C. Robert Mesle

This is a good introduction to process theology for those of us whose background in this subject is limited. My initial pessimism on the subject was certainly reinforced when I read on page 4, "Is process theology true? Does the God it describes really exist outside our human imaginations? I do not know." It was further heightened when I later read on page 49 such lines as "It is an unchangeable fact that God...". At this point I knew I was into an area of pure speculation, or at least into a totally human-generated theory of an idea of our own imagination. John Cobb's final chapter on "Process Theism" did little to change my mind.

Having said that, Mesle's chapter on "Committed Relativism: An Approach to Ethics and Global Communion" was excellent and certainly worth the price of admission. His chapter on "Process Naturalism" described a paradigm more to my liking and, it seems, more to the author's liking.

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to know what process theology is all about even though I doubt that it will convince anyone of the ultimate "truthfulness" of this line of thinking. But then, that is apparently what the process is all about: "We recognize that even the most powerfully supported of our beliefs must ultimately be open to reconsideration if new evidence or new ideas suggest better insights into the truth we seek." (p. 103)… (mehr)

Grapples with the notion of why an omnipotence God allows a child among others to suffer. It rejects the theology that its due to our sins but it does reject that God is omnipotence. God needs us to work with Him to make the world better

God will be what God will be:
God will hang on the gallows.
God will inspire poets and artists.
God will be battered as a wife, a nigger, a faggot.
God will judge with righteousness, justice and mercy those who batter, burn, sneer, discriminate, or harbour prejudice.
God will have a mastectomy.
God will experience the wonder of giving birth.
God will be handicapped.
God will run the marathon.
God will win.
God will lose.
God will be down and out, suffering, dying.
God will be bursting free, coming to life, for God will be who God will be..… (mehr)