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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
Process theology, inspired by the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, and liberation theology, prompted by the experience of oppression in Latin America, are two distinct and separate forms of contemporary Christian theology that both provoke and compel our attention. Although they vary dramatically in the standpoints from which they speak, the audiences to whom they speak, and the languages with which they speak, process and liberation theologies nonetheless share some striking similarities of viewpoint that bear ethical import. The author thus details their positions on existence in community, freedom and creativity, and resonsibility for the future, as well as the differences noted above, and claims that it is on ethical grounds that their contributions are most profound and their potential impact most far-reaching.
1 A Christian Natural Theology, based on the thought of Whitehead, Alfred North (Philadephia: Westminster, 1965), p. 252Google Scholar, hereafter cited in the text as CNT.
2 A Theology of Liberation, History Politics and Salvation, trans, and ed. by SisterInda, Caridad and Eagleson, John (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1973), p. 12Google Scholar, hereafter cited in the text as TL. The precise wording is cited by Gutierrez as coming from the French theologian Congar, Yves, in Situation et tâches présentes de la théologie (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1967), p. 11.Google Scholar
3 Robert McAfee Brown also makes this point with different examples in an excellent article, “The Rootedness of All Theology,” Christianity and Crisis, vol. 37, no. 12 (July 18, 1977), p. 170.Google Scholar
4 See, for example: John Cobb, Jr., A Christian Natural Theology, op. cit.; Christ in a Pluralistic Age (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975)Google Scholar; God and the World (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969)Google Scholar; Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology (Beverly Hills, CA: Bruce, 1972)Google Scholar; Process Theology, An Introductory Exposition, with Griffin, David Ray (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976)Google Scholar; The Structure of Christian Existence (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1967)Google Scholar; Griffin, David Ray and Altizer, Thomas J. J. (eds.), John Cobb's Theology in Process (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1977)Google Scholar; Brown, Delwin, James, Ralph E. Jr.,, and Reeves, Gene (eds.), Process Philosophy and Christian Thought (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971)Google Scholar; Cousins, Ewert H. (ed.), Process Theology: Basic Writings (New York: Newman, 1971)Google Scholar; Griffin, David, God, Power and Evil: A Process Theodicy (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976)Google Scholar and A Process Christology (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1973)Google Scholar; Peters, E. H., The Creative Advance (St. Louis: Bethany, 1966)Google Scholar; Pittenger, Norman, Process Thought and Christian Faith (New York: Macmillan, 1968).Google Scholar Pertinent readings in Whitehead include Science in the Modern World, Religion in the Making, Process and Reality, Adventures of Ideas.
5 See also Alves, Rubem, A Theology of Human Hope (St. Meinrad, IN: Abbey Press, 1975)Google Scholar; Bonino, Jose Miguez, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975)Google Scholar; Dussel, Enrique, History and the Theology of Liberation, A Latin American Perspective, trans. Drury, John (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1976)Google Scholar; Miranda, Jose Profirio, Marx and the Bible, A Critique of the Philosophy of Oppression, trans. Eagleson, John (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1974)Google Scholar; Segundo, Juan Luis, The Liberation of Theology, trans. Drury, John (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1976).Google Scholar
6 Cobb, and Griffin, , Process Theology, pp. 101–102.Google Scholar
7 John Cobb, Jr., Christ in a Pluralistic Age.
8 Meland, Bernard, “The New Creation,” in Process Theology, Basic Writings, ed. by Cousins, Ewert, pp. 191–202.Google Scholar
9 Henry Nelson Wieman, “The Human Predicament,” in ibid., pp. 217-226.
10 Philosophy in a New Key (New York: Mentor, 1964), pp. 15–19.Google Scholar
11 The Militant Gospel: A Critical Introduction to Political Theologies, trans. Drury, John (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1977), p. 361.Google Scholar
12 History and the Theology of Liberation, p. x.
13 Response to Reynolds in John Cobb's Theology in Process, p. 182.
14 See God and the World, p. 10.
15 Beyond God the Father, Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973).Google Scholar
16 See God Is Red (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1973).Google Scholar
17 Process Theology, p. 150.
18 Hans Küng writes that “serious theology does not claim any complete, total possession of truth, any monopoly of truth. It claims to be no more than scholarly reflection on its object from one particular standpoint, which is anyway one legitimate standpoint among others.” On Being a Christian, trans. Quinn, Edward (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976), p. 87.Google Scholar This claim serves as an appropriate and timely reminder of the very modest and limited nature of the theological task.
19 Response to Tracy in John Cobb's Theology in Process, p. 153.
20 Religion in the Making (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1967), p. 81.Google Scholar
21 See, for example, two articles in Process Studies, vol. 4, no. 3 (Fall, 1974)Google Scholar: Pixley, George V., “Justice and Class Struggle: A Challenge for Process Theology,” pp. 159–175Google Scholar; and Williamson, Clark M., “Whitehead as Counterrevolutionary? Toward Christian-Marxist Dialogue,” pp. 176–186.Google Scholar Relevant also is George Pixley's unpublished paper, “Perspective and Ideology in Process Theology,” delivered at the Conference on Process and Praxis, sponsored by the Center for Process Studies, School of Theology, Claremont, California, May 5-8, 1977.
22 “The Rootedness of All Theology,” p. 173.
23 Doing Theology, p. 91. See Alves, Rubem (“Christian Realism: Ideology of the Establishment,” Christianity and Crisis, vol. 33, no. 15 [September 15, 1973], p. 176)Google Scholar, for an even stronger statement: “We believe that your theology to a great degree—although it does not want to recognize this—is part of cultural imperialism.”
24 Neal, Marie Augusta has attempted to address this issue in A Socio-Theology of Letting Go (New York: Paulist, 1977).Google Scholar