"Howard J. Van Till" wrote:
> > Another point: In earlier writings you've spoken
> of creation as
> > being "gifted by God from the outset with all of the
> form-producing
> > capacities necessary ..." (S & CB 8, 1996) & similar
> things. You're going
> > to have a problem saying anything like this in a process
> context. The
> > difficulty is not just that there's no process "outset"
> but that the world
> > & its capacities cannot be seen as the work of God alone.
> Thus God cannot
> > have "gifted" creation with "all" of its form-producing
> capacities.
>
>
> Not necessarily a problem. _This_ particular universe -- this
> particular manifestation of a World -- remains, I believe, open to my
> description (perhaps slightly modified by the absence of any need to
> root it in creatio ex nihilo). _This_ universe still has an "outset"
> and particular features chosen by God.
Howard -
This doesn't get at the heart of the problem. Your earlier
statement was that God had gifted creation with _all_ it's
form-producing capacities. With a process approach you'd have to say
"some" of its capacities or "God _contributed_ to all its form-producing
capacities" or something of the sort.
I largely agree with Ted Davis's post on this topic. However,
while he empasizes difficulties of process thought with classical
monotheism, I would point out that it's hard to formulate an adequate
trinitarian understanding of God in process terms.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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