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John B. Cobb, Jr. is Ingraham Professor of Theology Emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology.
Image credit: Silversoul7

Works by John B. Cobb

Christ in a Pluralistic Age (1861) 94 copies
God and the world, (1969) 72 copies
Reclaiming the Church (1997) 45 copies
Theology and Pastoral Care (1977) 44 copies
Matters of Life and Death (1973) 42 copies
Back to Darwin: A Richer Account of Evolution (2008) — Editor; Contributor — 22 copies
Praying for Jennifer (1985) 17 copies
Lay Theology (1994) 16 copies
The Process Perspective II (2011) 15 copies
The Dialogue Comes of Age (2010) 10 copies
Det fælles bedste (1994) 2 copies
Confessions (2023) 1 copy

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The editor steps up to the challenge of a world being assaulted by massive amounts of money spent by the oligarchs to destroy forms of democratic governance. After all, rich does not need anything, and does not need anyone telling it what for.

The editor publishes this wonderful book which covers all the "topics" which society must face together: diverse religious creeds, the eternal left-right politics, public education, abortion, child care, human rights, homosexual rights, criminal justice, war on drugs, immigration, sweatshops, globalism, debt, environment, demographics, and what should The Protestant Church being doing and saying?

There is plenty of Scripture in this book. But it is not evangelical or seek to monopolize. It opens the gate. It opens the love, not the vitriol. The Preface notes that "For more than a century, from the anti-slavery campaign through the civil rights struggle, influential segments of the major Protestant churches in the United States were often leaders in progressive social action. Today, Protestantism appears to the public as a bastion of conservatism." And then asks, "What has happened?"

John Cobb shows how political operatives cynically took over the Protestant churches--as if they were the "weak link", and could be counted on not to really know their own Scripture, history, or legacy of love. Ralph Reed, a brilliant historian, could take on the task of bringing evangelical congregations into the fold of political conservatism, deluding churches with wedge issues like abortion. An assault on the text of the Scripture--which virtually never mentions abortion. And neither the Prophets nor Jesus ever treated a fetus as a "person".

Cobb writes to provide dialectical tools for engagement with the issues of the day. His organization was the network of the "Mobilization movement" which sought the common ground of all the churches around the issues. Sadly, the movement failed. Who could have predicted that after decades of Fox News broadcasting misinformation that the evangelical churches would forget almost everything Jesus said about helping the poor and being humble? Or that believers in a God who created the planet, would devote themselves to the Koch Industry funded GOP, which is now unrecognizable to any real Conservative.

The work concludes with a fact-based brief "History of the American Right". We saw this takeover of the church with our own eyes. The so-called evangelical church is now committed -- "subordinated" -- to the idolatry of money and bullying the vulnerable.

"The judgment of the Hebrew prophets against the unjust and the powerful, and Jesus' gospel of forgiveness and inclusive love, seems mostly subordinated in their [the Christian right] speech to the ungodly idols of rigid and narrow sexual morality, capitalistic individualism, and exclusive nationalism."

This is a great resource, it remains remarkably "current" despite the years. The only real updating it needs is that the facts and figures about the topics are now so much worse!
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keylawk | Jul 2, 2019 |
I am not a process theology guy. I am not particularly Calvinist or Arminian either. I guess if pressed I would through my lot with the Open Theists, but even here I kick against the goads. I want to emphasize God's grandeur more than Openness allows. I am more skeptical of Process because there is a tendency to give away the goods, tossing out orthodoxy to make way for new possibility and configurations.

John Cobb doesn't put me fully at ease, but I appreciated his Christ-centeredness and the relational core at the center of his theology. He takes as his starting point Jesus calling God Abba, an Aramaic familial term (different from the Greek Pater, a monarchial term).… (more)
 
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Jamichuk | May 22, 2017 |
For years now, John Cobb has written short essays for the Process and Faith Web site. The Process Perspective is the second collection of these essays, edited by Jeanyne B. Slettom.

*** Process Thought ***

Understanding Process theology isn't the same thing as knowing the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism, or Consubstantiation and Transubstantiation. These examples are different theological viewpoints within the same conceptual framework. Process theology is first and foremost a new philosophical worldview with its own radically different set of presuppositions.

The layout of the book emphasizes the radical philosophical shift Process theology entails. The essays begin with metaphysics then move to science before narrowing down on issues of faith. Cobb explains this philosophical view with humility:

[quote]Process thought is unapologetically speculative through and through. It seeks to find and tell the most likely tale. If the process thinker forgets the extreme limitations of the human mind in relation to the marvel of what is, valid and valuable speculation can turn into arrogant and destructive dogmatism. (146)[/quote]

Process theology began with Alfred North Whitehead in the first half of the twentieth century. I consider John Cobb, author of this collection of mini-essays, Whitehead's foremost interpreter.

One of Cobb's great strengths is his cross-disciplinary understanding. He is equally adept at explaining the nature of evil, the causes of the latest financial meltdown, and stem cell research. His chief concern is the greatest threat to human existence: the care of our ecosystem.

This philosophical framework resolves some of the tensions of classical theology while raising new problems.

*** The Benefits of Process Theology ***

The biggest benefit of process theology is a complete resolution to the classical problem of suffering. Stated simply, God cannot be both all powerful and good or he would be able to prevent suffering. Process theologians resolve this problem by denying the classical view of God's power. God's power is never coercive, but always the power of love.

Cobb understands existence as a series of events in which God is working to bring about the best possible outcome. God's creatures, of course, have the ability to follow this leading or to turn from it. In a Process framework, God doesn't know the future because it's still being written.

The second greatest benefit of process theology (at least in my mind) is the emphasis on God's radical imminence. There is no place where God is not. (This reminds me of Psalm 139—Where could I go?) In Cobb's words,

[quote]Process theologians are closer to the Bible than to modern thinking. We believe God works in every natural event. (158)[/quote]

*** The Problems with Process Theology ***

I have some serious reservations with Cobb's version of Process theology.

Despite the great value in emphasizing the imminence of God, the flip side is the devaluation of God's transcendence. This is evident in Cobb's handling of John 1. The apostle makes it clear that in Jesus, "the true light was coming into the world" (John 1:9 ESV). For Cobb, the implication that the true light was at some point out of the world and had to enter it is problematic. In his words, "Today a Christian believer who adopts Whitehead's way of thinking must be wary of some of John's formulations" (110).

This quote reveals another problem. In staying true to Process philosophy, parts of scripture need to be reinterpreted or even jettisoned. Paul's hope in the afterlife is one of those parts:

[quote]I am haunted by Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:19: "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people the most to be pitied." ... I do not think Paul is quite right, but I take him seriously. (119)[/quote]

Jesus' literal resurrection is another problem for Cobb—although this issue seems less about Process theology and more about Cobb's viewpoint:

[quote]"This symbol [Jesus' resurrection]can function without regard to what happened to either the body or the soul of Jesus. For many liberal Christians, this suffices. For them further questions about just what actually happened are inappropriate. At the ultimate level, I incline to support this view. (119)[/quote]

I suppose this view flows from serious questions about the afterlife mentioned above. For me, understanding scripture through a Process lens adds more problems than it resolves.

Cobb does a fine job at pointing out the legitimate contradictions and problems in classical theology. I would agree that systematic theology today has climbed in bed with modernity and needs to be re-conceptualized in order to speak truthfully. However, the Process perspective feels like a step back from the mystery of God as revealed Jesus.
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StephenBarkley | Jul 27, 2013 |
I’ve got to give them credit. Bo Sanders and Tripp Fuller over at Homebrewed Christianity have got me thinking about process theology. For a long time, all I knew about process theology came from one class in Bible College where I learned how mistaken Alfred North Whitehead was. After listening to a number of Homebrewed podcasts, I’ve started to think that the process people bring something valuable to the theological table. Thus, I’ve started to read Cobb, process theology’s chief modern evangelist.

This first of two volumes about The Process Perspective uses a question-and-answer format to engage the various implications of process theology, categorized roughly in five sections:

1. God
2. Christ
3. The Church and the Bible
4. Humankind
5. Ethics and Society

These questions were curated by Jeanyne B. Slettom from processandfaith.org, a website where Cobb responds to a variety of questions.

While I’m no process theologian (or open theist, for that matter), I thought I’d point out a few areas highlighted in this book where other believers can learn from the process perspective:

1. The decisions we make affect God. This affirmation from the process camp should be taken seriously be all theologians—at least if you’re going to take the OT language of divine repentance seriously.
2. The church should accept truth and wisdom wherever they are found. If you believe that all truth is rooted in God, then this is an important perspective.
3. “In every moment, we are being directed, called, or lured by God to that self-actualization that is best for that moment and also for future occasions in our own personal life and in the lives of other creatures, human and nonhuman. … What we need, of course, is to develop a habit of openness to God and readiness to respond even when this is somewhat costly in relation to our other appetites and desires” (100). I can’t think of a better description of what pentecostal spirituality should aim towards!
4. When it comes to prayer, every event is connected to other events. We can not manipulate God by some strange magic into rewriting these events, naively viewing them in isolation from the whole.
5. Patriotism is idolatry when we obey our government, “right or wrong.”

You don’t have to be a process thinker to benefit from a thoughtful reading of Cobb’s Process Perspective.
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StephenBarkley | Aug 5, 2012 |

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