Process Theology

• God in Process Theology is neither omnipotent nor creator
• Instead of being the creator, God is in creation
• God is everything itself, power and creation
• Alfred North Whitehead lived from 1861 to 1947
• AN Whitehead comes up with the idea of process theology
• AN Whitehead was fascinated by quantum mechanics' idea that the subatomic world is in continual change
• Quantum- at a level you cannot see
• AN Whitehead said that God worked at a subatomic level and that the process is simple and small
• Whitehead's idea of flux and change comes from Isaac Newton's idea of the universe working as a gigantic mechanism working by precise mathematical laws
• Quantum mechanics reveals a universe in a constant dynamic of flux and change, Whitehead believes God is also growing and changing
• David Griffin rejected the idea of ex nihilo
• David Griffin was born in 1939
• David Griffin is a process theologian who developed Whitehead's ideas
• Griffin believes that the universe has always been in existence, it is uncreated and eternal, therefore God is not the creator
• Griffin prefers a translated version of the Bible that implies the earth existed before God ordered it
• Griffin concludes that God is not omnipotent as he did not create the universe
• The universe is independent of God and the everchanging chaotic matter making up the universe is able to resist God's attempt at persuasion
• Griffin's conclusion:

  • The universe is uncreated and eternal
  • What was there was primitive, unformed matter that was chaos
  • God exists panentheistically, he is eternal and uncreated
  • God persuaded matter away from chaos into a state of greater order and complexity
• Strengths of process theology:

  • support from quantum mechanics
  • fits with the Big Bang theory and evolution
  • Explains evil and suffering
  • claims probability rather than certainty, so it is not a closed book
• Criticisms of process theology:

  • claims God is not omnipotent which goes against what Christians imagine a 'divine being' should be like
  • A God who is not omnipotent would not truly be a God and not a God worthy of worship in the eyes of many Christians