Process theology (also known as neoclassical theology) is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Process theology is unrelated to the Process Church. Process philosophy identifies metaphysical reality with change and dynamism. ... Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861 Ramsgate, Kent, England– December 30, 1947 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) was an English mathematician who became an American philosopher. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The concepts of process theology include:

• God is not omnipotent in the sense of being coercive. The divine has a power of persuasion rather than force. Process theologians have often seen the classical doctrine of omnipotence as involving coercion, and themselves claim something more restricted than the classical doctrine. "Persuasion" in the causal sense means that God does not exert unilateral control.
• Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature. These events have both a physical and mental aspect.
• The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings. God cannot totally control any series of events or any individual, but God influences the creaturely exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. To say it another way, God has a will in everything, but not everything that occurs is God's will.
• God contains the universe but is not identical with it (panentheism, not pantheism). Some also call this "theocosmocentrism" to emphasize that God has always been related to some world or another.
• Because God interacts with the changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the course of time. However, the abstract elements of God (goodness, wisdom, etc.) remain eternally solid.
• Charles Hartshorne believes that people do not experience subjective (or personal) immortality, but they do have objective immortality because their experiences live on forever in God, who contains all that was. Others believe that people do have subjective experience after bodily death.
• Dipolar theism, is the idea that God has both a changing aspect (God's existence as a Living God) and an unchanging aspect (God's eternal essence).

The original ideas of process thought are found in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Various theological and philosophical aspects have been expanded and developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), John B. Cobb, and David Ray Griffin. God is the deity believed by monotheists to be the supreme reality. ... Omnipotence (literally, all power) is the power to do absolutely anything. ... Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to act by employing threat of force. ... Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... Self-determination is a principle in international law that a people ought to be able to determine their own governmental forms and structure free from outside influence. ... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. ... Panentheism (Greek words: pan=all, en=in and Theos=God; all-in-God) is the view that God is immanent within all Creation or that God is the animating force behind the universe. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with philosophy. ... Charles Hartshorne (June 5, 1897 – October 9, 2000) was a prominent philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. ... Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite, or indeterminate, length of time. ... In Process theology Dipolar theism is the position that in order to conceive a perfect God, one must conceive Him as embodying the good in sometimes-opposing characteristics, and therefore cannot be understood to embody only one set of characteristics. ... John B. Cobb, Jr. ... David Ray Griffin (born 1939) is a retired professor of philosophy of religion and theology, and member of the 9/11 Truth Movement. ...

Process theology soon influenced a number of Jewish theologians including Australian philosopher Samuel Alexander (1859-1938), and Rabbis Max Kaddushin, Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan, Harry Slominsky and to a lesser degree, Abraham Joshua Heschel. Today some rabbis who advocate some form of process theology include Donald B. Rossoff, William E. Kaufman, Harold Kushner, Anton Laytner, Gilbert S. Rosenthal, Lawrence Troster and Nahum Ward. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools (and among Sefaradim today) the sages... Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907, Warsaw, Poland - December 23, 1972) was considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century. ... William E. Kaufman is a rabbi, a philosopher, and an author of several books and academic articles. ... Harold Kushner is a Conservative rabbi, in the liberal wing of Conservative Judaism, a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, and a long time congregational rabbi of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of the immensely popular book on liberal theology, When Bad Things Happen to Good...

Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have attempted to integrate process theology with the New Thought variant of Christianity. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New Testament. ...

Thomas Jay Oord integrates process theology with evangelical, openness, and Wesleyan theologies. Oord argues that it is part of God's essence as relational to provide freedom to others. This loving act means that God cannot withdraw or override the freedom of others, but this inability is part of who God is and not imposed by outside forces or conditions. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Process theologians

John B. Cobb, Jr. ... // Paul S. Fiddes Born 30 April 1947 The Reverend Paul S. Fiddes, M.A., D.Phil. ... David Ray Griffin (born 1939) is a retired professor of philosophy of religion and theology, and member of the 9/11 Truth Movement. ... Charles Hartshorne (June 5, 1897 – October 9, 2000) was a prominent philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. ... Nancy R. Howell is a Professor of Theology and Philosophy of Religion at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. ... William E. Kaufman is a rabbi, a philosopher, and an author of several books and academic articles. ... Harold Kushner is a Conservative rabbi, in the liberal wing of Conservative Judaism, a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, and a long time congregational rabbi of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of the immensely popular book on liberal theology, When Bad Things Happen to Good... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Suchocki is an author and now-retired United Methodist professor of theology at Claremont School of Theology. ... Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861 Ramsgate, Kent, England– December 30, 1947 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) was an English mathematician who became an American philosopher. ... Daniel Day Williams (1910–December, 1973) was a process theologian, professor, and author. ...

Readings

• Ian Barbour's When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners?
• Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki's God Christ Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology (1989, ISBN 0-8245-0970-6) demonstrates the practical integration of process philosophy with Christianity.
• C. Robert Mesle's Process Theology: A Basic Introduction (1993, ISBN 0-8272-2945-3) is an introduction to process theology written for the layperson.
• Harold Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People (1981, ISBN 1-4000-3472-8) and Jewish Theology and Process Thought, (1995, ISBN 0-7914-2810-9) eds. Sandra B. Lubarsky and David Ray Griffin.
• Jewish introductions to classical theism, limited theism and process theology can be found in A Question of Faith: An Atheist and a Rabbi Debate the Existence of God (1994, ISBN 1-56821-089-2) and The Case for God, (1991, ISBN 0-8272-0458-2) both written by Rabbi William E. Kaufman.
• Christian introductions may be found in Schubert M. Ogden's The Reality of God and Other Essays, SMU Press (1992, ISBN 0-87074-318-X); John B. Cobb, Doubting Thomas, (1990, ISBN 0-8245-1033-X); and Charles Hartshorne, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes, State University of New York Press, (1984, ISBN 0-87395-771-7). In French, the best introduction may be André Gounelle, Le Dynamisme Créateur de Dieu Van Dieren Editeur (reprint in 2000).
• For essays exploring the relation of process thought to Wesleyan theology, see Bryan P. Stone and Thomas Jay Oord, Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love: Wesleyan and Process Theologies in Dialogue (Nashville: Kingswood, 2001, ISBN 0-687-05220-3).
• The most important work by Paul S. Fiddes is The Creative Suffering of God, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); see also idem., 'Process Theology', in A. E. McGrath, ed., The Blackwell encyclopaedia of modern Christian thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993), pp. 472–6

Ian Graeme Barbour He was born in Beijing, 1923. ... Suchocki is an author and now-retired United Methodist professor of theology at Claremont School of Theology. ... Classical Theism refers to the traditional ideas of the major religions such as Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools (and among Sefaradim today) the sages... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... // Paul S. Fiddes Born 30 April 1947 The Reverend Paul S. Fiddes, M.A., D.Phil. ...

See also

• Conceptions of God
• Existence of God
• God
• Names of God
• Postmodern Christianity

The Eye of Providence or the all-seeing eye is a symbol commonly interpreted as representing the eye of God keeping watch on mankind. ... Existence of God arguments have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, and other thinkers. ... God is the deity believed by monotheists to be the supreme reality. ... // Monotheistic faiths believe that there is a supreme being, who is necessarily unique, so the different names given to that being in different languages could in principle all be translated in English as God. ... Postmodern Christianity is a relatively recent development in the Christian religion. ...

External links

• The Center for Process Studies
• Process and Faith
• Process theology and Judaism
• Process theology and the New Thought movement
• A longer, scholarly introduction to process theology
• Center for the Study of Cosmic Spirituality