NOTE: From July 8–12, 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar taught by Thomas Jay Oord. For many believers, theology seems like something only academic discuss. Yet, whether we discuss it or not, we all (believers, agnostics and atheists) have a theology that we embrace and that impacts how we live day-to-day. My encouragement is don't let yours be a default, unexamined theology. Who you think God is and how you think God works in the universe–and in your life–absolutely determines how you live. So...think about it. I hope these notes inspire you to dig deeper.
Day One Summary
Here are some things I learned from Thomas Jay Oord on DAY ONE
of week-long class he taught at Vancouver School of Theology (July 8-12).
Open and Relational Theology is an umbrella label for the
variety of theologies that affirm at least the following:
1. The future is open and undetermined to both us and God.
2. God is relational. God affects us and we affect God.
There are basically three general views of God's Omniscience:
1. Calvinist believe that God foreknows and foreordains everything.
2. Arminians believe that God foreknows but does not foreordain.
3. Open and Relational (O&R) theologians believe that God
neither foreknows (for certain) nor foreordains.
The reason O&R theologians believe that God neither
foreknows nor foreordains is because God has endowed humanity with free-will
and that because the preeminent quality of God's nature is uncontrolling love.
God takes each individual's free-will seriously and though he works to
influence, inform, and even persuade, each person is free to make her/his own
choices.
What I learned about O&R Theology on Day Two, will follow in
later posts. If you want to learn on your own about Open and Relational
Theology with each post I'll share a book or two you might want to check out.
"Uncontrolling Love: Essays Exploring the Love of God"
- Edited by Thomas Jay Oord.
Day Two Summary (Part 1)
Here are some things I learned from Thomas Jay Oord on DAY TWO
of week-long class he taught at Vancouver School of Theology (July 8-12).
Thomas Jay Oord outlined seven basic theological approaches to
understanding God’s providence, that is, how God works in and with his
creation.
1. God is the Omnicause—that is God has, does and will cause
everything that happens in the universe. Theologians who teach this model
include John Calvin (1600s) and John Piper (present day).
2. God Empowers and Overpowers—While God is the source of our
freedom and God usually empowers, there are times when God overpowers. In other
words, we have free will, but God intervenes whenever and however he determines
to accomplish his will. All Plantinga and Roger Olson are modern theologians
who espouse this view. This is perhaps the most popular model of God’s
providence among conservative Christians.
3. God is Voluntarily Self-Limited—God rarely intervenes to
overpower our free will. God usually persuades but can be coercive when deemed
necessary. This is similar to the above view but differs in degree. John
Polkinghorne, Philip Clayton, Greg Boyd are modern theologians who espouse this
view.
4. God is Essentially Kenotic (terms to be explain on another
day)—God’s nature is love and that love is self-emptying, others-empowering and
God never violates creaturely free will. Thomas Jay Oord is the originator of
this model (thus more explanation to come later).
5. God is Present but essentially Uninvolved—God is not
interactive, personal nor responsive to human experience. God is the glue of
the universe. Paul Tillich and Gordon Kauffman are two modern theologians who
espouse this model.
6. God is the Initial Creator and a Current Observer—This is “Bette
Midler’s God” who watches from a distance. God is a perfect creator and thus
does not need to intervene in his creation. Michael Corey espouses this view.
7. God’s Ways are Not Our Ways—This is not a model of God’s
providence but rather an explanation of why we can’t come up with a model. God
is utterly mysterious. We cannot really know who/what God is. We can only know
who/what God isn’t. Apophatic theologians hold to this view (or lack of view).
Day Two Summary (Part 2)
Here are some MORE things I learned from Thomas Jay Oord on DAY
TWO of week-long class he taught at Vancouver School of Theology (July 8-12).
Thomas Jay Oord explained the difference between “voluntarism” and
“essentialism” when it comes to God’s nature. “Voluntarism” states that God’s
sovereign will is pre-eminent when it comes to God’s nature. So while God, for
example, created free will creatures, God can override that free will and
impose his own will on any or all of his creation. “Essentialism” states that
there are certain qualities that are who God is and these qualities cannot
change. For example, God cannot choose to NOT love; God cannot choose to NOT
create; God cannot choose to NOT care.
He then explained what Open and Relational Theology means in terms of
the following:
1. God’s omniscience—God
knows everything that can be known, but the future is not yet knowable because
we have free will. God doesn’t see all of time as one viewing a parade from
thousands of feet above, but rather God is in the parade, every part of the
parade as it happens.
2. God’s emotions—God experiences
human emotions with but few exceptions (e.g., guilt). However, even those
emotions God does not have, God perceives and is affected by.
3. Our free will—We have
genuine but limited free will. We, too, are limited in the choices we make
because of the limitations of human nature and our individual natures.
4. Petitionary prayer—If God
knows and determines the future, why pray for God to act. If, however, the
future is open, then we can pray that we will be aware of and responsive to
God’s influence and persuasion. However, because God’s love is “uncontrolling”
it would be fruitless to pray for God to intervene in a way that violates
another’s free will.
5. Our lives matter! God
wants to, and does, work together with us to accomplish God’s loving will
moment-by-moment. Also, everyone counts whether or not we choose to cooperate
with God’s desire.
Book Recommendation: “Divine Echoes: Reconciling Prayer with the
Uncontrolling Love of God” by Mark Gregory Karris.
Day Three Summary
Here are some things I learned from Thomas Jay Oord on DAY THREE
of week-long class he taught at Vancouver School of Theology (July 8-12).
Thomas presented, in greater detail, his model especially as it relates
to the problem of evil and suffering. In fact, he proposed “a solution for the
problem of evil.” First, he stated the problem.
·
If God is able to do absolutely anything, God would be able to prevent
any occurrence of genuine evil.
·
If God is perfectly loving, God would want to prevent every occurrence
of genuine evil.
·
However, events of genuine evil occur.
·
Conclusion: Either God does not exist, or one of the first two
statements is wrong—that is, either God is not able to do absolutely anything
OR he is not perfectly loving.
Next, he defined “genuine evil” as any event that, all things
considered, makes the universe worse that it might have been. That evil can be
the result of human free will, other creaturely interactions and/or natural
evil. He next explained the realities of random events, law-like regularities,
human and other creaturely free will and agency, the existence of values and
the fact that we can know something true about the universe we observe (i.e.,
not everything is subjective). However, we cannot know the full truth about the
universe nor can we know truth with absolute certainty. The same holds true
when it comes to what we know about God. Thus, there is plausible
faith—reasonable trust. I, personally, love this because it so fits with some
sage advice I once heard—we need to hold to our beliefs with humility.
Oord’s solution to the problem of evil and the core of his model of
providence begins with God’s nature as love: a self-giving, others-empowering
and uncontrolling love. Therefore, God can’t do certain things because this is
God’s nature. God cannot withdraw freedom from a perpetrator of evil. God
cannot interrupt law-like regularities to prevent evil or stop random events
that result in evil.
Book recommendation: “God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after
Tragedy, Abuse and Other Evils” by Thomas Jay Oord.
Days Four & Five Summary
Here are some things I learned from Thomas Jay Oord on DAYS FOUR
& FIVE of week-long class he taught at Vancouver School of Theology (July
8-12).
I learned two new words:
1.
Panentheism. Note, this is not “pantheism” but “panENtheism”. Literally,
“pan” means all/every, “en” means in and “theism” means God. So “Panentheism”
means “all in God.” Many reference Paul’s statement to the Athenians in Acts
17—“for in him we live and move and have our being as some of your own poets
have said.” The main point is this: God is not “out there” but rather God is
present with us, or as Paul wrote, “God is not far from each one of us,” or as
one person paraphrased this, “God is at your elbow.” Since God is present with
us, God is relational. God is influenced by creation as he also influences
creation. God experiences creation.
2.
Theocosmocentrism. That’s a mouthful, right? Again, “theo” means God,
“cosmo” is cosmos, i.e., the universe and “centrism” means central. Some points
based on this are: (1) We cannot understand God well without reference to
creation and we cannot understand creation well without reference to God; (2)
God necessarily exists and God necessarily creates. It is God’s very nature of
love that necessitates that God creates. Just as God cannot NOT love, God
cannot NOT create. God essentially loves all creation. It is God’s nature to
love creation—every minute aspect of the universe is loved by God.
I was exposed to some different ways to conceive of the afterlife, based
on this premise of the uncontrolling love of God. The main point I need to
further ponder and that has serious implications for the conservative
evangelical teaching is this: If God’s nature is uncontrolling love, does God
stop loving when our lives on this planet end or does God continue to love and
thus continue to influence and persuade?
On the final day, Thomas reviewed Pope Francis’ 2015 Encyclical Letter
“Laudato Si’” (Praise Be to You). It is a letter written to discuss the
critical environmental issues our world is facing and is an impassioned and
intelligently written plea for people of all stripes to work together to
prevent further damage and to undo the damage we’ve already caused. As he
writes, “This sister [the earth] now cries out to us because of the harm we
have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with
which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and
masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts,
wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the
soil, in the. Water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth
herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of
our poor; she ‘groans in travail’ (Rom 8:22).” What I was deeply convicted of
by this session was how conservative evangelical theology has little if
anything to say about our responsibility to the rest of God’s creation. We
teach and we act as if the only really important part of God’s creation is
humanity, the rest is expendable. This universe is God’s creation. We are not
its masters and lords; we are its stewards!
Book Recommendation: “In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being:
Panentheistic Reflections on God’s Presence in a Scientific World” edited by
Philip Clayton and Arthur Peacocke.
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