
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John B. Cobb Jr. Christ in a Pluralistic Age (1975). Foundational Christology in explicitly Whiteheadian terms; norm-setting for Christian process theology.
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David Ray Griffin God, Power, and Evil: A Process Theodicy (1976). Classic constructive account of divine power and the problem of evil.
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Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki God, Christ, Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology (1982) and The Fall to Violence (1994). Clear, pastoral introductions; incisive soteriology.
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Catherine Keller On the Mystery (2008) and Cloud of the Impossible (2014). Relational, apophatic, ecological process theology.
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Joseph A. Bracken, SJ The One in the Many: A Contemporary Reconstruction of the God-World Relationship (2001). Catholic social-trinitarian process metaphysics.
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Thomas Jay Oord The Uncontrolling Love of God (2015). Open-and-relational (process-friendly) account of divine action and creaturely freedom.
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Monica A. Coleman Making a Way Out of No Way (2008). Womanist process theology of survival, creativity, and community.
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Bruce G. Epperly Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed (2011). Short, lucid primer with constructive Christian applications.
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Schubert M. Ogden The Reality of God and Other Essays (1966). Early analytic-leaning process Christology and revelation.
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Andrew M. Davis (ed.) Process Theology and the Christian Doctrine of God (2020). Contemporary essays updating classic Christian doctrines in process terms.
Helpful eco-process picks: Cobb, Is It Too Late?; Jay McDaniel, Of God and Pelicans; Keller, Political Theology of the Earth.
Judaism
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Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson God of Becoming and Relationship: The Dynamic Nature of Process Theology (2013). Definitive Jewish process statement; Torah, covenant, and prayer in relational terms.
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Artson (ed.) Roving with the River: Jewish Process Theology (essays; various years). Collected pieces applying process ideas across Jewish practice and thought.
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William E. Kaufman The Case for God (1991) and Contemporary Jewish Philosophies (1991). Early Jewish engagements with process and panentheism.
Islam
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Farhan A. Shah & John B. Cobb Jr. Islam and Process Thought (essay collections & dialogues, 2018–). A Muslim process philosopher (Shah) articulates Qur’anic faith in relational/panentheistic terms.
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Basil Altaie God, Nature and the Cause: Essays on Islam and Science (2016). Continuous creation and divine action in a dynamic cosmos; not strictly Whiteheadian but process-compatible.
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Ebrahim Azadegan God and the Problem of Evil in Islamic Thought: A Process Theodicy (forthcoming/essays). Iranian philosopher constructing an Islamic process theodicy.
(Islamic process theology is an active, newer stream; much appears in article/essay form and in Cobb Institute venues.)
Hinduism
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Jeffery D. Long A Vision for Hinduism: Beyond Hindu Nationalism (2007) and essays on Hinduism & process/pluralism. A practicing Hindu philosopher engaging Whiteheadian categories.
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Anantanand Rambachan A Hindu Theology of Liberation (2015). Advaita Vedānta reinterpreted with relational, constructive (process-friendly) accents.
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John B. Cobb Jr. & Christopher Chapple (eds.) Hinduism and Christianity (1990). Mutual transformation model; includes Hindu voices dialoguing with process.
Buddhism
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Masao Abe Zen and Western Thought (1985). A Zen philosopher in sustained dialogue with process theists on emptiness and relational becoming.
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John B. Cobb Jr. Beyond Dialogue: Toward a Mutual Transformation of Christianity and Buddhism (1982). Classic process “mutual transformation” paradigm.
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David R. Loy Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy (1988). Buddhist philosopher mapping nonduality and process-relational resonances.
Confucianism / Daoism (Process-relational Chinese philosophy)
It should be noted that process-based ecological studies & eco-civilization studies are of high importance in China and that the Institute of Process Studies via John Cobb has been highly engaged with China's efforts to adapt and embrace their industrial society toward an integrated green and blue (water and air) infrastructures based on process philosophy.
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Roger T. Ames & David L. Hall Thinking Through Confucius (1987), Anticipating China (1995). Seminal “process-relational” readings of Confucian thought.
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Ames (trans.) Sun-Tzu: The Art of Warfare; Dao De Jing (with D. L. Hall). Renderings that foreground fluid, relational ontology consonant with process.
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Tu Weiming Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on Confucian Religiousness (1989). Confucian spirituality as cultivated, relational process.
Indigenous / Earth-Based (Relational theologies with explicit process resonance)
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Randy S. Woodley Shalom and the Community of Creation (2012). Indigenous Christian theology of relationality, land, and harmony; deeply process-aligned.
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Jay McDaniel Eco-Spirituality and the Way of Jesus (2006) & essays on world-loyalty and grassroots relationality.
