Rethinking Faith: A Constructive Practical Theology

Notes

171 INTROduCTION 1. See James N. Poling and Donald E. Miller, Foundations for a Practical Theology of Ministry (Nashville:฀Abingdon,฀1985),฀for฀an฀early฀attempt฀to฀define฀practical฀ theology. 2. See articles and reviewed books in The International Journal of Practical Theology (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, since 1997), http://www.degruyter.de/journals/ ijpt/. 3. I am thinking here of Karl Barth’s objections to seeking revelation by using social-science methods to study human communities. He believed that revelation about God comes only through God’s self-revelation and not through human effort to seek God. Karl Barth, The Humanity of God (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996 [c. 1960]). 4. The Book of Order: The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) 2007–2009฀(Louisville:฀Office฀of฀the฀General฀Assembly),฀G฀2.0200,฀31. 5. For those readers who need an introduction to process theology, I refer you to the Web site for The Center for Process Studies in Claremont, California, http:// www.ctr4process.org/, accessed February 25, 2011; and to the introductions by C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology: A Basic Introduction (St. Louis: Chalice, 1993), and฀by฀John฀Cobb฀and฀David฀Ray฀Griffin,฀Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976). For a more in-depth exploration, see John B. Cobb Jr., A Christian Natural Theology, 2d ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007). 6. I have been engaged in pastoral counseling, accompaniment, and advocacy with survivors and abusers of domestic violence since 1985. 7. I am thinking here of the Christian mystics during the Middle Ages, the Reformers of the Protestant Reformation, the utopian religious groups of the nineteenth century, the Pentecostals of the twentieth century, and many others. Notes 172 Notes 8. The Anabaptists were Protestant Reformers in Europe during the sixteenth century฀who฀promoted฀adult฀baptism,฀pacifism,฀and฀radical฀discipleship.฀They฀were฀ rejected by the core leaders of the Reformation: Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. The Mennonites are their most direct descendants. The Pietists were Protestant Reformers in Europe and the United States during the eighteenth century. The Methodists, Brethren, and Baptists are their most direct descendants. ChAPTER 1 1. “Our Father in heaven . . .”; Matt. 6:9 and parallels. 2. Whether God created the world from chaos or ex nihilo, from nothing, is beyond the scope of this discussion. Genesis allows either interpretation. 3. Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985). 4. The Psalter (Chicago: Liturgical Training Publications, 1995), 138. 5. I am thinking here of violence among David’s children such as the rape of Tamar and the murder of Amnon in 2 Samuel 13. 6. Council of Chaldea, 451 c.e.: “Jesus Christ . . . truly God and truly man . . . two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” 7. There is some difference among process thinkers about the relationship of Creativity and God; Loomer, for example, believes that Creativity and God are the same. See William Dean and Larry Axel, eds., The Size of God: The Theology of Bernard Loomer in Context (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1987). 8. For commentary on this passage see James Newton Poling, The Abuse of Power: A Theological Problem (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991). Many feminist scholars have written on this text, including Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives, Overtures to Biblical Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984); Pamela Cooper-White, The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and the Church’s Response (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995); and others. 9. In the HarperCollins Study Bible (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993), the story of Susanna is preserved in the section on the Apocrypha under the heading: “Susanna (Chapter 13 of the Greek version of Daniel),” 1637–1640. 10. For further discussion of the Bible and violence against women, see Cheryl B. Anderson, Women, Ideology, and Violence: Critical Theory and the Construction of Gender in the Book of the Covenant and the Deuteronomic Law (New York: T&T Clark, 2004). 11. Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1973). 12. This is the central question addressed by Paul Tillich in his Systematic Theology , 3 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973–76). 13. One of the best commentaries on the problem of love in classical theology is Daniel Day Williams, The Spirit and the Forms of Love (New York: Harper & Row, 1968). 14. Bernard Loomer, “Two Conceptions of Power,” Process Studies 6, no. 1 (Spring 1976), 28. Notes 173...