Introduction
It is not precise when the process of theology began, but it is generally held that it must have started way back in the 500 B.C., the era of Heraclitus, the Philosopher, and the Greeks (John & David, 2001). It is also postulated that Process theology was rejuvenated by Alfred Whitehead, whose assumption was that the universe was constantly experiencing change. Unlike the process thinking, secular theology has been associated with 1960s thinking, with its roots traced in the enlightenment age.
Secular theology was extensively under the influence of neo-orthodox theology. Process theology had its roots in the Greek philosophies and was greatly influenced by the orthodox doctrines (Escobar, 2003). This essay proceeds by delving into the connection between the theology of Tillich and Process Theology and the connections between the thoughts of Bonheoffer and Secular Theology. It evaluates the process and secular theologies with regard to the validity of the nature of God.
The Process Theology
Process theology was furthered by Charles Hartshorne. In his teachings, Hartshorne rebutted classical theism. His teachings were predominantly based on pantheism. Hartshorne’s views drifted drastically from those of Whitehead regarding the idea of Gods existence. Whereas Hartshom believed there was God, Whitehead refuted the claims, positing that “God could only be conceived as having a primordial nature…” (Clayton, 2001).
However, both the teachings of Hartshorne and Whitehead were not in favor of conventional orthodox. In other words, the process theology, in its entirety, declined the scripture and rejected the notion of authority in the word of God (Clayton, 2001).
Process theology, in its most basic definition, may be said to mean the teaching of spirituality that has a modern-day interpretation of issues and tries to explain them using scientific theories. It has very strong opposition to and does not recognize conventional practices of the old doctrine church or orthodox beliefs (John & David, 2000). Practitioners of process theology believe that the bible can only be interpreted using individual views, thus rejecting the word of God as it is in the Bible. Process theologians hold that when humankind have different interpretations of Gods message, they get multiple servitudes to God, and consequently multiple presences of God (John, & David, 2000)
Process theologians also challenge the biblical views that Jesus Christ is the son of God; he could do miracles, and that he orchestrated his own death just to prove a point to the living souls. They further snub the idea that deliverance or salvation is an individual’s renewal of God’s promise soul-wise. In process theology, God is in two forms, in which case, He is in the center of ever continuing course of actions that shape and keep the earth in balance (Clayton, 2001). This theology unanimously concedes that gods have great influence in the cosmos, and the earth is in an unnoticeable sequence (Clayton, 2001). Process theology practices and promotes the theological study of nature, which is widely thought to have its roots in the United States of America. (Dorrien, 2004)
Alfred Whitehead, one of the pioneers of process theology and a renowned theorist, put forth an assortment of theories that attempted to put in plain words the existence of constituent elements of the universe, and the life forms in it, starting with the most omnipotent to the least recognizable (Dorrien, 2004)
The Secular Theology
Secular theologians were for the idea that the conventional orthodox teachings and their pattern of interpretation were obsolete. Key personalities in the doctrine of secular theology were inclusive of Tillich, Bonheoffer, and Boltzmann. Bonheoffer is known for his secular theology of worldly Christianity; Tillich argued for “the Ground of Being,” whereas Boltzmann advocated for demythologization of the Scripture (Clayton, 2001).
Theology of secularism was the exclusion of religious beliefs and religious views. The use of “secular” in this theological context implied “the transfer of ecclesiastical to civil use,” and therefore, secular theology was not secularism as it might be understood, but it was “a theology of secularization”(Clayton, 2001). The theology of secularization adjudged the death of God, and the secular theology taught rendered the doctrine of orthodox worthless (Clayton, 2001).
The secular movement gave birth to people who were against the orthodox doctrine. The orthodox Christianity view of the biblical principles became a myth that had no proof or evidence, and they viewed God as a mythical creature. The same applied to Jesus Christ and the story of creation, both of which were more of fairy tales during the age of enlightenment and secular theology practices of the day (Dorrien, 2004).
Tillichs Theology
The Tillich theology and concept was brought in to existence by Johannes Tillich. His principles questioned or tried to authenticate the truthfulness of the creation story, the nature and deity of God, and the salvation story as brought about by the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. (Clayton, 2001). To Tillich was concerned, the arguments for or against belief in God as the supreme creator of the universe, or the big bang theory as a source of the universe, tended not to support or dispute any of the concepts put forward (Grenz, & Olson, 1992). In his systematic theology.Tillichs argues that there is no God.
Bonheoffers Theology
Dietrich Bonheoffer brought about two controversial theological points of view. His first point of view was that humanity had become completely self-conscious. This was because humanity was finding more ways of testing theologies and myths in order to prove for themselves the truths and misconceptions that they contained (Clayton, 2001). According to Bonheoffer, his time presented an age in which humankind had principles and levels of knowledge that had reached the ultimate point of understanding (Woelfel, 2001). Humanity could now question anything and come up with all forms of theories, arguments, tests, and facts that would argue for a given concept or against a given conception (Woelfel, 2001).
The second point of view presented by Bonheoffer revolved around Christianity and religion. He believed it was an age when people understood the point of separation between Christianity and religion. The two, Christianity and religion, could exist independently from each other, and Christianity without religion or religion without Christianity depended on how individuals looked at it (Woelfel, 2001).
Conclusion
Tillichs theology held that the debates regarding the existence of God neither denied nor approved the claims. Process theology asserted everything, including God, were at perpetual change, and therefore it really depended on where one was in the course of change. Bonheoffers theology brings forth the idea that the world was finally mature, and people could draw the line between Christianity and religion. Secular theory, on the other hand, perceived religion and Christianity as seen as myths, and therefore the conventional orthodox teachings and their pattern of interpretation were obsolete and invalid.
Both the teachings of Hartshorne and Whitehead were not in favor of conventional orthodox. They had very strong opposition towards orthodoxy and did not recognize conventional practices of the old doctrine church or the orthodox beliefs. The Theology of secularism was the exclusion of religious beliefs and religious views. The secular movement gave birth to people who were by large against the orthodox doctrine.
In his theology, Tillich questioned or tried to authenticate the truthfulness of the creation story, the nature and deity of God, and the salvation story as brought about by the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. And according to Bonheoffer, his time presented an age in which humankind had principles and levels of knowledge that had reached the ultimate point of understanding.
References
Clayton, C. (2001). “Secular theology: American radical theological thought.”Routledge. ISBN, 9780415250511.
Dorrien, J. (2004). “The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity.” Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Escobar, S. (2003). The new global mission: The gospel from everywhere to everyone. Downers Grove (IL). Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN-13: 9780830833016.
Grenz, S., & Olson, R. (1992). The 20th century theology: God and the world in a transitional Age. Downers Grove (IL). Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN-13: 0-8308-1525.
Hordern, W. (1955). A layman’s guide to Protestant theology: Revised Edition. Wipf & Stock Publishers. ISBN-13: 1-57910-925-X.
John B. C. & David R. G. (2000). “Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition.” Philadelphia:Westminster Press.
Woelfel, W. (2001). “Bonheoffer’s Theology: Classical and Revolutionary.” New York: Abingdon Press.
Liberation Theology And Its Expressions
Introduction
This essay delves into and delineates the uniqueness of three expressions of liberation theology within the context of each other. It further presents a critical view of the three expressions, reflecting on the totality of the concepts and themes. It is evidenced that liberation theology has elicited a lot of controversies in theology. This essay assumes the prerogative to analyze both the strengths and the limitations of each expression against a conscious threshold.
Liberation theology has largely branded itself as a humanistic doctrine attempting to interpret the scripture based on the poor man’s point of view. It emphasizes the upgrade of the economic status of the underprivileged in society (Ellis, & Otto, 2007). This school of thought is of the argument that the church concentrates its efforts on the liberation of the poor from a life of squalor and oppression. Contextualizing the implications of liberation theology is imperative, as theologians try to understand the different emphases between processes of theologies and liberation theologies (Ellis, & Otto, 2007).
The emergence of liberation theology in the 1960s led to new and vital development in Christianity. These developments formed the basis of the three expressions in liberation theology. These include the Latin American, the Black, and the Feminist expression, all of which responded to some form of oppression. The expressions favored social, political, and economic change while offering more insight into the theology of war and peace (Brockman, 2001).
The Latin Liberation Theology
Latin American liberation theologians hold the poverty-stricken society have been oppressed and exploited by rich and capitalistic nations. Latin Liberation Theology was conceived in 1968 at the Second Latin American Bishops Conference in Colombia. Their main agenda was to study the Bible and to vouch for social justice in the Christian fraternity (McGrath, 2006). With reference to Brockman (2001), God’s Kingdom was a historical project brought about when the poor take action to create a world of justice for everyone (p.97). The redistribution of wealth to enhance the economic status of the poor in Latin America adopted a definite Marxist flavor. It viewed reality in terms of class struggle and viewed the Latin American oppression in an international capitalistic perspective (Brockman, 2001).
The Liberation theology encompassed the dialectical Marxism model. It was mired in Marxist dogma and revolutionary effects (McGrath, 2006). The right-wing governments spontaneously perceived it as subversion from the norm. Latin American expression craved for social change through non-violent and political means. However, it did not rule out the use of revolutionary means to subvert its failure (Brockman, 2001).
Evaluating Latin Liberation Theology
This theological expression presented a prophetic call to strengthen the economically deprived in society. It relied on an intellectual and religious paradigm in tackling the concrete struggles for justice and love in an endeavor to uproot the dehumanization of the poor, which resulted from classism, racism, and ethnocentrism (Brockman, 2001). Its agitation for activism and attempts to make history relevant were valuable contributions. The expression captured the biblical call for the cultural role and tried to implement the secular dichotomy that had infected evangelicalism positively in the past centuries (McGrath, 2006).
However, the limitation of this expression arose from the submergence of Latin liberation theology into the dogmas of maxims. Those in support of this doctrine at times adopted an approach bordered on utopianism. And because Marxism was by large associated with a violent revolution, the expression faced ethical dilemmas, given its failure to embrace biblical concepts of what is just. Socialism, as fronted by this expression, was also likely to fail in bringing about civil and political freedom. It demanded a centralized control that was incompatible with civil rights like those found in the United States Bill of Rights (Ellis, & Otto, 2007).
The Black Liberation Theology
Liberation passed over from South America to the Black liberation theologians who alleged their people had suffered oppression in the hands of racist whites. As the liberation theology drifted from South America, the Black expression adopted Marxism ideologies. The Marxist doctrine was radical in approach and humanistic and was found on no scriptural basis (Ellis, & Otto, 2007). Liberation theology in South America was geared towards liberating Christians, mostly Catholics, from economic and social bondages, whereas the black liberation theology attempted to stir up a revolutionary conception among the blacks in America (McGrath, 2006).
Blacks had suffered oppression under the yoke of slavery and were thirsty for economic and social emancipation. Boff (2006) notes the root-course of the oppression was vested in elitists, capitalism, and exclusive systems of power. The black liberation adopted liberation theology. Its foundation was in Latin American Catholicism. Their liberation theology was to fight for emancipation. Apparently, the black expression was a racially, and ethically charged struggle clinching on the theology of liberation as its weapon (Boff, 2006).
Evaluating the Black Liberation Theology
The Black liberation theology attempted to address the systemic racial and ethnic injustices by adopting intellectual and religious support structures to establish what Justice Aquinas referred to as an egalitarian ethnic community (Boff, 2006). The point of social justice was the removal of oppressive and exploitative class structures, otherwise called classism. The limitation of this theology is that it could suffer the same fate as the Latin liberation theology, in which case both expressions are viewed by the church and state as false humanistic doctrines disguised in ostensibly sound theological conceptions (McGrath, 2006).
Feminist Liberation Theology
Feminist liberation theology puts emphasis on the status and liberation of women folks in a male-dominated society. In every patriarchal society in the world, women are oppressed. They include young children and elderly women (Brockman, 2001). This theory seeks to free women who have been demoralized and objectified by male aggression sexism. Liberation theology addresses the issue of male chauvinist and sexual injustices based on scholarly and religious grounds (Grenz, & Olson, 1992).
Conclusion
The three expressions discussed in liberation theology tend to respond to some form of oppression. They all exhibit a commonality of purpose achieved under different settings, and each is having a definite outcome. The Latin American liberation expression put it that the poor have been exploited by the rich and the capitalistic. This expression borrows significantly from the Marxist ideals. Black liberation expression argues that blacks have suffered oppression and racism perpetrated by the whites, and therefore there is a need for their emancipation by all means necessary. Feminist liberation expression emphasizes the liberation of women in a male-dominated society.
Reference
Boff, L. (2006). “The Church, Charisma and Power.” Diercksmeier-Trans. New York, NY: Crossroads.
Brockman, R. (2001). “The prophetic role of the Church in the Latin America.” Christian Century, 100 (10).
Ellis, M. H., & Otto M. (2007). “Expanding the View: Gustavo Gutierrez and the Future of Liberation Theology.” New Yoke: Orbis.
Escobar, S. (2003). The new global mission: The gospel from everywhere to everyone. Downers Grove (IL): Inter-Varsity Press.
Grenz, S., & Olson, R. (1992). The 20th century theology: God and the world in a transitional Age. Downers Grove (IL). Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN-13: 0-8308-1525.
McGrath, E. (2006). “Christianity: An Introduction.” Blackwell Publishing.
Science Fiction In Literature And Movies
Introduction
It now became a commonplace assumption among many people that the genre of sci-fi in literature and movies is being solely concerned with exposing how the continuous technological progress may affect the realities of people’s everyday living in the future.
Nevertheless, there are good reasons to believe that, while reflecting upon the ‘ways of the future’, sci-fi authors never cease being affected by currently predominant socio-cultural discourse, which causes their futuristic reflections to be more reflective of the actual present than of some distant future. Therefore, it will only be logical to assume that science fiction does, in fact, have less to do with science proper and more to do with the process of the human condition being continually transformed. In this paper, I will aim to explore the validity of an earlier suggestion at length.
Analytical part
Nowadays, Jules Verne is commonly referred to as the ‘father of sci-fi genre’. After all, in his novels, this 19th century’s French author did not only succeed in providing plausible forecasts as to what will account for the realities of 20th century’s living, but he also showed that, from his time onwards, the technological progress would serve as the only driving force behind humanity’s cultural, intellectual and moral advancement.
Nevertheless, it is important to understand that Verne’s literary genius did not originate out of the blue. It is namely the fact that, throughout the course of 19th century, the process of Industrialization had assumed clearly defined exponential subtleties, which established objective preconditions for the most prominent European intellectuals of the time (such as Jules Verne) to grow increasingly aware of what will account for Industrialization’s socio-political effects.
According to Rose (1981: 122): ‘SF (science fiction)… really only comes into being in the 19th century and it is intimately associated both with industrialization and urbanization and with the Victorian crisis of faith, with the disappearance of God that marks the beginning of the modem sense of radical disconnection’. Therefore, there is nothing particularly odd about the fact that, even though he was able to predict the invention of planes, submarines and automobiles, Jules Verne never predicted the invention of petrol/diesel engines (Verne’s futuristic machines are equipped with steam engines). Apparently, while imagining the ways of the future, Verne never crossed the boundaries of 19th century’s Industrialization-driven social discourse – hence, Verne’s fascination with steam engines.
Essentially the same thesis applies to the significance of Herbert Wells’s sci-fi legacy. Throughout the course of early 20th century, the scientific discoveries that had taken place in the fields of physics, chemistry and astronomy and also the nature of European colonial practices in Africa, created dialectical prerequisites for the sci-fi authors to reflect upon the possibility of extraterrestrial life and upon what would account for the actual consequence of humans encountering space-aliens.
Hence, the nature of themes and motifs, explored in Wells’s famous sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds – being the son of its time, Wells believed that when beings, endowed with a superior intellect (Martians), come into contact with intellectually inferior beings (Earthlings), this will necessarily result in the wholesale annihilation of the latter: ‘The immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their (Martians’) intellects, enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts’ (Wells 1894: 3).
It appears that, while working on this particular novel, Wells remained deeply impressed by Britain’s colonial wars in Africa, when one British soldier armed with the Maxim machine-gun, was often able to mow down thousands and thousands of advancing Zulu warriors, armed with spears. In its turn, this caused Wells to base novel’s plot upon the assumption that, in the eyes of nature, there can be no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ but only ‘weak’ and ‘strong’. It is needless to mention, of course, that such an assumption, on Welles’s part, has been reflective of the realities of Western colonial expansion in the early 20th century. Therefore, just as it used to be the case with Verne’s science fiction, Well’s science fiction never ceased sublimating the spirit of its time.
When we analyze the semiotics of Byron Haskin’s 1953 film The War of the Worlds, based upon Welles’s novel, we will come to conclude that this film’s semantic content cannot be discussed outside of what represented the realities America’s early cold-war-living, strongly associated with both: people’s fear of radiation and their fear of Communism, as the ideology utterly inconsistent with American ‘traditional values’.
For example, after having stumbled upon Martian landing-pod in the woods, film’s main character Dr Forrester (who prior to Martian invasion, was enjoying an outdoor-picnic) immediately puts to use a bulky radioactivity-measuring device, as if carrying such devices along represented a commonplace practice among American picnic-goers. This scene, of course, leaves no doubt as to the fact that Haskin’s The War of the Worlds was filmed in the early fifties when the majority of Americans used to be deeply affected by an ongoing nuclear hysteria.
Given the fact that at the time of movie’s creation, American society remained utterly patriarchic (women were commonly perceived as nothing but housewives that could only have the ‘voice of authority’ in the kitchen), Haskin’s choice for having the parts of Martian machines shaped in the form of snake-heads, appears being indicative of director’s deep-seated sense of sexism. As it was noted by Wood (2003: 133): ‘The film is crudely sexist…The Martian machines are blatantly phallic, with their snakelike probing and penetrating devices… the heroine’s only function is to scream every time a Martian phallus pokes in through her window’. This again points out to the fact that cinematographic/literary works of science fiction do in fact, reflect the process of the human condition being continually reworked.
Another illustration as to the legitimacy of this idea can serve the 1961 sci-fi novel Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. In the novel, the character of Kris Kelvin (researcher) arrives on board of a space station, orbiting the planet Solaris, fully covered with a mysteriously looking ocean (which is later being revealed to possess the mind of its own). As the novel’s plot progresses, Kelvin gets to encounter the ghost of his long-deceased wife Harey, who had committed suicide due to the lack of love, on Kelvin’s part.
These encounters drive Kelvin to the point of having a nervous breakdown. It is only later that he gets to realize that, by embodying Kelvin’s memories of Harvey, the planet Solaris was trying to appeal to his sense of conscientiousness. Hence, the foremost motif, which is being explored in Lem’s novel – the fact that humanity’s reliance on technology alone, as the ultimate mean of dealing with life’s challenges, often proves utterly ineffective and even counter-productive.
The reason for this is simple – the ‘purposefulness’ of human existence is a rather subjective category. As it was noted by Geier and Welliver (1992: 195): ‘In view of the ontological alienness of the ocean (on Solaris) in relation to human beings, its “meaning” can only be determined negatively: it consists of holding up before human beings a mirror of their own anthropomorphic and geocentric limitedness’.
The earlier outlined motif, of course, is being fully correlative with the conventions of existentialist philosophy, which during the course of sixties and seventies was growing increasingly popular with European intellectuals. Therefore, it will not be an exaggeration to refer to Lem’s novel Solaris as another example of how the works of science fiction reflect the spatial aspects of humanity’s intellectual advancement.
The fact that the qualitative essence of currently predominant socio-political discourse in the West does affect that the particulars of how sci-fi authors imagine the ‘ways of the future’, can also be illustrated in regards to comparatively recent sci-fi movies, which despite their recentness were able to attain a cult-status, such as Ridley Scott’s film Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s film Avatar (2009). For example, as we are well aware of, the foremost motif in Scott’s Alien is being concerned with the process of an alien-parasite developing inside the human body and consequently killing the host.
This motif, however, cannot be discussed outside of the fact that it was named during the course of late seventies and early eighties that the policy of ‘multiculturalism’ had attained official status in Western countries. Therefore, the scene in which monstrous alien breaks through Kane’s chest appears to be highly sublimation of Scott’s deep-seated anxieties, concerned with what his subconscious psyche perceived as the unnatural process of Western civilization’s integrity being undermined from within by invading ‘ethnic’ immigrants, who exploit Western countries as their ‘breeding ground’, without caring to contribute to these countries’ well-being.
While referring to what appears to be the significance of the earlier mentioned scene in Scott’s Alien, Scobie (1993: 84) states: ‘It is extremely powerful, if crude, the image of the disruption of the “natural” order, not only in the direct association it sets up between birth and death, but also because it is male childbirth’. The ‘unnaturalness’ is the truly horrifying aspect of Ridley’s movie.
Nevertheless, given the fact that for the duration of three decades, Westerners never ceased being subjected to the ideological oppression of ‘political correctness’, it comes as no surprise that, as of today, many of them have been deprived of their ability to critically assess the surrounding reality and their place in it. In its turn, this explains why a number of citizens in Western countries have now grown comfortable with referring to Western civilization as being ‘inheritably evil’.
Hence, the popularity of Cameron’s film Avatar, which promotes an idea that one’s ‘spiritually rich’ preoccupation with looking for eatable plants and insects 24/7, as such that constitutes his or her foremost existential pursuit, is being superior to one’s existential pursuit of advancing ‘spiritually arrogant’ Western science (Clover 2010: 6). Yet, just as it is was being mentioned earlier, it is not the continuous progress of sci-fi genre as ‘thing in itself’, which defines the qualitative nature of this genre’s literary or cinematographic emanations, but the actual nature of what appears to be the currently predominant socio-political discourse. The example of Cameron’s film Avatar serves as yet another proof of this statement’s validity.
Conclusion
I believe that the earlier deployed line of argumentation is fully consistent with paper’s initial thesis as to the fact that science fiction has indeed less to do with science and more to do with an endless reworking of the human condition – just as this assignment’s theoretical premise implied.
References
Clover, J. (2010) ‘The Struggle for Space’. Film Quarterly 63 (3), 6-7.
Geier, M. & Welliver, E. (1992) ‘Stanislaw Lem’s Fantastic Ocean: Toward a Semantic Interpretation of “Solaris”’. Science Fiction Studies 19 (2), 192-218.
Rose, M. (1981) ‘Filling the Void: Verne, Wells, and Lem’. Science Fiction Studies 8 (2),121-142.
Scobie, S. (1993) ‘What’s the Story, Mother?: The Mourning of the Alien’. Science Fiction Studies 20 (1), 80-93.
Wells, H.G. (1894). The War of the Worlds [online] Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf. Web.
Wood, R. (2003) Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan – and Beyond. New York: Columbia University Press.