Adventures in the Spirit: God, World, Divine Action

by Zachary Simpson, Philip Clayton (Translator)

Overview

Many theologians have beenreconceiving the God-worldrelation, challenging the separationthat underlay too much of Patristicand Scholastic theology. Thesepanentheists affirm a radical indwellingof God within the world and the worldwithin God. During the same periodscientists have begun to abandon thereductionist ideology that characterizedmuch of the modern period.Reductionism is being replaced by anew emphasis on emergence: the studyof how new structures and entitiesarise throughout the evolutionaryprocess and how each requires its ownform of explanation.

Surprisingly few theologians haverecognized the paradigm shiftrepresented by the convergenceof these two important schools ofthought. Clayton's pioneering workdevelops new models of God andthe God-world relation in light ofpanentheism and emergent complexityand models an open-minded Christiantheology that still respects tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800663186
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	08/25/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Zachary Simpson has a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.

Philip Clayton is Ingraham Professor at the Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the Claremont Graduate University.

Table of Contents

Prologue vii

Editor's Introduction: Adventures in Dialogue 1

Part 1 The Methods of Philosophy and Theology 21

1 Critical Faith: Theology in the Midst of the Sciences 22

2 Religious Truth and Scientific Truth: A Comparative Exploration 38

3 The Contemporary Science and Religion Discussion: New Adventures for Theology, or a Futile Quest for Legitimation? 52

Part 2 Emergence 63

4 Why Emergence Matters: A New Paradigm for Relating the Sciences 64

5 Emergent Realities: The Evolution of Life and Mind 75

6 From World to Spirit? Complexity, Anthropology, Theology 88

7 Theological Reflections on Emergence: From Emergent Nature to the Emerging Church 100

Part 3 Panentheism 117

8 An Introduction to Panentheism 118

9 From Substance to Subject: Rethinking Spirit in the Modern World 133

10 The Becoming of the One Who Always Was: Toward a Trinity in Process 157

11 "Open Panentheism" and Creation as Kenosis 175

Part 4 Divine Action 185

12 Natural Law and the Problem of Divine Action 186

13 Actions Human and Divine: Toward a Panentheistic-Participatory Theory of Agency 204

14 Can Contemporary Theologians Still Affirm That God (Literally) Does Anything? 217

Part 5 The Theological Adventure Applied 229

15 Reflections on the Human Quest for Meaning 230

16 Spirituality as Spirit and Spirituality toward Spirit: A Dialogue with Derrida 244

17 The Many Faces of Integration: Liberal Faith between Church, Academy, and World 256

Acknowledgments 268

Notes 271

Index 305