© 1992 Meredith Sprunger
© 1992 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
| Significant Books: “Truth in Religion” By Mortimer Adler | Spring 1992 — Index | A Mainline Reaction to Apocalypticism |
State University of New York Press, 1989, 175 pp.
There is a growing sentiment that humanity can and must go beyond the modern scientific worldview. Dr. Griffin speaks of a constructive or revisionary postmodernism that involves a new unity of scientific, philosophical, and religious thought that envisions a fresh conceptualization of reality. The continuation of modernity, Griffin believes, threatens the very survival of life on our planet.
In the postmodern era, Griffin advocates that we return theology to the public domain. Postmodern theology must go beyond conservative theology based on supernatural revelation, and liberal theology which is little more than ethical humanism. Postmodern theology should be marked by its internal coherence, its confirmation by experience, and its spiritual illuminating power. It should articulate a religious vision of the universe based on a naturalistic theism which holds a doctrine of creation compatible with evolution. The primacy of nonsensory perception is the epistemological foundation of postmodern theology. Each person has a dimension of perception, an intuition of the “Beyond,” that is not the product of our cultural experience. Naturalistic theism should develop more creative and “spiritually spontaneous” individuals than have supernaturalism or materialism.
The story of the universe which a culture accepts determines the ultimate concern for the individual and society by showing what is of highest value in the nature of reality. The medieval worldview stressed the importance of personal qualities, saw humankind as the crown of creation, and believed in the continuity of life after death. In the modern worldview these verities have been denied. Scientism emphasized the material and impersonal aspects of life-human beings are merely accidental collocations of atoms. Humanistic existentialism declared that there is no inherent meaning to life, no divine purpose, no hierarchy of values. Having became more important than being.
The postmodern view of Griffin accepts the fact of revelation but rejects authoritarianism as the arbiter of truth. The truths of revelation must be judged on their intrinsic convincingness and verified by experience. We believe the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all people because they are confirmed by experience. Following the epistemology of Whitehead, Griffin sees all entities, when viewed from within as having experience, for all things embody energy, experience, and creativity. Because of this experience, everything has value or importance in and for itself. The quality of experience is primary in the nature of things.
Griffin believes that the postmodern God will not be the arbitrary God of the Middle Ages who controls all things in puppet-like fashion. Rather, this God works in and through the natural processes. God does not coerce but persuades. The Creator works with and inspires the creature to create and recreate themselves. Evolution is the modus operandi of the universe through which God brings about eternal purpose. Theistic evolutionism sees {the experience of} God as a natural aspect of our total existence. Having the courage to live and be guided by this indwelling divine persuasion alone is the defining characteristic of the postmodern age.
A postmodern spirituality of creativity should have greater growth potential than the medieval spirituality of obedience. Since Heisenberg we now speak of an inherent indeterminacy in the universe. Evolution is an open and creative process. To some degree the world can be seen as radically self-creative and open to a co-creative relationship with God. There is an evolving aspect of deity that Whitehead referred to as “the consequent nature of God” that exerts a creative influence on all finite entities. Since creativity and divine inspiration are universal, we can expect and understand both the diversity and commonality found in ideas of truth, beauty, and goodness.
Supernaturalistic theism tends to view God acting unilaterally, apart from the world, and to support various forms of imperialism since external coercion and force are seen as the divine way of doing things. Postmodern theology should reject both this arbitrary theism and atheistic naturalism. It should discard the extreme voluntarism and separateness of God from the world in prescientific theism, and replace it with a naturalistic form of theism. This postmodern theology supports a belief in God, and living faith, on the basis of personal experience and within the context of the facts of science and the coherence of reason.
“Finally, this worldview strengthens our sense of kinship with each other, portraying us all as having a common divine source, as living in the midst of a common divine reality, and as having a common divine goal. This divine reality of the universe dwells in us, and we in it, and our lives have immortal significance in it.” (p. 67) Dr. Griffin gives a penetrating analysis of the limitations of both traditional theology and secular modernism. He then utilizes the insights of process theology to develop a postmodern theistic worldview. This is an excellent book to keep one abreast of some of the most insightful thoughts in contemporary theology.
| Significant Books: “Truth in Religion” By Mortimer Adler | Spring 1992 — Index | A Mainline Reaction to Apocalypticism |