intro to process theology - evil
DESCRIPTION
Process theology provides a better way to think about how and why there is evil in the world. The core theological starting point in that God is not all-powerful but has a persuasive, loving power that is limited by the freedom inherent in the world.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Intro to Process Theology
![Page 2: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Intro to Process Theology
Science and Religion (God and the World)
Evil and Suffering
Jesus and Creative Transformation
Ethics: Pluralism, Economism, and Ecology
![Page 3: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
1. How can I have a faith that honors both science and the Bible?
2. Why does God cause bad things to happen?
All simplifications of religious dogma are shipwrecked upon the rock of the problem
of evil." -ANW
![Page 4: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Rebecca Parker
![Page 5: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
World
God
Supernaturalism or Deism
All-determining theism OR
Free-will theism
![Page 6: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
3 major problems
Tension between God's goodness and God's power
Misunderstanding of God's power
Fallacy of a single cause
![Page 7: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
The problem of evil (theodicy)
1. God is, by definition, all-powerful and all-good.
2. If God is all-powerful, God could unilaterally prevent all evil.
3. If God is all-good, God would want to prevent all evil.
4.Evil does occur.
5. Therefore God does not exist.
![Page 8: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
God is all-good.
OR
God is all-powerful.
![Page 9: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
God World
God's Power in Process Theology
Omnipotent Almighty
All-powerful
Omnipresent Persuasive Love-power
![Page 10: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
What is the highest form of power?
Love or coercion?
![Page 11: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Multiple causation
![Page 12: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Key themesCreation out of chaos
Multiple causation
Persuasive, love-power
Capacity to be good and evil rises together
future is open
freedom is a necessity not a gift or divine choice because it is built into the nature of things
![Page 13: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Sin vs. "Natural" Evil
Sin = human rebellion against creation through unnecessary violence
Natural evil = forms of evil that are not caused by humans
![Page 14: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Process theology sees the universe as creative,
interrelational, dynamic, and open to the future. In process theology, God is relational,
present in every moment of our lives and in all entities and levels of being. The world is
interconnected, in effect a giant ecosystem where what harms or
blesses one, harms or blesses all.
![Page 15: Intro to Process Theology - Evil](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022052410/547dd68c5806b5b35e8b4608/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Next week: Jesus and
Creative Transformation