Ask Dr. Cobb

I have not thought in these terms. That is a confession of limitation. It is a good question, and I appreciate the stimulus to think about it. But I assume there is no one answer. I also assume that there are many forms of Christianity for which the question is irrelevant.

This is a thoughtful question. We process theologians believe that God loves everyone and everything. God loves the sinner and the saint; the whale and the sparrow; the weak and the powerful. If having a “preferential option” meant that God loved poor people more than God loved rich people, we could not make that statement in an unqualified way.

Either and both. There are many important questions that are not decided by holding the process perspective. People from many different spiritual traditions can make use of process categories to clarify, deepen, and enrich their traditions. The process perspective allows us to honor this diversity. Difference does not lead directly to judgments of truth and falsity or to the need to rank the positions. Difference as such vastly enriches the world.

This is a clever way to put a very fundamental question. It is also a wise way. The truth of relativity, which we affirm, is too often connected in people’s minds with the relativity of truth. But for process thinkers this connection is rejected. For us what has been has been, and nothing ever changes that fact. In that sense truths about the past are not relative. Similarly the structures of reality are what they are. What we believe about them does not change them.

Some years ago I suggested that nationalism had been the dominant religion of the West for several hundred years. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) symbolized its takeover of this role from Christianism. Three hundred and ten years later, the establishment of the European Economic Community symbolized the shift from nationalism to economism.

I appreciate this question. My answer is, of course, yes. If I did not think so, I would not have devoted so much of my time to process thought. But before I answer positively, I should acknowledge what process thought, by itself, certainly cannot do.

I think there is a sense in which theology as such is “hopelessly” Western if that means inescapably tied to Christianity. What we understand by theology brings together history and philosophy in a way that Christians cannot avoid. We have to discern universal meanings in particular historical events since we assert that particular historical events have importance for all people.

A simple answer to this question is “Yes.” But that would mean very little. I think that process thinkers can benefit from discussion with any group of thoughtful people who approach matters from a different point of view. There is no one right point of view. We are all shaped by our particular histories and they have alerted us to different features of reality. We can enlarge our horizons and enrich our understanding by engaging many discussion partners.

There is one element of this question about which I am doubtful. It states that neuroscience has “increasingly” suggested that our freedom is an illusion. My experience with neuroscience is very limited, but it has given me hope that there is a strong counter trend within it. In any case, I would say that science as a whole has long implied that our freedom is an illusion, and the physiological psychology that has evolved into neuroscience was, from its beginning, committed to demonstrating physical determinism in the relation of the brain to subjective experience.

Prevenient grace is not a Wesleyan monopoly, but I am going to refer in my answer to Wesley. Wesley’s understanding of prevenient grace was clear, and the doctrine was important to him. In many ways, Wesley’s teaching flows into process thought, or perhaps process thought flows into Wesley. For both, God works graciously in everyone. That gracious working can lead to justification and sanctification, and as it does in takes on new names. That is, it is no longer prevenient but, instead, justifying and sanctifying.