Well, as some of you might realize, I have not been posting as regularly to the blog part of this website as I once was. I’ve been working on several writing projects, large and small, and I wanted to post a little foretaste of my favorite one. Have you ever heard of process theology? If not, don’t feel bad. This particularly beautiful theological school has often been hidden behind quite an impenetrable wall of difficult language and intellectual abstraction. In part, this situation is due to the two greatest lights of the movement, Alfred North Whitehead and Teilhard de Chardin, speaking obtusely. Alfred North Whitehead was a mathematician before he ever set foot in philosophy, and his works on process philosophy (rather than theology proper) retain a dense mathematical overlay. Teilhard de Chardin’s works are translated from French, and he was known for coining his own terms and phrases. While that originality can make for a very memorable author, it is lousy for translation. Many people comment on the works of Whitehead and de Chardin, but scholarly discussion definitely predominates.
So, to make a long story short (too late!), I’m working on a project to “translate” process theology to be a little bit more understandable. I’ve got a long way to go, but I want to post a few tidbits as I go. Hopefully, they will interest someone. Here are a couple of paragraphs from Change and Wonder…
“Think of how different the world might be if the fields of thought, art, commerce, politics, industry, labor of all types were seen and truly felt as holy orders. What kind of world might result? How might we treat our fellow men and women? You see, we go through our daily lives searching for motivation. If we have the privilege to think of motivation beyond the basics of food and shelter, which so many people can’t, then we still find ourselves mired in issues of accumulation of wealth, comfort, and/or power. What if the impulse of religion toward ‘selflessness’ and sacrifice for an ultimate reality due to its intrinsic worth could be translated to the process of human development – our own evolution? Would anything be impossible? Might we even begin to see beyond our petty divisions to understand that there is only one human race, that the lines on the map separating nations really are imaginary, and that money is only a collection of rocks and brightly colored paper that we decide has worth?
What I am saying is truly revolutionary because I am talking about humanity awakening to its true purpose and ultimate destiny. And, Christ has already shown us the way. He showed us what it looks like when ‘I and the Father are one.’ We now know that it’s possible. If we wake up – and I know that’s a big if – what will separate the cloister and the world? Because, the children of earth will have finally seen that they were – that we are – the children of heaven all along. Just imagine…”