Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed) [Paperback]

Bruce G. Epperly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2011 | ISBN-10: 0567596699 | ISBN-13: 978-0567596697 | Edition: 1

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Editorial Reviews

Review

'Process theology comes in many forms. Some technical philosophical forms confuse more than enlighten. Bruce Epperly offers his own form of process theology in accessible narrative and confessional prose. The anecdotes, case studies, and stories bring alive process perspectives on crucial issues of our time. This book should further establish and expand process theology's standing as a persuasive alternative for making sense of God and the many dimensions and questions of our existence.' -Thomas Jay Oord, Ph.D. Author of 'The Nature of Love: A Theology' (Chalice) and 'Defining Love: Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement' (Brazos) (Thomas J. Oord )

'Unbelievable: Bruce Epperly really succeeds at communicatingprocess theology in its full breadth and depth, in ways that will satisfynewcomers and advanced students alike. Yet he does it almost wholly without theuse of technical terms! Epperly's writing flows beautifully. It's laced withpersonal examples and replete with its own Whiteheadian moments, such as "Realityis profoundly ecological" or "In each moment, we are artists of our experience".... Perhaps the best in-depth introduction to process theology available fornon-specialists.' - Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor, ClaremontSchool of Theology, USA (Philip Clayton )

'Given that process theology (PT) has earned a reputation for being one of the least accessible theological movements, Bruce Epperly does a good job in helping to clarify the main arguments and translating the vocabulary into something akin to everyday usage.' (The Church Times )

'Process theology comes in many forms. Some technical philosophical forms confuse more than enlighten. Bruce Epperly offers his own form of process theology in accessible narrative and confessional prose. The anecdotes, case studies, and stories bring alive process perspectives on crucial issues of our time. This book should further establish and expand process theology’s standing as a persuasive alternative for making sense of God and the many dimensions and questions of our existence.' -Thomas Jay Oord, Ph.D. Author of 'The Nature of Love: A Theology’ (Chalice) and 'Defining Love: Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement’ (Brazos) (, )

'Unbelievable: Bruce Epperly really succeeds at communicatingprocess theology in its full breadth and depth, in ways that will satisfynewcomers and advanced students alike. Yet he does it almost wholly without theuse of technical terms! Epperly’s writing flows beautifully. It’s laced withpersonal examples and replete with its own Whiteheadian moments, such as “Realityis profoundly ecological” or “In each moment, we are artists of our experience”.… Perhaps the best in-depth introduction to process theology available fornon-specialists.’ - Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor, ClaremontSchool of Theology, USA (, )

'Given that process theology (PT) has earned a reputation for being one of the least accessible theological movements, Bruce Epperly does a good job in helping to clarify the main arguments and translating the vocabulary into something akin to everyday usage.’ (, )

About the Author

Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director ofContinuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania, USA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark; 1 edition (May 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0567596699
• ISBN-13: 978-0567596697
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Intro to Process Theology June 26, 2011

By A. J. Roberts

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Of the seven or eight other introductory texts I have read on process theology, this one by Bruce Epperly is perhaps the best overall, even though it does not replace the others. This is a strong claim to make for someone who appreciates the works of John Cobb and Marjorie Suchocki, both of whom have written many classic books on process theology. But one of the great strengths of Epperly's introductory level book is in his synthesis of many of the most important ideas of other leading Christian process-relational thinkers from the last few decades, including Cobb and Suchocki, but also David Ray Griffin, Charles Hartshorne, Catherine Keller, Bernard Loomer, Thomas Jay Oord, Robert Mesle, Lewis Ford, Jay McDaniel, Monica Coleman, and last but definitely not least, Bruce Epperly himself. Additionally, he quotes widely from the complex works of Alfred North Whitehead throughout the book, highlighting some of his most memorable passages and explaining them in a way that makes them more accessible. A second strength of this book is due to Epperly's emphasis in practical theology. He is concerned, first and foremost, with the way in which process theology works within the lives of individuals and communities, impacting churches and preaching. This adds up to a real gift in clear communication, but also great sensitivity to the actual lives of people outside the academy, leading him to concentrate less on complicated academic debates and more on issues like prayer, life after death, ethics, and holistic healing practices....

Here are a few things that stood out to me about the book:
1) Epperly goes through every important area of Christian theology and explains the various ways that process theologians understand them - christology, soteriology, sin, anthropology, eschatology, ecclesiology, pneumatology, and the trinity. This is pretty much standard for process theology intro books, but Epperly is particularly clear and thorough in his explanations of the various process interpretations of systematic theology. Beyond the basic areas of systematic theology, Epperly also explains process views of miracles, scripture, revelation, and mystical experiences.

2) A very helpful overview of process ethics is included on issues like abortion, euthanasia, ecology/animal rights, and economics/justice (which draws heavily on Cobb's work). Such a wide variety of important issues are not always a part of other introductory level process texts, so this was a great addition to the book.

3) As previously mentioned, Epperly synthesizes other key process thinkers in this book and summarizes many of their most important contributions to the process theology conversation: Cobb's logos/Wisdom Christology and work in ethics; Suchocki's theologies of original sin, eschatology, and prayer; Epperly's own work in holistic healing practices and eschatology; Griffin's work in the area of theodicy; Oord's work on a theology of love; Coleman's Womanist theology; McDaniel's work in ecology; etc.

4) Lastly, in the final chapter of the book, Epperly considers the possibility of the "amorphous, yet dynamic" emergent church movement adopting a process theology framework. He argues that process theology provides the flexibility that the emergent church is committed to while avoiding relativism, purely apophatic spirituality, and deconstructive postmodernism (most forms of process theology are contrasted as 'constructive postmodernism'). It encourages as much openness to other religions as possible while remaining rooted in a (constantly evolving) tradition - a kind of 'confessional religious pluralism.' Indeed, citing Brian McLaren, Epperly believes process theology can provide a truly inspiring philosophical and theological grounding for a "New Kind of Christianity." Although only a few self-identified emergent Christian writers/leaders/pastors are explicitly aligned with some form of process theology at this point, there are certainly overlapping emphases with process in many emergent/emerging books and blogs. As such, Epperly's invitation to emergent Christians (who are largely post-evangelicals) to consider process theology as a viable option in their search for new forms of faith makes a great deal of sense for anyone familiar with McLaren or Doug Pagitt.

While process theology is anything but easy to understand for many beginners, Bruce Epperly has done a fantastic job of making it accessible without oversimplifying the incredible depth of process thinking. Read more ›

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Adventure in Process Theology May 31, 2011

By Patricia A. Farmer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed, Bruce Epperly has accomplished the near impossible: making process theology accessible, clear, and fully alive to people of faith and spiritual sensitivity. Comprehensive in scope and vividly fresh in presentation, this book brings the transforming power of process theology to life.

Near the beginning of the book he asks the reader some telling questions: "Do our images of God encourage creativity or destruction? Do they inspire love or hatred? Are they defined primarily by loving partnership or by coercive power?" With these big questions, Epperly challenges the reader to think and feel and re-imagine God in the Whiteheadian image of "the poet of the world."

While all of Epperly's books are written from a process-relational viewpoint, this one is special in that it unveils the full-blown philosophical world view that underlies the hope he has always inspired in his readers. He begins by offering the reader a concise history of process theology, tracing its origin in Whitehead's philosophy and its later development by Hartshorne, Cobb, Griffin, Suchocki, Loomer, and others. Then, using his gift of expressing big ideas in the language of simple elegance and metaphor, Epperly explains the basic tenets of process theology, with special emphasis on the problem of evil and suffering, the power of prayer, the teleology of beauty, the human condition--or what he calls "The Adventurous Self'--as well as a full range of theological issues such as Christology, Trinity, and the Bible. The reader's journey continues through the application of process theology to such areas as ethics, science, the church, and the afterlife.... Finally, an extensive bibliography guides the reader toward further adventures in the study of process theology.

Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed is a ground-breaking book, for it not only offers a broad, intriguing, and accurate account of process theology, but also hews out a clear and vivid path for embracing the beauty of process theology in our time. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Process Theology Unveiled February 17, 2012

By Robert Cornwall

Format:Paperback

Christianity is one of the more complex faith traditions, with its embrace of doctrines such as the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, so even on a good day enquirers can be left perplexed. Process Theology, which takes much of its inspiration from the philosophical musings of a British mathematician/physicist, can leave even those acquainted with and comfortable with basic Christian doctrines perplexed and confused. Thus, a primer that would translate and explain for the uninitiated the intricacies of this theological system is most welcome. This is especially true at a time when many Christians are looking for a system that makes sense of the world of the 21st century, especially concerning the relationship of faith and science. Although many people continue to embrace premodern religious beliefs, many others find these beliefs, especially relating to a divine being that supernaturally sweeps in and adjusts things from outside the universe to be incompatible with reality as they know it. Of course, it's not only science that poses challenges; it's the problem of evil as well. Process Theology, with its sense of openness to the future and its rejection of an all powerful divinity seems to offer a more compelling vision - if only we understood the vocabulary!

In this book Bruce Epperly, himself a Process Theologian who studied at one of the leading centers of Process Theology (Claremont), but who also writes with a pastor's heart, provides us with a primer that seeks to translate and explain the ideas and vocabulary that form Process Theology. One of the reasons why this system is both controversial and difficult to understand is that it starts with a modern philosophical system that challenges traditional ways of seeing the world and the divine.... It is a system that is rooted in the thought of a scientist/mathematician who chose to wrestle with the relationship of faith and science, seeing them not as irreconcilable enemies, but as conversation partners. To do this, however, Alfred North Whitehead didn't privilege the biblical and theological traditions of historic Christianity. He also rejected the Greek philosophical systems that had served as the foundation for Christian theologizing for centuries. His was a system that asked of religion questions raised by the modern world, and for many of us this has been not only challenging but off-putting. It's not easy to let go of cherished traditions. It's also difficult to let go of a belief in an all-powerful deity. But, as Schleiermacher pointed out a century earlier, the questions raised by modernity won't go away.

The challenge posed by Process Philosophy and Theology (and we might want to put theology in the plural, for there are a variety of expressions, as Bruce notes in an early chapter of the book) is the vocabulary. To understand process thought you have to learn a new vocabulary, one that is philosophically rooted. Words like dipolar, panentheism, and prehension aren't part of our normal vocabulary, and yet their important to this system. Bruce attempts to translate these terms, but he does say that many Process thinkers insist that this system is unique enough that it needs a different vocabulary to distinguish itself from other systems.

One could say that Process Theology isn't one of the most user-friendly theological schools on the market, but Epperly believes that it holds out great hope for the church in this modern/post-modern age. He believes that this is a system that speaks to the moment in which we live, offering a vision of God that makes sense of scientific challenges and moral questions and that speaks to those for whom traditional models of faith no longer work. This includes people living both inside and outside the confines of the Christian faith.

Although I have been leery of Process Theology, finding its vision of God to be less than inspiring, I have come to understand why theologians such as John Cobb were concerned about questions of theodicy (defense of God in the face of the presence of evil in the world) and sought to answer these questions in a new way. While I'm not a convert to Process, I appreciate the seriousness with which it takes questions of divine power and divine presence.

Epperly began his spiritual journey to Process from the conservative evangelicalism of his youth. Process theology made it possible for him to continue that journey of faith as his earlier understandings of faith were challenged by what he was learning in college with regard to science and religious pluralism. He was attracted both by its rationality and the way it lent itself to mysticism. Process theology, which took on a salvific purpose for Bruce, offered a vision of God and the world that sought "to transform people's lives by providing an insightful vision of reality that enables persons to find meaning, inspiration and challenge" (p. 3).

The purpose of this rather brief book is to introduce the reader to process theology, its primary proponents, beginning with Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne and taking us up to the present, introducing us to figures such as Bernard Loomer, David Griffin, and John Cobb, and offer a rationale for why the reader might want to consider adopting this theological system. He covers the primary theological areas, such as the nature and purpose of God, Christology, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, the relationship of faith and science, ethics, the church, and the afterlife. He concludes with a look at the future of process theology, which he believes is bright.

Process Theology is modern and liberal and seeks to address modern questions. If it is to be of use it will need to be understood, and Bruce has given us an excellent translation/introduction to this important theological movement that is drawing the attention of many who once wrote it off as "unpreachable!" If you're interested in engaging the questions raised by modernity, then I think you will find this to be a most helpful book, and perhaps it will prove salvific! Read more ›