Abstract
A conversation between mythologies forms part of this book. John Hick now sees the Irenaean theodicy (including classical Christian theism) as a myth which evokes an appropriate response to life. I see process theology in similar terms. As a process humanist (or naturalist), I don’t think process theism is literally true (though it might be), but I do see it as ethicially superior to the Irenaean theodicy — as a better myth. In effect, then, there are four views defended in this dialogue between Hick and me: Hick on (1) the Real and (2) the Irenaean theodicy, and I on (3) process theism and (4) process humanism. The purpose of this chapter is to bring that conversation into clearer focus.
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Notes
Cf. John B. Cobb, Jr, The Structure of Christian Existence, (New York: Seabury Press, 1979).
This is very much like Hick’s view that God has created the right kind of physical environment for the soul-making process to occur, and Barry Whitney has embraced this parallel in his study, Evil and the Process God. (Edwin Meilen Press, New York and Toronto, 1985.
Daniel Day Williams, ‘How Does God Act?’, in B. E. Meland, ed., The Future of Empirical Theology, (Chicago, U. of Chicago Press, 1969).
Henry Nelson Wieman, Man’s Ultimate Commitment (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1958), p. 11.
Wieman, The Source of Human Good, (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1945), p. 37.
See Bernard Loomer, ‘Two Conceptions of Power’, in Criterion (Chicago: The University of Chicago Divinity School, 1976)
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© 1991 C. Robert Mesle
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Mesle, C.R. (1991). Considering Alternatives. In: John Hick’s Theodicy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21435-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21435-8_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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