Reimagining the Divine: God in Process

Religious language is obliged to speak in metaphors, which are “a door and window” into our experience of the divine. We will explore some biblical metaphors, alternatives favored by early Friends, and end with those rooted in contemporary process-relational theology, like “the world as God’s body.” We begin with the insight that when it comes…

Workshop Description

Religious language is obliged to speak in metaphors, which are “a door and window” into our experience of the divine. We will explore some biblical metaphors, alternatives favored by early Friends, and end with those rooted in contemporary process-relational theology, like “the world as God’s body.”

We begin with the insight that when it comes to describing our experience of the Divine, our language is necessarily inadequate. We can only say what God (and our experience of God) is “like.” We will look at the images, metaphors, and models (“metaphors with staying power”) we use in “talking about what we don’t know how to talk about.”

We will start by examining the biblical model of God as King (which most of us find woefully inadequate); then look at the strikingly different metaphors early Friends favored; and end with an in-depth exploration of contemporary “process-relational theology,” which is a model that turns much of our thinking about God upside down; is in accord with modern science; and, in my experience, resonates very much with contemporary Friends (even if they have never heard of the term). We will be doing some serious theology, but the rewards are potentially large.

The format will include informal lectures with slides, with discussion (about an hour); interspersed with small group worship-sharing around specific queries (about an hour); and closing each session with worship together as a group (20 to 30 minutes).

Objectives for this Workshop:

• Understand the nature–and inherent limitations—of all religious metaphors and models.
• Discuss early Friends metaphors for the experience of the divine, and understand how, in historic context, they represented a radical departure from the wider tradition.
• Introduce a contemporary model of the divine, which we will refer to as “process-relational theology,” which is for our time fully as radical as early Friends were in their time. We will see how this model overcomes many of our contemporary misgivings about the traditional image of God, while also describing how God can be said to be present and active in the world.
• Explore some specifically Quaker applications: leadings, mystical experience, “interbeing” and a relational / ecological worldview.

Some relevant quotes that will guide us, and give a flavor of our focus:

Our image of God matters. It can make God seem credible or incredible, plausible or highly improbable, absent or present.

Marcus Borg

Today, there is but one religious dogma in debate: What do you mean by ‘God’?

Alfred North Whitehead

The end of words is to bring us to the knowledge of things beyond what words can utter.

-Isaac Penington

The courage to disbelieve’ is the courage to stop believing in concepts of God that are no longer worthy of belief—in order to make room for more worthy beliefs.

John Thatamanil

All that you touch, you change.
All that you change, changes you.
The only lasting truth is change.
God is change.

Octavia Butler (The Parable of the Sower)

Outline:

Day 1: We will discuss how all “God-talk” by necessity uses images, metaphors, and models, and how “all models are wrong, but some are useful.” We will explore the dominant biblical metaphor of God as king or patriarch, its limitations, and an alternative model of pan-en-theism, which imagines “the world as God’s body.” We will discuss the importance (and difficulty) of balancing God’s immanence and transcendence, which are often seen as in tension with each other.

Day 2: We will explore early Friends creative use of new metaphors (most of which are firmly rooted in the Bible), expressing God’s immanence or immediate presence: light, inward light of Christ, seed, inward teacher, Spirit, inner witness, “truth in the heart.” Do these still speak to us today?

Day 3: We will introduce the process-relational model of “thinking about God.” In this model, the future is “open” (not predetermined or predestined by God, but “co-created” in cooperation with the creatures), and the world is intrinsically relational, including our intrinsic relation to the Divine. Process theology gives a coherent answer to the question: “How is God present and active in the world?” In this model, we will see that God’s nature is never coercive or controlling, but works only by persuasion—beckoning, inviting, and wooing us into a future of mutual flourishing. This “call forward” from God strongly resonates with the Quaker experience of “leadings” that come from God, but always requiring our cooperation. The picture that emerges is of God as guide and companion, rather than all-powerful ruler. We will see how process-relational thought offers a thoughtful critique of the traditional “attributes of God” as omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.

Day 4: We will look at some practical applications, and explore how the process-relational model helps to answer some vexing religious questions. How is God present and active in the world? Is the incarnation (in Jesus of Nazareth) a unique exception to God’s usual way of acting, or should we think of Jesus is the “chief exemplification” of God’s incarnation (“The world lives by the incarnation of God,” A.N. Whitehead). How does a process-relational model help us to think more coherently about “the problem of evil”? Is there a place for mystical experience in a contemporary worldview? What is the place of prayer? And what are the ecological implications of a process worldview?

Suggested (highly recommended) reading before the workshop: Pendle Hill Pamphlet #422 (2013), “Reclaiming the Transcendent: God in Process,” by Thomas Gates