3 Religion and Culttural Traditions – Sections & Papers
3.1 Interreligious Dialogue
Section Head: J. R. Hustwit
Tuesday, July 4, afternoon Room: Stuba
Session 1
1 Donna Bowman PhD Honors College, University of Central Arkansas 201 Donaghey Avenue Conway, AR 72035 USA e-mail: [email protected]
The Ethics of Pluralism and the Price of Submission
Abstract: American students are being well taught,in primary and secondary settings, to behave well in a pluralistic setting. The mantra "Teach Tolerance" has produced handsome results. Students learn early and often that not everyone believes as they do, thinks as they do, or acts as they would prefer or think natural. "Tolerance," however, is a limited principle of behavior. It simply urges one to restrain oneself from criticizing or impeding another. It is not closely linked to a cognitive understanding of why one should do so; indeed, other than the idea that others have a "right" to their beliefs and private behaviors, or that one would dislike being criticized or restrained oneself, tolerant individuals are often at a loss to explain why tolerance is a better course of action than intolerance. At an extreme, students who have been taught tolerance believe that one should not intervene in another culture's practices even when they are manifestly cruel or unjust; honor killings, genital mutilation, even slavery must be allowed to continue in the name of an uncomfortably restrictive notion of tolerance. In this paper I link a more robust ethic of pluralism, with its intellectual basis for action and conviction in the face of difference, to the related problem of an obedience ethic. When individuals are not taught to "think for themselves," especially in the face of different moral imperatives in conflict, the promise of pluralism can easily devolve to the toothless detente of tolerance. I argue that the functional good of obedience during a person's development is strongly tempered by the maladaptive properties of obedience as a supposed virtue during adulthood. A strong ethic of pluralism allows persons to negotiate pluralistic communities and still remain responsible for the consequences of their action or inaction. To the extent that our culture of collective irresponsibility is nurtured by a hands-off, "tolerant" or libertarian notion of our responsibility for shared injustices -- to the extent that we no longer believe Martin Luther King, Jr., that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" -- we find ourselves stymied by the evil around us, handcuffed by our own enlightenment. To understand and act otherwise will require an orientation of intellect and will that breaks free of the ethic of obedience that nurtured us as children.
2 J. R. Hustwit Claremont Graduate University 2261 Bonita Ave La Verne, CA 91711 phone: (909) 596-1028, (951) 235-6748 e-mail: [email protected]
Whiteheadian Contributions to a Hermeneutic of Inter-Religious Dialogue
Abstract: The task of interreligious dialogue is a pervasively hermenutical enterprise. By seeking to understand the beliefs, practices, and values of the religious Other, we seek to transcend our own finite conceptual horizon and enrich our own worldview. This transcendence and enrichment occurs by means of interpretation. The philosophical hermeneutic tradition of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur provides the dominant models of how interpreters appropriate religious meaning—whether texts, persons, rituals, symbols, or events. Whitehead’s explicitly metaphysical system, however, raises important challenges to these “dominant” approaches to historical, cultural, and theological interpretation. By investigating Whiteheadian perspectives on the issues of authorial intention, the role of language in experience, human cognitive structures, the nature of meaning, and shared rationality, one finds that Whitehead offers a more optimistic vision of the ability of dialogue partners to understand each other. But at what cost? By examining the divergent philosophical commitments (e.g. among other things, responses to Kant) of the phenomenological-hermeneutical approach and Whitehead’s metaphysical-hermeneutical approach, one illuminates not only the relationship between hermeneutics and speculative metaphysics, but the root of the controversies concerning the feasibility of interreligious understanding.
3 Matthew Lopresti University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu 3273 Kaimuki Ave. Postal Code: 96816 USA phone:(808) 489-0487 e-mail: [email protected]
Papal Blinders: Making Sense of Pope Benedict XVIth’s View of Religious Pluralism and its Implications for Interreligious Dialogue
Abstract: It behooves those involved in interreligious dialogue to broaden the base of the participants beyond those who are predisposed to it, or to at least to expand their audience beyond the “choir.” In this paper, I argue, first, that an awareness of the interplay between views of religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue can uncover assumptions that may either preclude or foster the possibility for open and genuine interreligious dialogue, and second, that fostering an enriched understanding of religious pluralism has tremendous potential for expanding the audience and participants of interreligious dialogue to include those who were previously closed-off to this discourse. Pope Benedict XVI’s regard for interreligious dialogue as an opportunity to facilitate the conversion of its participants to a Catholic position has been regarded as deceitful and a violation of the necessary trust required for genuine interreligious dialogue to take place. In stark contrast to this, John Cobb Jr. and David Ray Griffin understand the fruit of genuine interreligious dialogue to be “mutual transformation.” From the perspective of the Pope, however, such transformation may very well be seen as a threat, furthering the project of pluralism and thereby making the very nature of so-called “genuine interreligious dialogue” appear to be an evangelical method of pluralism itself! At this point, the two sides may seem to be at loggerheads. Should
3 then those invested in interreligious dialogue simply accept the exclusion of certain religious practitioners? I answer no. If we are, therefore, to broaden the conversation to include religious leaders like Pope Benedict XVI, if not at least his followers, then we must address their obstacles to genuine interreligious dialogue by facilitating a more sophisticated understanding of the viability of religious pluralism in ways that are not threatening to their basic spiritual beliefs. The two main objections levelled against religious pluralism by Benedict are that it fosters what he calls “religious indifferentism” and that it challenges the unique saving role of Christ. By calling attention to the Whiteheadian-inspired religious pluralism developed by Cobb and Griffin, this paper demonstrates the unfounded nature of the first claim and I argue further for the falsity of the second. By removing these obstacles to Catholic (i.e., Papal) engagement in interreligious dialogue, it now can be seen from their perspective not as an evangelical tool of pluralists seeking to divest Christianity of its uniqueness and relativize religious truths, but rather as a non-threatening logical extension of a pluralistic theology that is arguably compatible with their own. The task, then, of demonstrating the compatibility of the Whiteheadian-inspired religious pluralism of Cobb and Griffin with the spiritual beliefs of additional religious traditions clearly contributes to the expansion of genuine interreligious dialogue by including those who may have been heretofore marginalized by it.
4 Louwrens W. Hessel Dr. Leiden Plantsoen 9 Postal Code: 2311KE Netherlands phone:33715146387 e-mail: [email protected]
Whitehead’s Philosophy Opens Perspectives for the Reconciliation of Christianity and Islam
Abstract: Christianity and Islam traditionally agree on omnipotence as a defining characteristic of God. In early Christianity and in pre-Hijra Islam this functioned as comfort and support for oppressed people as it reinforced their conviction that there exists an absolute power which will bring an end to the violation of their rights. But as these religions became successful in a worldly way, divine omnipotence was understood as absolute and rightful control of the world by God. To carry out his will became the task of true believers, if necessary by force. Dieu le veut against Allah-u-Akbar. Rebellion, rather than injustice became the major sin, and submission became the primary religious duty. Whitehead once called this development in Christian theology a disaster and he regarded it as a delusion about the character of the Eternal One as revealed by Jesus. “Mahometanism” appeared to him in the same light. Closely related characteristics of this classical image of the God are impassibility and timelessness, bequeathed to both religions by Greek philosophy and by the experience of Roman and Byzantine imperial rule. Process theology transforms and humanises these doctrines. It imagines the Eternal One as not self-sufficient and invulnerable and yet trustworthy and powerful to save. As the imagined character of the Eternal One is reflected in the actions and attitudes of its believers this offers good hope for a reconciliation between Christianity and Islam, that is if their leaders understand that giving up their traditional assertiveness is not a betrayal but a return to the original visions of Jesus and Mohammed. For Christianity it means a return to the Jesus of the synoptic gospels and taking serious the Johannine saying that the Eternal One is like him. For Islam it means re-emphasising the oldest layers of Muslim tradition as found in the early Meccan surahs of the Koran and in many places of the hadith. These testify that the opposition against human injustice was the
4 key element in Mohammed’s teaching and that his passion was for earthly righteousness and its vindication by divine justice. These testimonies date from before the time that he was called to be a political leader, and non- violence became for him a practical impossibility. Process philosophy shows that unqualified omnipotence involves an internal inconsistency and it re-interprets it as the power to convince rather than to coerce. The use of violence is considered as a defeat, the ruin of true victory. The doctrine of divine impassibility is shown to be based on the confusion between vulnerability and the possibility of being overwhelmed. Temporality, usually and one-sidedly understood as only loss is re- interpreted as the necessary condition for novelty and is understood as the integration of all past events into ever new possibilities.
5 Tokiyuki Nobuhara PhD Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Chaplain Keiwa College 1270 Tomizuka, Shibata, Niigata 957-8585, Japan phone: +81 254 26 3636 fax: +81 254 26 3646 e-mail: [email protected] (W) e-mail: [email protected] (H)
Reason and Intuition in Christian and Buddhist Philosophy: Anselm's Proslogion II and IV Reinterpreted in the Light of D. T. Suzuki's Zen Thought
Abstract: In this paper I will first discuss, with Karl Barth and Gregory Schufreider, how Anselm’s argument aiming at fulfilling the request upon God in Proslogion I to “show Yourself” is shot through with the procedure of reasoning evolving in itself the sort of understanding which admits reason to a vision of the matter itself (i.e., God) or what Barth designates “divine illuminare,” based upon “divine donare,” resulting in “Gratias tibi, bone domine.” Second, I will scrutinize and reinterpret Anselm’s procedure at its very outset (namely, the Name of God as aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit), however, by reference to Suzuki’s clarification of the Zen mondo (question and answer) as involving in itself what he calls soku-hi logic, “A is not-A and therefore A is A,” in which vijnana (knowledge) is never vijnana without prajna (wisdom); prajna is the necessary postulate of vijnana. Thus, Anselm’s final gratitude to God, “Gratias tibi, bone domine,” will be verified as being deepened by its inclusion of Zen logic of prajna (or soku-hi logic) while proceeding because of reason’s vision or revelation.
5 3.2 Philosophy of Religion
Section heads: Thomas Kelly Helmut Maaßen
Tuesday, July 4, afternoon Room: HS 121
Session 1
1. Michael Heather Dr. University Newcastle upon Tyne University Tyne & Wear NE1 8ST UK phone: +44 191 386 7260 e-mail: [email protected]
Formal Theology
Formal reasoning about God originating perhaps in Aristotle, pursued by the likes of Ramond Lull Leibniz, and even more recently by Gödel needs the fuller treatment of the formal representation of process as found in category theory. There it can venture far beyond the simple limitation of a proof of existence of God to give insight into a much wider theology.
2 Tobias Müller M.A. University [email protected] Frankfurt am Main Grüneburgplatz 1 Hessen 60323 Germany phone:00496979832939 fax: 00496979833354
What is it like to be a God? Critical Remarks on Whitehead’s Concept of God.
Abstract: The Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead has been a great inspiration for a process oriented philosophy of religion and a process theology respectively. Especially the Whiteheadian concept of God seems to be very attractive for both disciplines because it obviously can express the relation of god’s transcendence and immanence and the notion of a loving God more adequately than that of a classical theism. Over and above it offers opportunities in the interreligious and the science-and-religion dialogue. Unfortunately there seem to be some serious problems concerning the consistency and coherence of Whitehead’s concept of God that could threat the success of this approach. Whitehead claims that God can be prehended by the actual entities although his concrescene is never ending what would be a necessary condition in his system. Over the time there has been made some proposals to avoid this problem (namely by Ch.Hartshorne, M. Suchocki, L.S. Ford) at the same time all these proposals generate new problems. In my paper I try to show that these problems only arise when God is treated like all other actual entities. In opposite to the proposals before mentioned I want to argue that Whitehead introduces the concept of God as a 6 limit notion in his metaphysics (namely in “Science and the Modern World”) and I think that there is good evidence that this status is hold by Whitehead even in his later work “Process and Reality”. Metaphysical definitions and qualifications can only be ascribed to God in an indirect way if-and-only-if the metaphysical situation of the world makes this necessary or plausible. That means that these qualifications are logically contingent and depend on the current metaphysical debates. For the idea of God as a limit notion, there is no need to apply the metaphysical principles to god in such a strict way that God has to grant them in the same way the actual entities have to do. If we take the epistemological considerations seriously and if this interpretation is correct there is no need for a metaphysical modification of the concept of God. Further more God as a limit notion offers the opportunity to process philosophy and process theology to consider the qualifications ascribed to god by his functions for the world in the prevailing contexts and frees both disciplines from the pressure to know exactly what it is like to be God.
3 Randy Ramal Adjunct Faculty Claremont Graduate University 831 N. Dartmouth Avenue Claremont, CA 91711 USA phone: (909) 227-1582 e-mail: [email protected]
Causality, Atheism, and the Grammar of God
Abstract: Whitehead’s metaphysical account of God’s causal influence on the world, mainly through a provision of initial aims that are envisioned in God’s primordial nature, may suggest that atheism is simply a lack of appropriation of these initial aims by agents who are capable of religious belief. From this perspective, atheism is a form of blindness to God’s vision of truth, beauty, and goodness whereas God’s causal influence is steadfast and undeniable. My aim here is to investigate whether Whitehead’s account of the grammars of God and causality binds him to a logical inversion concerning atheism. If we start the analysis with the grammar of atheism in its natural context, would we arrive at the same conclusions that Whitehead’s metaphysics leads?
4 Kurian Kachappilly cmi Dean, Faculty of Philosophy Dharmaram College, Bangalore - 560 029, India phone - Cell: +91-9448344918; Web: www.kkachappilly.8m.com Mobile in Europe: 0032-498 476 305
Process Theodicy - A Postmodern Alternative to the Problem of Evil
Abstract: ‘Theodicy’ is used as an accepted ‘name’ for the whole subject, comprising of a systematic investigation of the problem of evil and its attempted solutions, the attempts to reconcile the unlimited goodness of all-powerful God with the reality of evil. In a very general classification, the religions of the world have offered three main types of solution. (1) There is the ‘monism’ of the Vedanta teachings of Hinduism, according to which the phenomenal world with all its evils is maya or illusion. (2) There is the ‘dualism’ exemplified most dramatically in ancient Zoroastrianism, with its opposed good and evil deities – Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. (3) There is the distinctive combination of an ethical dualism set within an ultimate metaphysical monism (in the form of ‘monotheism’) that has been developed within Christianity.
7 ‘Process’ theodicy provides us with a constructive postmodern alternative to the ‘traditional’ theodicy, by redefining the omnipotence of God (one of the elements of the incompatible triad) from a ‘metaphysical’ consideration of the nature of the world upon which the power is exerted. Unlike the traditional theists, who maintain that all apparent evil is really, from the ultimate perspective, a means to good, process theists hold the view that the possibility of genuine evil is rooted in the metaphysical characteristics of the world. Since God is not in complete control of events of the world, the occurrence of genuine evil is not incompatible with God’s beneficence toward all his creatures. In Whitehead’s vision, the divine element in the world is to be conceived as a ‘persuasive’ agency and not a ‘coercive’ agency. Accordingly the creation of the world involves a victory of ‘persuasion over necessity’, and as such is not a total determination of all the details of the world. The power of God is the worship he inspires, and the worship, by definition, is loving God with all one’s heart and mind and soul and strength. The good news that the Gospel of Jesus has for us is not simply that ‘God is love’, but that God’s love is powerful, and that God’s power is characterized by love. Love is powerful only when it is the other who is empowered by the act of love. Thus God as love “is the great companion – the fellow sufferer who understands.”
5 Thomas A. F. Kelly Dr. University [email protected] NUI Maynooth Department of Philosophy Maynooth Co. Kildare Ireland phone:353-1-7083661 fax: 353-1-7084525
Aquinas, Whitehead and God
Abstract: This paper attempts to discover a common philosophical underpinning to the seemingly very diverse attempts, made by Thomas Aquinas and Alfred North Whitehead, to assert philosopically the existence of God. Despite the obvious diversity which exists between these two thinkers, as substantivist and process thinkers respectively, nevertheless an argument from contingency/temporality, which draws on the insights of both, can be mounted. This paper will attempt to construct such an argument, and to bring to light those processal principals on which this argument relies. A rapprochement between the diverse world views of Aquinas and Whitehead is thereby mediated and briefly explored.
8 Wednesday, July 5, morning Room: HS 121
Session 2
6 Duston Moore Dr. University Fort Wayne 2101 e. Colisuem Blvd. Indiana 46805 U.S.A. phone:260-481-6366 fax: 260-481-6367 e-mail: [email protected]
The Notion of Peace in Whitehead and Desmond
Abstract: Between Religion and Philosophy: The Notion of Peace in Whitehead and Desmond The notion of Peace can cut between philosophy and religion, either separating two distinct domains. Alternatively reflections on Peace can mediate philosophy towards religion and make the religious philosophical. The essay will investigate the metaphysical and ontological significance of the notion of peace within the works of A. N. Whitehead and W. Desmond. Both Whitehead and Desmond’s philosophical works are marked with the religious significance. Both authors share a sympathy with religious sensibility and allow this sensibility to infuse their analyses. And both have the courage to ask embarrassing questions- questions many philosophers would rather pass over in silence. Whitehead and Desmond explicitly address the importance of the notion of Peace: Whitehead in Adventures of Ideas and Desmond in Is There a Sabbath for Thought? Further, both Whitehead and Desmond approach this reflection equipped with systematic metaphysical frameworks expressly designed to appreciate (although never totalise) the religious sensibility of Peace. The impact in the development of Whitehead and Desmond’s metaphysics and ontologies associated with this acceptance of the religious is one of the main themes of this paper. In Adventures of Ideas Whitehead, like Desmond, links the notion of Peace to that of Truth. Whitehead uses Tragedy as a foil, much like Desmond’s use of War, to develop various levels of analyses of Peace. Like Desmond, Whitehead’s concern is for a primordial notion of Peace. This original Peace is a notion that can be corrupted and doubled into perverted reflections of the original. This essay will present the argument that the investigation of this primordial original constitutes the pinnacle of Whiteheadian philosophy. Philosophising about religion is not simply an application of philosophical methods. Rather, the approach towards Peace calls forth intimate and latent origins. And it is this original overdetermined source that concerns both religion and philosophy. In the chapter titled ‘On Peace- Between Philosophy and Religion’ Desmond builds upon his analysis of the porosity of being doubling into the passio essendi and the conatus essendi and asks which is more primal. Does not the very postulatory finitism and the erotics of the conatus essendi in mainstream philosophy witness a promise the original gift of Peace? By dwelling in the equivocal between of religious sentiment and philosophical analysis Desmond seeks to expose the ontological middle that at once ground as well as sustains the many voices of the over-determined original- God. This essay does not claim to find exact equivalences between such idiosyncratic technical terms like primordial nature and conatus essendi. Rather, I shall demonstrate a shared sensibility, a common finesse of comportment between two systematic metaphysicians. The essay concludes with a brief examination of what is at stake. For both Whitehead and Desmond religion mediated by the notion of Peace reveals
9 something of the very nature of philosophy. The poverty of philosophy, like Eros, is reborn ever morning the promise of the religious finds its way into the between that characterisers human existence. Whitehead, quoting Newman, warns that Non in dialectica complacuit Deo salvum facere populum suum. Like Desmond, there is for Whitehead a poverty of philosophy that can lead to danger. It is this dangerous adventure of philosophy that belongs to the essence of civilisation.
7 David E. Conner Pastor 4050 Zephyr Drive CO 80033-4558 USA phone:303-522-7016 e-mail: [email protected]
A Naturalistic Perspective on Theological Personalism
Abstract: Whitehead's ideas about God are more nearly naturalistic than personalistic. However, Whitehead's doctrine of causa sui, his perspectivalist epistemology, and his notion that the one and the many are in constant, co-creative interaction provide a basis for constructing a theological personalism which is adequate for religious purposes.
8 Mary Herczog Los Angeles 2314 Moreno Dr. CA Postal Code: 90039 USA phone:323-665-5990 e-mail: [email protected]
Is That All There Is? A Whiteheadian Response to Peggy Lee's Inquiry
Abstract: "Is that all there is, my friends?" ponders a song made famous by Peggy Lee, in which the singer is perpetually disappointed by the failure of life to fulfill expectations, and haunted by the sense that there must be something more. And isn't that what heaven's for? While Whitehead's theistic vision, as laid out in his own work, does not explicitly answer the question of subjective immortality, he does make suggestions for a more selfless, in all senses of the word, immortality that may satisfy the yearnings of some for the eternal. For the rest, a few, brief tantalizing moments at the very end of "Process and Reality," especially as developed in some of the work of Majorie Suchocki, can be used to provide a case for continued personal existence after a temporal end. Whether even that will be enough for our demanding singer is another matter.
9 Santiago Sia Dean and Professor of Philosophy Milltown Institute Dublin 6 Sandford Road Ireland phone:+353-1-2776342 e-mail: [email protected]
FIDES ET RATIO: Some Reflections from a Process Perspective
10 Abstract: The encyclical Fides et Ratio strongly supports the link between faith and reason. It endorses the tradition of using philosophy to express, develop and defend theological doctrines. This paper offers first some comments on that tradition, as outlined in the document, in terms of its use of reason, its interpretation of the relationship between faith and reason, and its choice of philosophical schools of thought. The paper then develops an interpretation, informed by process thought, that regards human experience as the starting point for our reflections but one which occurs in different contexts, one of which is described as 'religious'. It claims that the common starting point of any thinking being is our own humanity and our experience of it as we interact with one another. As we reflect on that common bond, using reason, we do so within a particular context, an example of which is the religious context. Religious beliefs, therefore, are an acknowledgement of and an articulation of that specific context. It is a context that can be challenged insofar as we make claims. But challenge and dispute by anyone who does not operate from the same context is possible only because we both share the common starting- point. This interpretation is thus quite different from 'fides quaerens intellectum' (because in the latter religious faith is already the starting point). Nor is it to be described as 'intellectus quaerens fidem' (because here it is experience rather than an intellectual act that grounds the intellectual process). In this interpretation philosophy is not regarded as 'ancilla fidei', nor are reason and faith symbolised as the 'two wings' described in the encyclical. The remaining part of the paper shows how process thought, particularly because of its metaphysical vision, can give a positive response to the encyclical's challenge not only to engage in more philosophical thinking in matters of religion but also in providing a critique to certain developments in contemporary society.
11 3.3 Process Thought and Biblical Studies
Section Head: David Lull
Wednesday, July 5, afternoon Room: HS 121
Session a) Discussion of Catherine Keller’s book, Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (London & New York: Routledge, 2003).
Presider: David J. Lull Professor Dr. Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, Iowa 52001 USA phone: 263-589-0303 e-mail: [email protected]
Speakers:
1 Catherine Keller Professor Dr. Drew University Theological School 36 Madison Avenue Madison, N.J. 07940 USA phone: 212-579-8696 e-mail: [email protected]
Title of book to be discussed: Catherine Keller, Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (London & New York: Routledge, 2003).
2 Jörg Barthel Professor Dr. Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche Theologisches Seminar Reutlingen - staatlich anerkannte Fachhochschule Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 31 D-72762 Reutlingen Deutschland e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Catherine Keller, Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming
3 Robert Karl Gnuse Professor Dr. Loyola University New Orleans Department of Religious Studies Bobet Hall, Room 408, Campus Box 81 6363 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118 USA phone: 504-865-3943 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Catherine Keller, Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming
12 4 Barbara Muraca Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität WG4 Baderstrasse 3 D-17489 Greifswald Deutschland Phone: +49+3834-519543 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Catherine Keller, Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming
5 Michael Nausner Professor Dr. Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche Theologisches Seminar Reutlingen - staatlich anerkannte Fachhochschule Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 31 D-72762 Reutlingen Germany phone: (07121) 9259–0 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Catherine Keller, Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming
Session b): Discussion of Robert Karl Gnuse’s book, The Old Testament and Process Theology (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2000).
Presider: David J. Lull Professor Dr. Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, Iowa 52001 USA Phone: 263-589-0303 e-mail: [email protected]
Speakers :
8 Robert Karl Gnuse Professor Dr. Loyola University New Orleans Department of Religious Studies Bobet Hall, Room 408, Campus Box 81 6363 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118 USA phone: 504-865-3943 e-mail: [email protected]
Title of book to be discussed: Robert Karl Gnuse, The Old Testament and Process Theology (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2000).
9 W. Russell Pregeant Professor Dr. Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Avenue Milton, MA 02186 USA phone: 617-333-2264 e-mail: [email protected]
13
Review of Robert Karl Gnuse, The Old Testament and Process Theology
10 David W. Odell-Scott Professor Dr. Kent State University 523 Dansel Street Kent, OH 44240 USA phone: 330-672-0271 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Robert Karl Gnuse, The Old Testament and Process Theology
Thursday, July 6, morning Room 121
Session a: Discussion of John B. Cobb’s and David J. Lull’s book, Romans, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005).
Presider: W. Russell Pregeant Professor Dr. Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Avenue Milton, MA 02186 USA phone: 617-333-2264 e-mail: [email protected]
Speakers:
1 John B. Cobb, Jr. Professor Dr. Claremont School of Theology and Center for Process Studies Claremont School of Theology 1325 N. College Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 USA e-mail: [email protected]
John B. Cobb, Jr. and David J. Lull, Romans, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005).
2 David J. Lull Professor Dr. Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, Iowa 52001 USA phone: 263-589-0303 e-mail: [email protected]
John B. Cobb, Jr. and David J. Lull, Romans, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005).
14 3 David W. Odell-Scott Professor Dr. Kent State University 523 Dansel Street Kent, OH 44240 USA phone: 330-672-0271 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of John B. Cobb, Jr. and David J. Lull, Romans, Chalice Commentaries for Today
4 J. R. Hustwit Academic title: none (a doctoral student) Claremont Graduate University and Center for Process Studies 1325 N. College Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 USA e-mail: [email protected]
Review of John B. Cobb, Jr. and David J. Lull, Romans, Chalice Commentaries for Today
5 Wolfgang Stegemann Professor Dr. Augustana-Hochschule Komotauer Strasse 9 91564 Neuendettelsau GERMANY phone: 00499874509640 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of John B. Cobb, Jr. and David J. Lull, Romans, Chalice Commentaries for Today
Session b: Discussion of Russell Pregeant’s book, Matthew, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2004).
Presider: David W. Odell-Scott Professor Dr. Kent State University 523 Dansel Street Kent, OH 44240 USA phone: 330-672-0271 e-mail: [email protected]
Speakers:
Russell Pregeant Professor Dr. Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Avenue Milton, MA 02186 USA phone: 617-333-2264 e-mail: [email protected]
15 Russell Pregeant, Matthew, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2004).
7 David J. Lull Professor Dr. Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, Iowa 52001 USA phone: 263-589-0303 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Russell Pregeant, Matthew, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2004).
8 John Quiring Dr. Center for Process Studies 1325 N. College Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 USA e-mail: [email protected]
Review of Russell Pregeant, Matthew, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2004).
9 Robert Karl Gnuse Professor Dr. Loyola University New Orleans Department of Religious Studies Bobet Hall, Room 408, Campus Box 81 6363 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118 USA phone: 504-865-3943 e-mail: [email protected]
Hermeneutical Assumptions in Process Theological Biblical Commentary
Thursday, July 6, afternoon Room: HS 121
Session a: Discussion of David J. Lull’s book, First Corinthians, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, forthcoming in 2006-07).
Presider: W. Russell Pregeant Professor Dr. Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Avenue Milton, MA 02186 USA phone: 617-333-2264 e-mail: [email protected]
16 Speakers:
1 David J. Lull Professor Dr. Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, Iowa 52001 USA phone: 563-589-0303 e-mail: [email protected]
David J. Lull, First Corinthians, Chalice Commentaries for Today (St. Louis: Chalice Press, forthcoming in 2006-07).
2 David W. Odell-Scott Professor Dr. Kent State University 523 Dansel Street Kent, OH 44240 USA phone: 330-672-0271 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of David J. Lull, First Corinthians, Chalice Commentaries for Today
3 Ignacio Castuera Pastor 379 S. College Ave. Claremont CA 91711 USA phone: 213-840-7258 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of David J. Lull, First Corinthians, Chalice Commentaries for Today
4 Wolfgang Stegemann Professor Dr. Augustana-Hochschule Komotauer Strasse 9 91564 Neuendettelsau GERMANY phone: 00499874509640 e-mail: [email protected]
Review of David J. Lull, First Corinthians, Chalice Commentaries for Today
Session b: Papers
Presider: David J. Lull Professor Dr. Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, Iowa 52001 USA Phone: 263-589-0303 e-mail: [email protected]
17 5 David W. Odell-Scott Professor Dr. Kent State University 523 Dansel Street Kent, OH 44240 USA Phone: 330-672-0271 e-mail: [email protected]
Relational/Process Readings of Gender Issues in Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians and Galatians
6 W. Russell Pregeant Professor Dr. Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Ave. Milton, MA 02186 USA phone: 617-333-2264 e-mail: [email protected]
New Testament Ethics and Process Hermeneutics
18 3.4 Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism
Section Head: John Shunji Yokota
Monday, July 6, morning Room: HS 104
Session 1
1 Soemini Kasanmoentalib Dr. Heyendaal Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen Uitdam Uitdammerdorpsstraat 12 Postal Code: 1154 PR Netherlands phone:0031-204033694 e-mail: [email protected]
Whitehead's Primordial Nature of God and Primordial Nature in Vajrayana Buddhism
Abstract: In this paper I will tentatively compare Whitehead’s idea of the primordial nature of God with the notion of primordial nature in Vajrayana Buddhism. Primordial nature in Buddhism is the English translation of the Sanskrit word “tathagatagarba”, which literally means “germ or seed of Buddhahood”. Although these concepts arose in quite different cultural traditions, it makes sense to partially correlate them, at least at a theoretical level. In order to make such comparison work, we have first to focus on Whitehead’s view of the process of becoming in terms of the process of perception, because a Buddhist worldview (its philosophy and psychology) is generally based on a theory of the process of momentary perception as derived from observation in meditation practice. There are some striking similarities between Whitehead’s theory of perception and Buddhist psychology. For example: seeing the object always relative to the experiencing subject, Whitehead overcomes the fundamental subject-object duality, which is also in Buddhism taken as bare appearance. According to Whitehead “feelings” are the basic constituents of an actual moment as are in Buddhism the evaluation “positively”, “negatively” or “neutrally” of the object by a subject. In Whitehead’s metaphysics, however, God is an actual entity as others, but with a special status, which is necessary in order to provide a complete explanation of the process of becoming. Whitehead determines God to have two natures: a primordial and a consequent nature. In brief: God’s primordial nature might be interpreted as the unconditioned envisagement, or realm, of the entire multiplicity of possibilities, which may enter into a moment of actuality; God’s consequent nature as the conscious realization of the entire, actual world as a unity. Buddhism too, goes beyond the bare description of the subjective psychological process. It claims to express objectivity and ultimate truth in close connection with a method to discover it. Tathagatagarba or the primordial nature of Buddhahood is also described as the “changeless nature”, in principle present in all sentient beings. This notion of Buddha-nature is specific for Vajrayana Buddhism as it developed in Tibet. Whitehead speaks of the way in which novelty and freshness might enter in experience, derived from God’s primordial nature, as a glimpse of an unconditioned possibility. His words come very close to the way in which primordial nature in Vajrayana Buddhism is described.
19 2 Thomas Padiyath Dr. University Leuven Leuven Naamsestraat 40 Brabant Postal Code: 3000 Belgium phone:0032 486 763457 fax: 0032 1632 4528 e-mail: [email protected]
Whitehead and Aurobindo Ghose: Candidates with Great Potential for an East- West Engagement
Abstract: Whitehead (1861-1947) and Aurobindo (1872-1950) despite their allegiance to their own respective traditions, show considerable distance from them. As protagonists of a metaphysics of becoming, their thoughts converge, but they differ in their understanding of being and becoming, the question of evil, and the relationship between the religious and the metaphysical ultimate, etc. More precisely, in Whitehead, the difference between creativity and God is both essential and existential, whereas in Aurobindo there is an essential unity and an existential difference between Sachchidananda and the Supermind. Nevertheless, Whitehead can be considered the most Eastern of the contemporary Western thinkers because in spite of his affinity to the Western mode of doing philosophy, he takes a distance from it. In contrast to the predominant materialistic concept of nature in the West of his time, he distinguishes himself by taking nature and life ipso facto valuable and in following a synthetic approach to nature and reality. With his own expertise in modern scientific theories and his thorough knowledge of the history of philosophy and religion, he profitably argues for a hermeneutical epistemology and a suggestive methodology that brings together philosophy, religion, reason and intuition on his philosophical chessboard. Thus, he calls for an integrated system that can account for the stubborn facts of existence. From the Western perspective, Aurobindo can be considered a postmodern thinker in virtue of his attempt to deconstruct the notion of Maya, a perspective on nature, life, matter and spirit, theories of existence, the role of reason in philosophy, and so on. He has undertaken a task of opening up and enlarging the confines of traditional Indian thought and demonstrating most convincingly the possibility of absorbing and renewing foreign elements within his own system. Aurobindo’s suggestive response to the dualistic approach to nature and reality that characterised the thinking of his predecessors is overcome in his integral advaita or the metaphysics of becoming. More than any other Indian thinker Aurobindo avows the value of earthly life, which makes his thought more attuned to the ethos of the West. Thus, Aurobindo stands out as the most Western of all the Indian thinkers. My contention is that Aurobindo and Whitehead are constructors of a suggestive post/modern worldview in their own respective ways by proposing a new paradigm for doing metaphysics and thereby opening up the possibility of a better engagement between the East and the West. For metaphysical thinking this suggestive paradigm points to a “Middle Way,” which they represent and is further exemplified in their philosophies: the West’s reawakening to the Truth of Spirit and the East’s reawakening to the Truth of Life in light of their awareness that Truth is beyond all determinations and comprehensions.
20 3 Matthew Lopresti Honolulu 3273 Kaimuki Ave. Postal Code: 96816 USA phone:(808) 489-0487 e-mail: [email protected]
Sanatana Dharma as a Whiteheadian Religious Pluralism?
Abstract: This paper proposes that Jeffery Long’s attempt to identify Sanatana Dharma (SD) as a Whiteheadian religious pluralism, or deep religious pluralism (DRP), faces significant problems that are not uncommon to religious pluralisms. Unfortunately, Long’s argument that SD, or ‘eternal religion’ (his translation), is capable of accounting for the world’s religions is based on an essentialist view of Religion. This immediately distances his theory from the DRP hypothesis developed by John Cobb JR. and David Ray Griffin, who show that an anti-essentialist understanding of Religion to be necessary for any viable religious pluralism worthy of the name. It is this that forces Long onto the horns of a dilemma. If basing his Hindu religious pluralism on SD means a standard- less acceptance of divergent metaphysical systems as equally valid without further explanation without accounting for their contradictory truth-claims simply because SD is the metareligion under which all oth! ers fall, then he ends up with a relativism. On the other hand, if he declares that the standard for determining the veridicality of different religious traditions depends on the extent to which they participate in SD, then this would result in his own unique form of identism. In either case, I argue that he must choose between one of these two untenable extremes of religious pluralism even if he rejects an essentialist view of Religion. As things currently stand, it seems far too problematic to base a viable religious pluralism on SD, and thus the paper calls for a more rigorous analysis of this concept so that it may be determined to what extent a Hindu religious pluralism can indeed be based on it without falling into either one of the two extremes. The paper concludes by proposing for an alternative set of concepts for the bases of a viable Hindu religious pluralism. The Vedic notion of reality as being simultaneously one of ‘fixed eternality’ (pravaha-nityata) and ‘dynamic eternality’ (kutastha-nityata) uses concepts that are far more akin to Whitehead’s categories of God and Creativity, which, according to the DRP hypothesis, can be found in varying forms as the spiritual and ontological foci of religious traditions across the world. The purpose here is not simply to locate concepts within the classical religio-philosophical traditions of South Asia that resonate with Whitehead’s categories, but more importantly, to demonstrate that the DRP proposed by Cobb and Griffin has genuine applicability to original concepts that are foundational to the early South Asian Hindu tradition. Successfully applying the DRP schema to this and other major traditions is a necessary step in establishing it as a truly catholic theology of religious pluralism.
4 Isabella Palin Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven Leuven Tiensestraat 103/4 Postal Code: 3000 Belgium phone:+32/16/296449 fax: +32/16/296449 e-mail: [email protected]
21 The Jaina Doctrine of Non-Onesidedness and Whitehead’s Perspectivism
Abstract: Most often the Jaina doctrine of non-onesidedness (anekantavāda) is interpreted as an epistemological relativism presupposing an unambiguous reality. The variety of possible perspectives on this reality are conceived of as partial in the negative sense of limited. If all possible perspectives were understood together, a full understanding of the reality would be attained. But there are also many commentators who, in various ways, depart from this interpretation, and in this paper I wish to add myself to their number. The doctrine of non-onesidedness is interpreted at the hand of Whitehead’s notion of perspective and modal presence of entities to one another. The main point of argument is that a partial perspective is above all partial in the positive sense of being an engaged affirmation of some appreciated value of reality, rather than being defined simply as a limitation of scope with respect to an ideal infinity of content. Jaina philosophy is noted for its realism and engagement with empirical experience: ordinary experience is always truthful in some sense, and our truths always answer to some felt importance of existence. We might say that for the Jaina, a proposition will have the degree of truth it deserves according to the interest in the world manifested by the question it answers. The only danger is excessive abstraction, holding dogmatically some point of view to be the whole truth.In the second part of the paper, an attempt is made to show that the Jaina principle of non-violence, or non-injury (ahiṁsā), is not an idea of passivity. The problem is addressed of what to do when confronted with a point of view that does not accept that it is only a point of view among many others that also have some truth to them, that is, when confronted with a point of view that has pretensions to exclusivity and seeks to impose itself as the only truth. In the course of dealing with this problem, a significant difference between Whitehead’s philosophy and the Jainas’ is brought out, which develops further the interpretation of the doctrine of non-onesidedness given in the first part.
Monday, July 3, afternoon Room: HS 104
Session 2
5 Noritoshi Aramaki D. Litt. Kyoto University, emeritus/Otani University Kyoto Kamifusacho, Koyama, Kitaku Kyoto Postal Code: 603-8143 Japan phone:81-75-411-8030 fax: 81-75-411-8153
A Critique of Whiteheadian Philosophy of Organism-in Light of Buddhist Distinction of Two Truths
Abstract: I am thinking to introduce into Whiteheadian philosophy the distinction of the two philosophical truths: the philosophical truth to explain how necessarily a civilization errs in history and that to explain how freely it is creative therein. Therefore the present essay will be devoted to discussing how to distinguish between these two philosophical truths of his philosophy of organism and how to define each of them respectively as: 1)the philosophical truth of organism becoming conditioned on the erring principle or the 'receptacle' of experience and 2)that of organism becoming in creation on the creative principle or the 'peace' of 22 God in the two sections as follows: Whiteheadian philosophy of organism becoming conditioned on the 'receptacle' of experience--the technological spread of 'misplaced concreteness'-- and 2)Whiteheadian philosophy of organisim becoming in creation on the 'peace' of God--new peaceful well- springs of cultural creativitiy. In conclusion, I will briefly discuss how these two philosophical truths are related to each other within one and the same organism so as to convert his or her own religious conversion and thereby to convert the fundamental historical conversion from the former to the latter and vice versa. Three Buddhist notions will be used: alayavijnana (receptacle of experience), sunyata (the peace of God), and asrayaparivrtti (religious and historical conversion).
6 John Shunji Yokota Professor Kyoto 35 Kitahiyoshicho Imagumano Higashiyama-ku Kyoto Postal Code: 605-8501 Japan phone:75-531-9165 fax: 75-531-9124 e-mail: [email protected]
Whiteheadian Process Thought and Buddhism: Can Amida Buddha Have a Creative Aspect
Abstract: This presentation introduces and attempts to develop some intriguing and unorthodox ideas from discussions of God in process thought developed by the process philosopher, Lewis Ford, to try to understand how Amida Buddha may influence us in our spiritual journey. I see the suggestion that it is from the unformed future that a creative transformation of our stubborn ideas about ourselves and the world we exist in can come about. So we look toward the unformed but engaged future to call us to a new consciousness brought about by Amida Buddha's call from this unformed future holding possibilities for all those who answer that call from beyond.
23 3.5 Chinese Cultural Traditions
Section Heads: Yih-hsien Yu Zhihe Wang
Monday, July 3, morning Room: HS 121
1 Vincent Shen Professor/Lee Chair Toronto University Department of East Asian Studies, Toronto, M5S 3H1 Canada phone: 1-416-9787568 e-mail: [email protected]
Whitehead and Chinese Philosophy: Illustrated with Whitehead's Ontological Principle and the Concept of shi in Huayan Buddhism
Abstract: Whitehead’s ontological principle refers to actual entity as the final explanation to all including eternal objects. This principle leads to the idea that all eternal objects rely upon God’s thoughts or conceptual prehensions to exist. In Huayan Buddhism, we have a similar principle in which we find the gate of relying on shi (events) in order to explain all dharmas and create understanding. Also Huayan’s philosophical doctrine of universal causation of realms of dharmas, says that the Absolute Mind, non- substantial and non-caused, is the ontological fundamentum upon which all things including the realm of events, the realm of principle or reason, the realm of events and principles or reasons mutually penetrated, the realm of all events, all arise. There are some problems involved in this comparison, to be dealt with in this paper, to show an ontology of dynamic relation inviting both creativity and enlightenment.
2 Lizhi Wang Professor Beijing Foreign Language Studies University Department of Social Science, Beijing, 100081 P.R China phone: e-mail: [email protected] co-presenter : Fubin Yang Professor/Dean Beijing International Studies University School of Politics and Law Beijing,100024 P. R. China phone:010-65778834 fax: 010-65778834 e-mail: [email protected]
Viewing "Yi" and "Cheng" from Whitehead's Theory of Value
Abstract: The ultimate question of Whitehead’s theory of value is how to identify the relation between the subjects and the organic, living world in which they live. According to Whitehead’s theory, creativity is the essence of the world and individuals are the source of value. It also suggests that 24 aesthetics is the best way to resolve the tension between finite individuals and the infinite world. The basic principle of the universe is changing and every thing is in becoming,this is the soul of Confucianism. The “Yi” in The Book of Changes and the “Cheng” in the Doctrine of the Mean are both metaphysical principtles. They are all regarded as the foundation of moral metaphysics of Chinese philosophy and value. Man is measured up to heaven in the Doctrine of the Mean, while Whitehead stands for objectifying the world. These two viewpoints are different approaches having the same effect. However they both have the same problem, that is how to establish subjectivity. For Whitehead, individuals are the source of value. This is compatible with Confucius’ and Mechius’ philosophy that emphasize self- consciousness of individuals. It is at this point that Whitehead’s thought meets with Chinese thought, and it is in this conjunction that we find the fundamental way out for constructive postmodernism.
3 George Sun Dr./Director Thome Fang Institute 1913 Woodgate Road, Mobile, Alabama, 36609 U.S.A. e-mail: [email protected]
Thome H. Fang and Whitehead
Abstract: This paper touches upon two towering figures in world philosophy today as the Twin Stars in Process Thought East and West. Either of them has made monumental contributions to the world of thought and wisdom, with everlasting impacts upon the humankind in ages to come. Whitehead has taught only a few Chinese students at Harvard, such as Professors Wing-tsit Chan, Xie Youwei, He Ling, etc. Thome H. Fang was not among them; he studied at University of Wisconsin at Madison, WN, from 1921-24, before Whitehead came to the U.S. He completes his doctorial dissertation "A Comparative Study of the British and American Neo-Realism" under Professor Evander Bradley McGilvary, a noted critic of Whitehead in the Schilpp Volume of the Library of the Living Philosophers. It is particularly intriguing to discover that Professor Fang proves himself the most Whiteheadian of the great Chinese minds in the last century; he has employed the Whiteheadian technical terminologies, marked by precision and elegance, for his creative hermeneutics of The Book of Creativity, and the Mahayana Buddhism, especially of the Hua Yan (Avatamsaka) School, as evidenced in his middle work The Chinese View of Life: The Philosophy of Comprehensive harmony (1956) and his opus magnum Chinese Philosophy: Its Spirit and Its Development (of which the present writer is the authorized translator into Chinese). Echoing Whitehead's Science and Philosophy, Professor Fang advanced his first book Science, Philosophy, and the Significance of Life (1926,1936). More significantly, they share the same profound concerns with education as a shaping and directing force for the course of civilization, that is, for the future of humankind as a whole, a tiny organism in the Cosmic Creative Advance.
4 Yih-hsien Yu Professor Tunghai University Department of Philosophy, Taichung, 40704 Taiwan phone: 886-4-24618872 e-mail: [email protected]
25 The Categoreal Scheme in Hua-yan Buddhism and Whitehead’s Metaphysics
Abstract: In Process and Reality, Whitehead has laid out a speculative scheme which he claimed to be a “coherent, logical, necessary system of general ideas in terms of which every element of our experience can be interpreted.” L. B. McHenry understands the basic logical structure of Whitehead’s system being deeply involved with his early mathematical works as it is consisted of a given operation or function, a set of entities, explanation of the primitive ideas, and axioms as rules governing the relations of entities. Primarily, Whitehead’s purpose to lay out this metaphysical scheme is to describe the organic feature and the creative advance of the universe which we live in and experience. Concrete and immediate experience is considered by Whitehead to be the cornerstone of this metaphysical system which in turn is, according to McHenry, deeply involved with mathematical abstraction. One thousand and five hundred years ago, the first Hua-yan master Du Shun of Tang Dynasty once laid out a metaphysical system composing of a series of philosophical theories: including “Five Teachings,” “Threefold Envisagement of Reality,” “Four Realms of Reality,” and the “Ten Mysterious Gates,” or ten metaphysical principles and categories, that can be regarded as the earliest attempt at speculative philosophy in revealing the interrelated reality of the universe. All Du Shun’s doctrines were derived from the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower-Garland Sutra or Hua-yan Classics) and later developed into the basic tenets of Hua-yan Buddhism which were completely devoid of any scientific or mathematical considerations. How these distinctive metaphysical systems of Hua-yan Buddhism and of Whitehead tell similar story worth our attentions.
Monday, July 3, afternoon Room: HS 121
Session 2
5 Fengqiang Gao Professor/Vice Dean Shandong Normal University School of Education Jinan 250014 P.R. China phone:+8653186180173 e-mail:[email protected] [email protected]
Process Thought and Chinese Mental Culture
Abstract: Chinese mental culture is quite different from the psychological culture developed by the scholars in the U.S.A. and the European countries. As people who believe in process thought criticize the traditional western psychology, we find Chinese mental culture, which hasn’t been regarded as any kind of science, has been connected with Whitehead’s process thought to a great extent. Whitehead himself acknowledged that some of his principles seemed to approximate more to some strains of Chinese thought. Rooted in both western and oriental philosophy, Whitehead’s process thought could help Chinese mental culture ‘fight against’ the western ‘scientific’ psychology, and keep its independence and continuity. People are coming to know the fact what Whiteheadian thinks is just the core of Confucianism, such as the values or the definition of ‘good’. Another area—Buddhism also show much similarity of process thought as well as Daoism. Whitehead argued that one’s experience must be felt in the presence of the whole and during a certain process. In Chinese mental culture, reason and
26 the passions are united in xin, translated as ‘mind’ or ‘heart’. Chinese mental culture insists that all things arise from qi—so does Whitehead believed that everything arises out of ‘creativity’. Finally, this article convinces that Chinese mental culture actually hold many so-called post-modern strategies, standards, and perspectives, which contributes at the same time to the understanding of mind and behavior of the human being living in an era of post-modern time, as process thought does.
6 Peng Wang Professor Shandong Normal University School of Education, Jinan, 250014 P.R. China phone:+8653186180173 e-mail:[email protected]
Process Thought in Taoism
Abstract: Whitehead himself acknowledged to some extent that process thought was more close to Indian or Chinese thought. In this paper we discuss what could be the case from the perspective of Daoism. One of the most important founders of Daoism, Zhuang Zi put forward the concept of “not yet beginning”, which is connected to Whitehead’s notion of beginning, referring to irruption out of potentiality. Whitehead proposes abandoning substantialism and promoting the idea of creation. As far as Chinese Daoism is concerned, it advocates spontaneity and pragmatically levels differences among beings. There also exists a fundamental agreement between Whitehead and Yi Jing (the world-famous book of Daoism, appeared about five thousand years ago) as both postulate that a fundamental polarity exercises power throughout the cosmos: for whitehead, it is the physical and mental dimensions of experience; for Yi Jing, it is the yin- yang (positive-negative; or vacant-full; etc.) methodology.
7 Zhihe Wang Director, China Project Center for Process Studies 1325 N College Ave., Claremont, Ca 91711 USA phone:909-621-5330 e-mail: [email protected]
Chinese Harmonism and Process Thinking
Abstract: Chinese Religious pluralism called religious harmonism here has been a continuing tradition in Chinese history, which has been “a shining example of the amiable relationship among religions.” (Wing Tsit Chan, 115). It is at essence an open attitude toward other religions and an appreciation of other religions. The non-exclusivity of Chinese religions, “undogmatic openness”, peacefully co-existence, the big tradition that expound the integration of different religions, and creative transformation are the manifestations of the Chinese harmonious religious pluralism. Study of the religious harmonism can shed light on the discussion about religious pluralism and can help us to cope with religious clash today. According to Hartshorne, “if Whitehead is important, it is precisely because his concepts enable one to find a truly ‘middle way’ between extremely pluralism and extreme monism.” (Charles Hartshorne, “Process Themes in Chinese thought.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 6(1979) 330) Chinese harmonious pluralism which has affinity with Whitehead’s process thought can be regarded as such a middle way.
27 But why has such pluralism developed in China? What is the philosophical ground of such pluralism? This paper tends to answer this question by proposing the intrinsic connection between process thinking and Chinese religious harmonism after having depicting the Chinese harmonious pluralism. The thesis of my paper is that it is process thinking, especially its emphasis on process, on harmony, on openness based on the conception of Tao that makes Chinese harmonious religious pluralism possible. Hartshorne once said, “The search for process themes in Chinese thoughts is a fascinating exercise.” (Charles Hartshorne, “Process Themes in Chinese thought.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 6 (1979): 336. This paper can be viewed as a basic endeavor to that exercise.
8 I-chuan Chen Formerly Vice President United Technology, Beijing, China 6605 Struttmann Lane, Rockville Maryland, 20852, U. S. A. phone: 1-301-816-9816 e-mail: [email protected]
Ideals of Education: Whiteheadian and Chinese
Abstract: It is of particular interest to note that Professor John Cobb, Jr., Founder and Director, Center for Process Studies, Claremont, CA., U.S.A., aims at the founding a Whiteheadian University in the world! Whitehead's Idea of Education is a small classic on philosophy of education which, unfortuantely, has not been duly recognized, less applied, far less implemented anywhere in the world. As far as I can perceive, this small classic is loaded with more insights and imports than Cardinal Newman's The Idea of A University, or John Dewey's Democracy and Education. Approaching the subject of education with a value-centric perspective, one is will be amazed to find out numerous parallels between Whitehead and the traditional Chinese views on education as cheng jun (Attaining to Harmony). What the world we have today was around 30 years ago; what the world will be 30 years later is made here and now, by all us! In the first decade of the 21th century, it is, I maintain, the best news we have expected, that greater attention is being paid to the important matter of education. In this regard, Whitehead's Idea of education, resounding with a Chinese accent, deserves a hearing, to awaken all of the the humankind from their dogmatic slumber, so to speak. Finally, I am sure, we are earnestly looking forwards to the great dream of Professor John Cobb, Jr. about a Whiteheadian University come true. -- the sooner, the better.
Tuesday, July 4, morning Room: HS 121
Session 3
9 Xiuao Tao Professor/Chair Beijing Foreign Language Studies University Department of Social Science Beijing, 100081 P.R.China phone:86-10-88816717 e-mail: [email protected]
Hegel and Whitehead: from Substance to Process
28 Abstract: There is a similar character, I think, between Hegel and Whitehead. And they respectively transformed metaphysics from based on the concept of substance to the concept of process. Hegel proposed a kind of objective idealism, which claimed substance is subject, and idea is a process. And Whitehead deconstructed substance into event, organism and actual entity. He claimed that nature is a self-construction with which the internal object emerges from potential to reality. This self-construction appears also self-realization and self-transcendent. Both Hegel and Whitehead wanted to overcome the metaphysics crisis created by the mechanism within the modern sciences. Hegel wanted to overcome the opposition of the relationship between thinking and being, and Whitehead wanted to get rid of the dualist situation between material and spirit. So, they both intended to find a way to bridge the gap between determinism and non-determinism, necessity and contingency, and necessity and freedom. They both constructed a speculative system of metaphysics. It is Whitehead himself who realized that the most similar theoretical system of metaphysics is Hegel’s. Even though, there are still various different between Hegel and Whitehead. My paper will examine them also.
10 Chengbing Wang Professor/Vice-Dean Beijing Normal University School of Philosophy and Sociology Beijing 100875 P.R. China e-mail: [email protected]
On John Dewey’s Thought of Process and Its Significance
Abstract: John Dewey is one of the most influential philosophers in 20th century both in USA and China. The thought of process is one of the key subjects in the philosophy of John Dewey which may be studied from the following perspectives: Firstly, John Dewey emphasizes the integration of subject and the object when he reconstructs the new idea of experience. Secondly, there is a generic idea in John Dewey’s thought which plays a key role in the development of his philosophy. Thirdly, John Dewey regards the future as more important than the present life which is different from the general impression on John Dewey. Fourthly, in his political philosophy, John Dewey proposes an ideal of great community which pays attention to the balance of rights and duty, the individuals and the groups. Finally, John Dewey attacks the absolute separate of the subject of education and the object of the education, trying to construct the internal relations between educators and the objects in the field of education. Comparing with other classic American pragmatists such as Charles Sanders Pierce and William James, the thought of process of John Dewey has been neglected for a long time for the different reasons, the research on John Dewey’s thought of process therefore has its own significance: Firstly, it is helping us to get one of the key lines for the further research on John Dewey’s works. Secondly, the thought of process of John Dewey may help us to rich our understanding on John Dewey’s philosophy. Thirdly, it is helping us to understand the revival of John Dewey’s philosophy in today’s philosophical world.
11 Uen-Fu Kuo Associate Professor National Taiwan University, Department of Philosophy Taipei 106 Taiwan phone: 886-2-23626259 e-mail: [email protected]
29 Whitehead on God and the World-- As a Chinese Sees It
Abstract: “God and the World” is the title of the concluding chapter of Whitehead’s Process and Reality indicating the relation between God and the world as the last course served in his metaphysical gourmet. For Whitehead, God is of dipolar nature; the primordial and consequent nature of God is closely associated with the eternal objects and the transient world, respectively. As Whitehead maintains, it is no less true to say that God is permanent and the World fluent, than that the World is permanent and God is fluent. In addition, there are still other pairs of polarity, such as one and many, immanent and transcendent, creating and created. ... etc. How can God and the World exchange their distinct features in Whitehead’s metaphysics without involving any self-co0ntradictions? The present paper suggests that it is from an organismic viewpoint that Whitehead envisages a harmonious and comprehensive relationship between God and the World, so much so as to dissolve all kinds of apparent contradictions.
12 Jialin Zhou tanslator P. R. China e-mail: [email protected]
Research on Whitehead in Mainland China
Abstract: Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) is a distinguished mathematician, philosopher and theoretician of education. Chinese schorlars launched the research on Whitehead since the 30s of the last century. Based on statistics , this essay presents a summary of the general status of the study on Whitehead in Mainland China, demonstrates the quantity of the papers and works published in three specific stages and explores their achievements. The author’s personal evaluation of the research is brought forward and an appendix of the data concerned is provided as well.
30 3.6 Christian Theology
Section Heads: Roland Faber Helmut Maaßen
Monday, July 3, morning Room: HS 122
Session 1
1 Joseph Bracken, S.J. Xavier University Xavier University, Cincinnati phone: (513)-745-3442 fax (if available): (513)-745-3858 e-mail: [email protected]
God and the World: Compound Individual or Cosmic Community?
Abstract: Many years ago Charles Hartshorne proposed that panentheism offered a suitable compromise between pantheism and scholastic dualism for the understanding of the God-world relationship. God encompasses the reality of the world but the world has its own existence distinct from God much as the soul relates to the body within the world of physical organisms. Yet there are limitations to the use of this metaphor for the God-world relationship. From a philosophical perspective, it seems to be an instance of logocentrism, the Platonic understanding of the relationship between the One and the Many whereby the One transcends the Many as their necessary principle of order and intelligibility. Likewise, in stressing an organic relation between God and the world, it seems to undervalue the mutuality of the relation between God and creatures; God has too much power, creatures too little, in sustaining the relationship. In this presentation, I propose an understanding of the God-world relationship as a cosmic community in which the three divine persons of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity are the primordial members but in which all creaturely actual occasions as organized into subsocieties or subcommunities are likewise participants. Key to this scheme is the hypothesis that Whiteheadian societies are structured fields of activity for their constituent actual occasions. The structure of the field is determined by the interplay of the actual occasions from moment to moment, but the society with its “common element of form” serves as the principle of continuity or self-identity for the ongoing succession of constituent actual occasions. In addition, the model of the God-world relationship as a cosmic community provides a new approach to the classical Christian doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Creation is no longer seem as an exercise of unilateral divine power but as a sharing of the divine communitarian life on the part of the divine persons with all their creatures.
2 Donna Bowman Assistant Professor Honors College, University of Central Arkansas P.O. Box 5024, Conway, AR 72034 USA phone (501) 450-3631 fax (501) 450-3284 e-mail: [email protected]
Recovering the Doctrine of Eternal Security
Abstract: The doctrine of eternal security is rarely discussed in liberal theological circles. But in evangelical theology, where conversion is usually seen as an event rather than a process of regeneration or gradual 31 sanctification, it remains an important theological need to assure the believer that salvation, once gained, cannot be lost. The doctrine can be recovered for more widespread use in mainstream Christian theology with the help of a process theology, anthropology, and metaphysic. The benefits of doing so are twofold. First, eternal security is postulated to safeguard soteriology; a careful dissection of the doctrine's purpose can help process thinkers construct a doctrine of salvation in continuity with Christian tradition. The security of the believer is in salvation by grace from the three great threats of this world. Sin – the limitation of possibilities resulting from isolation in powerful social structures, and from the deafening voice of selfish interest. Death – the triviality of our lives, their merely local effect, their tendency to lose power over time. And the devil – the demonic influence that flows from agents and institutions that seek destruction. Second, the teaching purpose of the doctrine illuminates important process themes. God's faithfulness in covenant flows from the divine decision of the primordial nature, in which our confidence in salvation rests. Our freedom, while metaphysically guaranteed, does not result by itself in the ability to co-create the future; for that, we need the order and providence that result from God's participation in the coming-to-be of every moment. Finally, each creative accomplishment becomes an eternal, effective reality through its preservation and reinvestment in the consequent nature. Utilizing an existing interest in this doctrine among a subset of Christian thinkers, process thinkers can listen to the community that expresses a need for this doctrine, and translate its value into terms that the rest of the Christian world can appreciate. This project of recovery is an essential role that process thought can play in mediating between the riches of Christian tradition, much of which is atrophying from disuse, and the needs of the diverse Christian community in the present and the immediate future.
3 Miroslaw Patalon Dr. University of Gdansk Gdansk Zbyszka z Bogdanca 43 80-419 Poland phone:+48 501 060 440 e-mail: [email protected]
Aspects of Process Thinking in Polish Theological Thought
Abstract: The paper is going to contain a short presentation (4-5 pages; 15 minutes) of process paradigms in the theology of rev. prof. Waclaw Hryniewicz - a catholic priest from Lublin. The following points will be presented: 1. Relational character of God 2. Love as God's primordial nature 3. God as changing entity 4. The question about omnipotent God 5. The lure of God 6. Unity of God and creation 7. The doctrine in process 8. Epistemological complementarity of theology 9. Science and Religion in dialogue 10. Harmony as the feature of The Kingdom of God on earth 11. Religious pluralism 12. Creativity as man's calling
32 4 Filip Ivanovic Doctoral student of philosophy University of Bologna, Podgorica Ivana Vujosevica 19 Postal Code: 81000 Serbia&Montenegro phone:+38169498468 e-mail: [email protected]
Byzantine Philosophy - the Origins of Christianity
Abstract: When Christianity, in order to defend itself from the polemical attacks and persecutions and to guarantee its union, had to clarify its theoretical presumptions and to organize itself in a doctrinal system, it presented itself as the accomplished and definitive expression of the truth that Greek philosophy was searching for, but has only partially achieved. Placing itself on the field of philosophy, the Christianity tends to affirm its continuity with Greek philosophy and to represent itself as its fullest manifestation. It justified this continuity with unity of reason, which God created identical in all men of all times and to which Christian revelation gave the ultimate and safest foundation; with this it, implicitly, announced the unity of philosophy and religion. The Christian thought is heir of the classical one and enriches itself with concepts elaborated by classical philosophy: it changes terms and forms. Especially to Plato and Platonism, to Aristotle and peripatetic school it gives doctrinal schemes in which can explain the contents of the new experience. The part of Christian philosophy in which we are interested is the Byzantine thought. The result of dominating opinion on the destruction of the Roman Empire and its renovation under the Carollings, consists in the fact that, in historical Western understanding, the historical reality of Byzantine Empire is being even today understood as secondary phenomenon which is, in fact, hardly known. For example, in Ueberweg’s four-volumed Sketch of history of philosophy (Grundriâ der Geschichte der Philosophie), Byzantine philosophy occupies only nine pages! Byzantine Empire has, for almost 1200 years, protected the European civilization of the invasions from north, south and east. More then 1000 years Byzantine Empire was a bastion under whose protection lived western world. In that protection zone, the western culture could develop. Wide spread story about a 1000 years long declination of Eastern Empire stands in a fantastic contradiction with the enormous exertion of military forces of, ostensibly, decadent Byzantines. Before all, it should be, at least once, thought that the entire late Hellenic literature that arrived to us, with very little exceptions, was conserved to the modern world only thanks to the scribes in Byzantine monasteries and schools. For, in Byzantine Empire, and not in latin West, the stream of Hellenic antiquity found its natural continuation. It was here, and not in the West, that were read, studied, commented and transcribed great works of ancient Helens.
33 Monday, July 3, afternoon Room: HS 122
Session 2
5 Heine J. Siebrand Dr. Theologian & Minister, Remonstrant Brotherhood, Utrecht, The Odijk Gaspeldoorn 10 NL 3984 AX Odijk The Netherlands phone:+31 30 65 62 675 email: [email protected]
Religion without Theology?
Abstract: This paper deals with the contemporary phenomenon showing that people nowadays seem to be more interested in spirituality than in religion. The debate is not only about religion after religion (Ferry) or religion as an empty form (McCutcheon), but also and primarily about the existence of dynamic religious forms and rituals apart from religion and theology. In this paper it is asked how the relations between (religious) convictions, identity and spirituality have changed. And the question is asked what process thinking could contribute to these new developments.
6 Palmyre Oomen Prof. Dr. Radboud University Nijmegen / Heyendaal Institute Nijmegen P.O.Box 9103 Postal Code: 6500 HD The Netherlands phone:+31 24 3611560 fax: +31 24 3616216 e-mail: [email protected]
”The world lives by Its incarnation of God in itself” (A.N. Whitehead)
Abstract: Exploration how the idea of ‘incarnation’ plays a crucial role in Whitehead’s metaphysics. Whitehead evaluates the idea of ‘incarnation’ as it was brought forward by the alexandrine fathers as an improvement upon Plato (AI 167-168). According to Whitehead, only thanks to the incarnation of God, that is, thanks to the immanence of God in the world, the world can be creative and self-creative. However, this does not imply that the concrete world unambiguously expresses God’s values. The idea that the actual world would be the ‘best of all possible worlds’ is ‘an audacious fudge’ in his eyes (PR 47). In relation to these ideas regarding incarnation, self-creation and evil/suffering, I will show how the incarnational idea of ‘perichoresis’ has its analogon in Whitehead. He sees a ‘mutual immanence’, or ‘mutual embodiment’, between worldly occasions (MT 163), but also between God and world (PR 348). I will highlight some implications of this view for our thought on God, matter and world.
34 7 David Polk Dr. North Port 1848 Scarlett Ave. Florida Postal Code: FL 34289 USA phone:941-429-5429 e-mail: [email protected]
God of Empowering Love
Abstract: Traditional theology incorporated borrowed notions of the nature of power and grafted them onto divine activity, resulting in problematic consequences regarding the open nature of history and the understanding of the way God is at work in human endeavor. This essay, a building block in a manuscript-in-progress on the relationship between the power of God and the love of God, examines how the insights of process theology offer possibilities for championing the NT witness that the being of God is essentially love, and offers an analysis of how God as love can be seen to redefine the way in which God is understood to be powerful.
8 Krista E. Hughes Doctoral Candidate, Drew University Florham Park 909 Ward Place, NJ Postal Code: 07932 USA phone:(201) 838-0819 e-mail: [email protected]
Unveiling Beauty: Re-Visioning Grace through a Whiteheadian Lens
Abstract: Beauty's position within Christian theology in general and Protestant theology in particular has always been tenuous. While aesthetics has been important liturgically, iconoclasm, fear of idolatry, and an aversion to anything that might engender too much pleasure have rendered beauty suspect at best. Moreover, the tradition's valuation of truth primarily and goodness secondarily have eclipsed beauty's potential contributions to theology itself. There is a clear thread of theological aesthetics running through the tradition, of course, but rarely has it been pivotal for central doctrinal themes, other than perhaps the doctrine of God. This paper will respond to such a perceived gap in doctrinal theology by exploring how beauty, specifically as delineated by Whitehead, might inform a contemporary doctrine of grace. The Protestant doctrine of grace tends to be rooted in the Reformation metaphors of justification and sanctification, with primacy given to the former and its forensic understanding of God's redeeming activity vis-à-vis humans. Grace is thereby conceived primarily in juridical terms. Yet grace understood in other contexts is characterized most often by aesthetic appeal and dynamism. Even sanctification, interpreted as the on-going divinizing activity of the Holy Spirit, suggests an image of grace that that is fluid, participatory, progressive …and decidedly not juridical. Might Whitehead, for whom God is poet of the world, help us to craft a more graceful vision of grace? Employing his description of beauty in Adventures in Ideas, I seek to suggest in this paper that experiences of authentic beauty, whatever their specific content or form, constitute holy encounters with divine grace. Such encounters reflect, with a Whiteheadian difference, the personal transformation that Luther describes in the event of justification: divine grace uncurls the insular, self-preoccupied subject, thereby fostering her connections to the matrix of Life. My hopes for this
35 paper are thus twofold: to illustrate beauty's potential within constructive doctrinal theology and to imagine a portrait of grace that is more fluid, participatory, and indeed graceful than the Protestant tradition has depicted.
36 3.7 Islam & Judaism
Section Heads: Mustafa Rüzgar Sandra Lubarsky
Thursday, July 6, morning Room: HS 109
1 Galip Veliji Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih University Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy 34500 Buyukcekmece, Istanbul TURKEY phone: +90 533 711-6846 fax: +90 212 889-0832 e-mail: [email protected]
Whitehead’s Concept of God: An Islamic Perspective
Abstract: As it is clear from the title the paper aims at an analysis of Whitehead’s concept of God from an Islamic perspective. Dissatisfied with religious claims about God Whitehead is trying to attempt to come-out with a scientific solution of the problem of God. Although my presuppositions, before starting to work on the theme, were that I will face serious contradictions regarding the two positions, as far as God is concerned, I realized that Whitehead’s position is not as much un-Islamic as it is unscientific in essence. This is the essential problem that we discuss in this paper. In fact the paper argues that Whitehead, as most of his predecessors (philosophers), ends up with metaphysical speculations as far as the concept of God is concerned. The paper also shows that the unscientific character of Whitehead’s position strengthens Islamic view of the inability of humans to acquire true knowledge of God with pure human effort.
2 Muhammad Saeedimehr Ass. Professor Tarbiat Modares University Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities Jalal-e Ale- Ahmad Highway Tehran IRAN phone: 0098 21 88011001-ext. 3696 e-mail (1): [email protected] e-mail (2): [email protected]
The Logic of Perfection: Process Theology vs. Islamic Theology
Abstract: Process theology is a well-known twentieth century school of thought, which is grounded in the so-called process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. During recent decades process theology has been developed specially by Charles Hartshorne’s work and become a prominent school of theology in United States. This new movement, however, challenges many of classical doctrines of Abrahamic theism including Christian and Islamic theology. It also has valuable advantages in solving some traditional theistic problems such as the problem of evil. In this paper I shall provide a brief (and almost comprehensive) sketch of the main principles of both process and Islamic theology concerning to God and His attributes. Then I make some comparisons between them to find out the essential disparities and differences. In the next stage, I go to a 37 deeper level of the issue and argue that the root of these differences is what one may call “The Logic of Divine Perfection” (i.e. the whole framework of theological thought in which one interprets God’s perfection). Finally I discuss the possibility of finding some criteria by which we will be able to choose one of these two rival logics of perfection.
3 Louwrens W. Hessel PhD Plantsoen 9 Leiden Postal Code: 2311KE NETHERLANDS phone: 33715146387 e-mail: [email protected]
Mulla Sadra, a 17th Century Muslim Sage; Resemblance of his System to Whitehead’s Process Philosophy
Abstract: In spite of very different cultural backgrounds and opposite starting points there are striking similarities between the metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead (ANW) and of Mulla Sadra (MS), a Persian mystic and religious scholar whose fame survives, even in present-day Iran. Fundamental for MS’ philosophy, and at first sight un-Islamic is his doctrine of haraka jauhariya, (translated variously as “substantive motion” or “transsubstantiation”) according to which all “grades of being” ceaselessly evolve into ever “higher forms of existence”. Independent and enduring substances do not exist. All existence, even divine existence is inexorably temporal as it moves from more general, indeterminate levels to fully concrete, determinate and integrated, unitary forms. Each higher stage includes all the lower ones and transcends them: “a unitary actuality is everything”. Allowing for differences in terminology, there is a clear resemblance to ANW’s concept of the concrescence of actual entities. Both concepts are in opposition to mainstream philosophies, western as well as Muslim. The words to prehend and prehension are neologisms introduced by ANW to indicate the internal relationships between the growing actual entity and the facts of its “actual world”. MS uses the word ‘ilm, usually translated as “knowledge”, but it is not an external relation between knower and known, but a “form of existence” in which the “intellect” and the “intelligible” become “identical”; “attainment and possession are of the essence of knowledge” and “the knowable is the complete nature of the knower”. The words are neoplatonic, but it is a neoplatonism which takes time seriously, as Whitehead took time seriously. For MS and for ANW novelty is a fundamental feature of the world and both recognize the Eternally One as its source. There is a “universal intuitive knowledge of God” in all of nature, from man down to even the seemingly lifeless events in inorganic nature. These are MS’ words; ANW would speak of feeling or prehension in the above citation, but their meanings are very much the same. MS’ thinking had its origin in a trans-intellectual vision of divine unity. In his mystic experiences he found this unity to be tashkik, i.e. such that “by virtue of being one it is many”. This looks like the mirror image of ANW’s “the many become one and are increased by one”. It seems that MS has experienced the unity of what Whitehead called “creativity” with the Eternally One, the unity of what many western process theologians call “two ultimates”.
38 4 Mehdi Debhashi Department of Philosophy Faculty of Letters and Humanities University of Isfahan Isfahan, IRAN
A New Approach to Mulla Sadra's Theory of Transubstantial Motion and Whitehead's Process Philosophy
Abstract: not available
5 Sandra Lubarsky Professor Northern Arizona University Flagstaff P.O. 6031 Arizona Postal Code: 86001 USA phone:928-523-2382 fax: 928-523-2020 e-mail: [email protected]
Jewish Renewal and Process Thought: Shaping a Post-Holocaust, Postmodern Jweish
Abstract: The Jewish Renewal Movement is a distinctly American form of Judaism, drawing on prophetic and kabbalistic traditions as well as contemporary feminist and ecological movements as guides in developing a post-Holocaust, postmodern Judaism. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the significant affinities between Jewish Renewal and process thought and to articulate how a process metaphysics may be of value to Renewal theology.
39 3.8 Korean Cultural Traditions
Section Head: Wang Shik Jang
Wednesday, July 5, afternoon Room: HS 122
1 Se Hyoung Lee Professor School of Theology, Hyupsung University, Korea 14-1 Sangri Bonadameup Hwasungsi Kyounggido, 445-745 Korea phone:82-18-268-6139 e-mail: [email protected]
Dialogue between Ch'i and Creativity
Abstract: This essay is an attempt of dialogue between the concept of Ki (Chinese: ch'i) and creativity in Whitehead's thought. Ch'i and Ki are different; the concept of ch'i has developed in atheistic tradition and with the cyclic movement of time, while the concept of creativity in theistic one and with the lineal or spiral movement of time. Despite of the differences, they are similar in the sense that they have both universality and particularity. By having a dialogue, I believe we can understand them better and supplement to each other in a positive way. Ki as the flow of life exists everywhere. All beings are of Ki, the essence of all beings. Ki has both universality and particularity. Even though Ki is imminent in the individual particular being as its nature, it also penetrates into the One. Through its interpenetration into all beings, Ki achieves its unity, and by remaining in the individual being, it achieves its particularity. Ki is not an actual being, but the actual being is possible because of Ki. Ki is the universal background of being or the possibility of all actualities. As the possibility or the potentiality of all actual beings, Ki is the pure activity which can be called as “flow of energy” or “full of life.” Ki as the pure activity has its own agency, so that it is actualized and also remains as the possibility of the actuality. The concept of Ki corresponds to the concept of creativity in Whitehead's thought. Creativity is the possibility of the possibilities, the universality of the universalities, the principle of the advanced novelty, and the ultimate category of actual entity with many and one. According to Whitehead's ontological principle, creativity cannot have its own position apart from the actual entity. If so, how can it be the source of the continual becoming, the advanced novelty of actual entity? Does it have an active agency out of an actual entity or does it happen by chance when the actual entity is becoming? How are God, eternal objects, and creativity related to one another? Is God defined by creativity or the reverse? Through a dialogue between Ch'i and creativity, we will try to describe how they as pure activity participate in the process of the cosmos and also remain as the ultimate source of actual beings. In this paper, we will also taste the differences and the similarities between East and West.
2 Jaewan Joo Assistant Professor Sun Moon University, Korea Sanyongdong, Cheoan, Chungnam, Korea phone: 82-16-9588-7204 fax: 82-412-559-1269 e-mail: [email protected] 40
A Comparative Study of Process Philosophy and Korean New Religious Thought: Focusing on Unificationist Thought
Abstract: Unificationist thought, the thought of a Korean new religious movement that shares many characteristics with Korean tradition, seems able to be compared meaningfully with process philosophy in several respects. First, both thoughts emphasize that God responds to the world emotionally. Second, both thoughts affirm that the fundamental elements of the world exert mental function. Third, both thoughts affirm that all entities of the world are essentially related. Fourth, both thoughts emphasize process. Fifth, both thoughts affirm the freedom of each entity. They, however, seem to disagree in some respects at the same time. First, unlike process philosophy, an internal process within an entity rather than a process of entity itself is affirmed in unificationist thought. Second, unlike process thought, ultimate actuality, i.e! ., God, and ultimate reality are not divided into two categories in unificationist thought. Third, unlike process philosophy, God has the yin/ yang dipolarity as a primordial character in unificationist thought.
3 Wang Shik Jang Professor Methodist Theological Seminary Seoul Methodist Theological Seminary, #31 Naengchun-dong, Sodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea 120-701 phone: 82-2-394-9843 e-mail: [email protected]
A Whiteheadian Philosophy of Religion Based on Aesthetic Experience: An East Asian Approach
Abstract: As far as a Whiteheadian philosophy of religion regards creativity as ultimate reality, it is faced with two challenges at least. A challenge is from the traditional philosophy of religion in the West that construes God to be an ultimate reality. The other challenge is from a contemporary philosophy of religion in the East that construes nothingness or emptiness to be an ultimate. Although these challenges are so phenomenal as to be threatening to Whitehead’s philosophical system, I believe that a Whiteheadian philosophy of religion has a framework in which while it can incorporate these ultimates into its system of thought, it does not have to result in any damage to its own metaphysical system. The purpose of this paper is to show how an aesthetic interpretation of Whitehead’s philosophy can be successful in incorporating God and Emptiness into its own metaphysical system, without losing the peculiar doctrine of ultimate reality in which creativity is regarded as the ultimate reality. My thesis is that although it goes without saying that creativity is the only ultimate reality in Whitehead’s philosophy, it does not do away with the possibility of interpretation in which both God and Emptiness can be construed as an ultimate. I believe such an interpretation is to be made possible when we rely on Whitehead’s theory of civilization where the production of Beauty is said to be the teleology of our universe. My argument is that Beauty is to be regarded as an axiological ultimate toward which the teleology of the Universe is oriented. Furthermore, while both God and Emptiness are considered to be an ultimate in Whitehead’s system, Creativity is still the only explanatory item by means of which all the entities of the Universe, including God and Emptiness can be explained.
41 4 Sung Jin Song Associate Professor Methodist Theological Seminary Seoul Seodaemun-gu, Naengchun-dong 31, Seoul (120-050) South Korea phone: 82-2-932-7693 e-mail: [email protected]
A Theological Encounter with Chinul’s Buddhist Thought on the True Mind
Abstract: Chinul is called the founder of the native Korean Zen tradition. Chinul’s Buddhist thought focuses on “the true mind.” Chinul’s thought on the true mind is amenable to theological interpretation. Chinul’s “true mind” means either the Ultimate Reality or an authentic human being, depending on the context where the phrase is found. Chinul’s conception of the Ultimate True Mind is quite similar to the neoclassical theism of A. N. Whitehead and C. Hartshorne. According to Whitehead and Hartshorne, God and the world have a two-way relationship with one another. One the one hand, God is immanent in all beings of the world. On the other hand, God includes all beings into God’s own actuality. For Hartshorne, God is the mind of the world and the world is the body of God. For Chinul also, the True Mind and the world have a mutual relationship with one another. Chinul shows a panentheistic vision of reality when he says, “The mountains, the rivers, and the great earth are all discovered to be the True Mind....All the worlds in the ten directions are only this one True Mind.” As a religious thinker, Chinul has a great interest in the soteriological matter of realizing authentic human existence. “The true mind” is Chinul’s favorite symbol for the person who has attained authentic human existence. The reason why Chinul uses the same phrase “the true mind” (or “the True Mind”) to refer either the Ultimate Reality or the authentic human existence is because the realization of the true mind consists in union with, and conformation to, the True Mind. Chinul’s idea of the full realization of the true mind is very similar to the theological idea of union between God and humanity found, for example, in the thought of Christian mystic St. John of the Cross.
42 3.9 Process Thought and Nishida
Section Head: Tokiyuki Nobuhara
Thursday, July 6, morning Room: Stuba
Session a) Self in Whitehead and Nishida
Presider: Tokiyuki Nobuhara
1 Ko Hojo Dr. Katsuura-shi 81-7,Okitsu Kuboyamadai Chiba Postal Code: 299-5246 Japan phone:81-470-76-2580 fax: 81-470-76-2580 e-mail: [email protected]
The Self as Concrete Existential Entity: Process and Place Approach
Abstract: I would like to propose that the ultimate aim of the ‘process’ and ‘place’ philosophies was very likely to be the elucidation of the self as the concrete existential entity, which should be the focus of religion at the age of the science. What makes Whitehead and Nishida most distinct from other current philosophers is @the subjective nature of their philosophies. The presence of the subject is always noted as the feeling or self-awareness. The close interrelationship employing a first-person approach is the foundation of their cosmologies uniquely developed in a unified perspective of process and place philosophy.
2 Eiko Hanaoka-Kawamura Prof. Dr.Dr.Dr. emeritus of Osaka Prefecture Univ. Nara Sangyo University e-mail: [email protected] Kyoto adress: Higashi Tkenosatocho 2-1, 1-607, 0harano, Nishikyoku Japan Postal Code: 610-1144 Japan phone:075-331-9301 fax: 075-331-9301
The Problem of Self-awareness and Feelings-through K.Nishida and A. N. Whitehead
Abstract: Philosophy as European traditional metaphysics from ancient Greece to Hegel developed on the basis of substantial ideas like idea, ousia, eidos or theos. Traditional European philosophy could therefore not find a way out of worldwide nihilism because of the collapse of ideas, as Nietzsche typically said, “God is dead,” or “Christianity and Platonic philosophy since ancient Greece can not apply any longer.” From such a philosophical predicament came into being various philosophies suitable to the last century and this one. Among these various philosophies there are Nishida’s philosophy in Japan, based on “the logic of the field of absolute Nothingness,” and Whitehead’s organic philosophy, in which the core of 43 existence is grasped as feelings as positive prehensions. Both philosophers avoided the concept of “substance-attribute,” and looked upon not only experience but also thinking as an important origin of philosophy. However, the mode of philosophical speculation which Whitehead regard as very important is different from that in Hegel; and for both Whitehead and Nishida the important basis of philosophy lies not in the intellect but in feelings and the will. Nishida advocated the new paradigm “absolute Nothingness” as the absolute negation of the substantial standpoint, which subsumes the four old paradigms as the framework of thinking and its field from Plato to Nietzsche in Europe: namely, relative being, relative nothingness, absolute Being and nihil. A.N. Whitehead, on the other hand, built an organic philosophy, in which feelings are the real structural elements of actual entities in terms of the process of concrescence from the many to the one. In my paper I would like to inquire into self-awareness in Nishida and feelings in Whitehead in order to make it clear that in both philosophers creativity, to make things creatively and to live creatively in this world, are the true aims their philosophies have. Yet, creativity in Nishida is the arrival point and creativity in Whitehead is already there in the starting point while at the same time at work as the aim of his philosophy.
b) Whitehead and Nishida in Dialogue
Presider: Eiko Hanaoka-Kawamura
3 Keiji Matsunobu Honorable president, Japan Association of Whitehead Precess e-mail: N.A. Itoh 1027 Yahatano Shizuoka Postal Code: 413-0232 Japan phone:81-557-549412 fax: 81-557-541241
Nishida and His Teacher Tokiyuki Hojo on Education
Abstract: Kitaro Nishida’s philosophical career cannot be thought as actually possible apart from the influence of his teacher Tokiyuki Hojo, a mathematician, while studying at the Fourth Imperial High School in Kanazawa. Hojo gave him an instruction regarding the difference between mathematics and philosophy, the latter requiring some imaginative capability. Nishida liked mathematics but he finally opted for philosophy with a deep sorrow concerning life emerging in his mind. I will dwell upon their spiritual exchange since their Kanazawa days and beyong.
4 Hideo Imai Moriguchi Saigodori 1-28-13 Osaka 570-0034 Japan phone: 06-6996-5978 e-mail: [email protected]
A Comparison of Buddhist Emptiness and the Whiteheadian God of Three Natures
44 Abstract: I am thinking that the Whiteheadian God of three natures constitutes an antonym of the Buddhist idea of Emptiness which Kitaro Nishida considers in terms of “absolute Nothingness.” This issue confronts me as a serious philosophical problem. I will pay due attention to the fact that Whitehead’s theism consists of three natures of God: i.e., primordial, consequent, and superjective. The primordial nature of God is the concrescence of Divine conceptual feelings, which unifies all things. The consequent nature of God is the prehension by God of the actualities in the evolving universe. And the superjective nature of God is the character of the pragmatic value in God.
5 Tokiyuki Nobuhara Prof. Dr. Keiwa College, Japan e-mail: (H) [email protected]; (W) [email protected] Shibata-Shi 1270 Tomizuka Niigata-Ken Postal Code: 957-8585 Japan phone:+81 254 26 3636 fax: +81 254 26 3646
A Whiteheadian Reinterpretation of Nishida's Philosophy of Pure Experience: With the Concept of Symbolic Reference as Guide
Abstract: The purpose of thie essay is to reinterpret the philosophy of Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945) from a Whiteheadian perspective. As is well- known, Nishida's philosophy is shot through with the notion of "pure experience" since the publication in 1911 of his maiden work [An Inquiry into the Good]. I will try to reinterpret it in the light of Alfred North Whitehead's theory of perception as developed in his work [Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect]--centering around the idea of "symbolic reference." For the basic conceptual orientation inherent in the idea of "symbolic reference," in my view, is in parallel with Nishida's philosophy of "pure experience" which admittedly involves a paradox. By the paradox inherent in Nishida's philosophy I mean the procedure of reversion whereby one's pure experience necessarily gives rise on its own to one's philosophy (i.e., thinking) of pure experience precisely when one perceives pure experience as infinitely more important than a philosophy of whatever type. A philosophy of pure experience, I might say, is based upon the fact that remotively pure experience in itself effects the complete removal from its import philosophizing in the sense of deliberate discrimination although constitutively the meaning it establishes is self- expressive in a very important way. In other words, philosophy of pure experience cannot come to be unless it is negated by reference to pure experience which precedes it. Combined with the triadic development of Nishida's philosophy from pure experience to self-awareness to place, my method, conversely, will enable us to see Whitehead's theism and metaphysics as correlatively intelligible visions vis-a-vis Nishida's. Along these lines it is possible to talk about the source of the "concrescence" and Buddhist emptiness convincingly enough.
45 3.10 Ecclesiology
Section Head: Paul Lance
Monday, July 3, morning Room: HS 103
Session 1
1. Paul Lance Rev. Dr. (Pastor) Colorado State University e-mail : [email protected]
Creatively Transforming the Church
Abstract: We will explore an intentional, relational, interactive model for congregational planning which applies Whiteheadian propositions to actual occasions of church life. Drawing from the experience of facilitating seven Saturday workshops in collaboration with the Process and Faith program at the Claremont School of Theology, Rev. Dr. Paul Lance will outline the concepts, process, and perspective that may creatively transform one’s local church in a number of ways. These events held in local churches have focused on Youth Ministry, Worship, Strategic Planning, Stewardship/Finance, and Pastoral Search. While the topics were varied and the participating congregations were diverse, the group process was the same. It begins with “telling our stories” to capture significant influences from the past, pointing out “what is not working” and celebrating “what does work.” From these stories, we then articulate our congregation’s “core values” and what we are doing to maintain or create conditions that will enhance those values. We also do some biblical reflection and exchange of ideas. Instead of clinging to past formulations of faith and activities that used to work, we strive to be co-workers with God in ways that are creative and transformative. Participants go away with renewed appreciation of possibilities from their own past and from the dynamics of others. The perspective of “process theology” is used to frame the workshop.
2 Rick Marshall Minister Brea 1430 Beechwood Dr. California Postal Code: 92821 USA phone:714-529-0128 e-mail: [email protected]
The Power of Respect
Abstract: The commandment to love God and neighbor, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, and the Bible in general, teaches a basic ethic of respect. Specifically, the ethic of respect focuses on how one treats the other, irrespective of how one feels about the other, or is treated by the other. The thesis of this paper is to focus on "respect" as a basic moral category in the Bible.
46 3 Jay Atkinson Dr. Granada Hills 13188 Whister Avenue California Postal Code: 91344-1139 USA phone:919-366-1093 fax: 818-769-5713 e-mail: [email protected]
The Church as a Self-Critical Learning Community: Some Sixteenth-Century Precursors of Creative Interchange in the Ecclesiology of the Polish Brethren
Abstract: Although “creative interchange” is particularly associated with the work of Henry Nelson Wieman, important precursory aspects of this concept may be found in late medieval conciliarism, in Zwinglian Prophezei, and in the pluralistic ecclesiology and congregational practices of the Polish Brethren. Especially among the latter, the commitment to a “mutually corrective pluralism” suggests a conceptualiztion of the local congregation as a hermeneutic community. This paper examines the ways that this concept functioned among the Polish Brethren and some of its implications for contemporary congregations as communities of mutual teaching and learning.
4 Daniel Ott Dr. St. Andrews Presbyterian College Whispering Pines 6 Morning Glory Lane, North Carolina Postal Code: 28327 USA phone:910-949-2110 e-mail: [email protected] co-presenter: Marjorie Suchocki Prof. Dr. Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies Claremont School of Theology 1325 North College Ave. CA, 91711 USA
Open God / Open Church
Abstract: Alfred North Whitehead, in Adventures of Ideas, encourages civilizations and societies to Adventure, embracing the changing nature of reality and seeking novelty and intensity in ever-new forms of harmony. The church is certainly included in Whitehead’s challenge to societies to embrace adventure. The church cannot rest on historical forms or stale orthodoxy; this will only lead to decay. Rather, the church can boldly set out to adventure, embracing new forms and realizing new potentials. The church’s embrace of adventure relies on its openness to others both within and without. The church is made up of living, personal societies (people). By definition people are societies that exhibit freedom and novelty while also exhibiting continuity and purpose. People are societies that are always reconstituting themselves in response to their changing environments. Larger societies like the church are made up of people who are always changing. Therefore, these societies are always changing as their constituents change. But this relationship is reciprocal. The larger
47 society is of course part of the environment that causes its constituent societies to change. The changes in the constituent sub-societies always occur in the context of the common form shared by these sub-societies making up the larger society. Of course this process also opens out to the others beyond the church’s ‘borders.’ The circles of reciprocal societal relationships continue to open out until they include the largest conceivable society. The church can draw its inspiration to be open to the other from God’s own openness. God in God’s consequent nature always includes the world, in all its particularity, complexity and concreteness, in God’s own being. God so loves the world precisely in its otherness and particularity. While this love must often hasten to attempt to transform the world when the world has exercised its freedom in destructive ways, God’s loving transformation always begins with a reception of the world as it is. God’s inclusive love for the world, then, expresses itself by a true accounting of and honoring of the world precisely in its otherness. Modeling the church’s openness after God’s openness has at least three implications. First, the church honors otherness as God honors otherness. Secondly, this love of the other causes the church to be vulnerable to change. Finally, this openness and vulnerability shape the church’s mission into one based on dialogue and respect for plurality.
Monday, July 3, afternoon Room: HS 103
Session 2
5 R. Gordon Reid Reverend Church of Scotland Bo'ness The Spires, Foredale Tce., West Lothian Postal Code: EH51 9LW Scotland, UK phone:0441506822141 fax: 0441506511914 e-mail: [email protected]
Process Church and People
Abstract: In this short paper I describe an unexpected query from an unexpected source with unexpected results. When I trained for ministry in the Church of Scotland, {after 20 years as a professional engineer} I was introduced to the lure of God described by Arthur North Whitehead and a metaphysics describing how a theistic approach is compatible with science. As the years in Parish ministry unfolded, I began to suspect that few saw Faith and Science as compatible, especially those untrained in theology or science; then I received an e-mail from a colleague on the panel of doctrine in the Church of Scotland – he had been asked a similar question by someone, and passed the query to me to see if I could help. I replied direct to the lady who had posed the question, and so I suggested some reading material. There followed periodic contact, in which I helped the lady with the question to understand that Theistic Faith and Science are compatible, with my own open preference for Process Theology. She took to the subject with great enthusiasm, but found that her own local ministers, had little or no knowledge of Process, and only lukewarm enthusiasm, but she persisted. I offered to give a basic talk on the subject, and so an event was set up for February 2006. That encouraged me to marshal my thoughts on how to open up the subject to a wider audience.
48 It was dawning on me that there is a significant gap between the public perceptions of science, and of theology, and that the Church stands square in the middle, either as a barrier or a conduit. Historically the Church provided the impetuous for science, and some scientists found themselves doing the same for the Church, Whitehead being a classic example, but many ordinary people in the western world of today, have been led to believe the topics are incompatible. I am finding that through this one chance encounter (or lure!) in cyberspace, that the needs of ordinary people for rational and consistent faith, are being denied by the apparent gap between science and the church. I intend in this paper to describe in more detail the potential through the application of Process Theology for healing that gap, and potentially enabling the western church to regain its central position in the lives of the many.
6 Jeanyne Slettom Claremont 1518 Tulane Road, CA Postal Code: 91711 USA phone:909.482.1245 e-mail: [email protected]
Theo-anthroposis: A Process Soteriology
Abstract: The Christian narrative of salvation is constructed upon a series of questions: from what, to what, and how? In the patristic era, theologians argued that the existential problem confronting humankind was death, a consequence resulting from human sin. From this emerged a doctrine of salvation from death, to life eternal, based on atonement (Western church) or theosis (Eastern church). This presentation will argue that the existential problem is not death, but a state of “excarnation”—the diminishing participation of God, a condition described by Whitehead as a “diminishment” of the initial aim. “Excarnation” solicits a different salvation narrative that emphasizes ongoing incarnation. A Whitehead soteriology describes a reversal of theosis—wherein human beings move toward participation in God—into theo-anthroposis, the movement of God into human beings. Process theology provides the conceptual framework for a God who is perpetually present and active in every moment of existence, such that salvation/ transformation is not an abstraction but a concrete reality, actualized in the moment.
7 Herman Greene Dr. Center for Ecozoic Studies Chapel Hill 2516 Winningham Road North Carolina Postal Code: 27516 USA phone: 919-929-4116 fax: 919-942-4358 e-mail: [email protected]
The Creation Liturgical Cycle of the Church Year: Ecology as Integral to Ecclesiology
Abstract: Ecological or environmental concerns have tended to be treated primarily as social concerns of the church. This paper advances the proposition that just as the church has moved from its orginal Jewish tribal roots to a dispersed Jewish community to a church for all people, so now ecology presents the broadest context for understanding the role, 49 function and purpose of the church. An ecological understanding places a new emphasis on the doctrine of creation, God's comprehensive care, and communion as a relation embracing God, humans and non-human nature. An interpretation of the meaning of the revelation of Jesus Christ in an ecological understanding is given. Finally, the creation liturgical cycle is presented in theory and as it has been practiced in a congregation in North Carolina. The creation liturgical cycle begins with the Feast Day of St. Francis (October 4) and extends to the beginning of Advent. Through the addition of this cycle, the church year becomes inclusive of Christ (Advent to Pentecost), Holy Spirit (Pentecost to Creation Season) and God the Creator (Creation Season to Advent).
8 Paul S. Nancarrow Rev. Dr. St George's Episcopal Church St Louis Park 5224 Minnetonka Blvd Minnesota Postal Code: 55416 USA phone:612-239-4904 fax: 952-836-1095 e-mail: [email protected]
Process Liturgics and Sacrament
Abstract: Contemporary sacramental theology tends toward a consensus view that sacraments take place within four orders of relationship: the cosmos, called into being through the Word, is sacramental; Christ, as the incarnation of the Word, is the primordial sacrament; the Church, as the community that follows and continues the ministry of Christ, is the fundamental sacrament; and particular ceremonies are sacramental as they instantiate the core values and experiences of the Church in the lives of believers. A Whiteheadian approach can provide a speculative description of sacramental relations within these orders, leading to an understanding of sacraments as societies of occasions so ordered that streams of influence from God, Christ, and participant subsocieties come together to elicit into prominence the feeling of Peace, defined as the harmony of harmonies, richness of experience, and mutual well-being. Such a dynamic view of sacramental ceremonies helps elucidate their role as constitutive elements of ecclesial communities, and indicates their importance in forming believers to participate in the adventure of divine aims for justice and peace in the world.
9 Raphael Picon Maître de Conférence Paris 83 boulevard Arago Postal Code: 75014 France phone:01-45-26-38-49 e-mail: [email protected]
Reclaiming the Church through Whitehead and Ricoeur
Abstract: As Whitehead made it clear in his Religion in the Making : “You cannot shelter theology from science, or science from theology ; nor can you shelter either of them from metaphysics, or metaphysics of either of them. There is no short cut to truth” (p.67). He then underlines that: “The foundations of dogma must be laid in a rational metaphysics which criticizes meanings, and endeavours to express the most general concepts adequate for the all inclusive universe” (p.71). In such a provocative
50 perspective what would be the metaphysical categories adequate to re-think the Church and, moreover, to “reclaim” it ? Our presentation will try and respond to this question by setting in dialogue some whiteheadian categories with some assertions regarding the Church made by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur (references from: Le volontaire et l’involontaire (1963), Du Texte à l’action (1986), “Urbanisation et secularisation” article 1968). Combining Whitehead’s “process-with-relations” ! and Ricoeur’s “narrative identity”, could enable us to define the Church as being both a creative and transformative actual entity, and a vivid locus of personal and political hermeneutics. The famous whiteheadian “primordial and consequent natures of God” may also renew our conception of the Church by underlining its structural tensions, such as those stressed by Ricoeur himself, between the visible and the unseen, the inner and the outside, consent and hope, opening and closure… The Church may then appear as a vivid organism made by its complex network of relations and an altogether everlasting and ever-perishing reality.
51 3.11 Whitehead and Teihlard de Chardin
Section Head: Don Viney
Wednesday, July 5, afternoon Room: HS 106
Session 1
1 Donald Viney Professor of Philosophy Pittsburg State University—Kansas pone: (620)-231-2413 fax: (620)-235-4338 e-mail: [email protected]
Le Philosophe Malgré l’Église: Teilhard’s Underground Journey to Process Metaphysics
Abstract: Teilhard de Chardin became a philosopher in spite of the Church (un philosophe malgré l’Église). Try as he might to present his views as “hyperphysics” the censors realized that his extensions of scientific inquiry were unavoidably metaphysical and that his views were not compatible with the Thomistic philosophy in which Catholic theology was expressed. Teilhard eventually realized the impossibility of insulating his scientific views from their metaphysical implications. In his final paper he noted that he had been warned throughout his adult life not to mix philosophy and theology with science. Fifty years of experience, however, taught him that this attitude is “psychologically unfeasible” and “opposed to the greater glory of God.” Teilhard distrusted traditional metaphysics because, as he said, “I smell a geometry in it.” Nevertheless, he explicitly entertained the idea of an open ended metaphysical inquiry that analysis reveals to be the same as his hyperphysics. His “metaphysics of union,” is a version of process metaphysics that is at odds with Thomism. That he understood this is evident from his candid criticisms of Thomism, notwithstanding his statements that a “transcription” of his views into more traditional categories is possible.
2 Joseph A. Bracken, S. J. Professor Emeritus of Theology Xavier University, Cincinnati phone: (513)-745-3442 fax: (513)-745-3858 e-mail: [email protected]
Teilhard de Chardin, A. N. Whitehead and a Metaphysics of Intersubjectivity
Abstract: If Whiteheadian societies be understood as structured fields of activity for their constituent actual occasions, then a combination of the theological insights of Teilhard and the philosophical categories of Whitehead could result in a new understanding of the God-world relationship as a cosmic community of subjects of experience (divine and creaturely) in dynamic interrelationship. That is, from Teilhard one could draw the insight that God is tripersonal rather than unipersonal, hence that God is not an individual subject of experience in ongoing dialectical relationship with created subjects of experience (as in Whitehead’s own scheme) but rather a community of divine subjects of experience who make a “space” within their own divine intersubjective field of activity for the emergence of created subjects of experience. Hence, instead of the implicit dualism between God and the world in Whitehead’s scheme, one has in hand a panentheistic understanding of the God-world relationship. The world of 52 creation exists within God but is still distinct from God in terms of its own creaturely existence and activity.
3 Roland Faber Professor of Process Theology Claremont School of Theology e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
Panentheism or Transpantheism? The Process of Trans-Unification in Teilhard and Whitehead
Abstract: Today, both Teilhard de Chardin and Whitehead are firmly seen as panentheists. Nevertheless, their panentheism not only seems to differ from similar concepts of “being one in God, who is more than the World God unites” but differ precisely in not integrating the World into God while being always (a priori) “in” God, but by insisting on the World’s transcendence of God as God’s insistence on its creative existence “beyond” God. I will investigate this mutual transcendence of God and the World in terms of Teilhard’s kenotic difference and eschatological duality of God and the World and Whitehead’s suspension of any ultimacy in the process between God and the World, both of which I understand as forms of “trans- unification,” which, rather than to indicate “Panentheism” I shall call “Trans-Pantheism.”
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