Christ and Human Process

Process Theology was initiated by the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead.  Whitehead was a major figure in helping to draw the modern world away from the essentialism of the past.  Essentialism would teach us that there is an unchanged and unchanging absolute essence “up there” somewhere which everything can be measured against. 

I have found that portrayals of the Historic Jesus have been traditionally enmeshed in essentialism.  Traditional church representations of Jesus show him as a Hellenistic God-Man, like the ultimate super hero, all knowing, and all powerful.  He is also frequently represented as a Northern European and not as a native of Galilee. 

There are two problems with this representation.  First of all it ignores his humanity in favor of divinity.  All human beings I know of are people who live and change as they evolve in the process of living.  Second, seeing Jesus as a super hero God-on-earth avoids an encounter with a multitude of conflicts and disagreements which are clearly represented in the scriptures as the narrative moves from Jewish Essene purity into the abandonment of the Jewish Law as taught by Paul. 

In this sequence of videos, we look at our human process as we wander over time from attitudes of holiness to attitudes of worldliness and back again.  We conclude this series with a look at Process Christology, or a view of the historic Jesus living in human process. 

Please feel free to comment on social media, or email me through “contact us” on the website.

Blessing & Peace,

Pastor Steve

1.) Learn about the Contest between the Sacred and the Secular: https://youtube.com/shorts/iRpqOFM1yWs

2.) 12 Midnight, the First and Last the Beginning and the End: https://youtu.be/-nmW0dqpDao

3.) The 3 O’Clock Experience, Holiness And Drawing Close To God: https://youtu.be/qI4twxrPXvM

4.) The 9 O’clock Experience, Belonging in the Secular World: https://youtu.be/LxIn3CIlmWg

5.) Process Christology, Did Jesus Change during his time on Earth: https://youtu.be/9nVDOFJA9p8

Pastor Steve’s Sermon on “The history of the Struggle between the Sacred and Secular”: https://youtu.be/351ZN1r0ZqU

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