The ebook editions of these three books, Process Theology and Mysticism, Process Theology and Prophetic Faith, and Process Theology and Healing, have been available since December 5, but there was a delay in the print editions. We will be honoring pre-order pricing of $6.99$4.99 through January 31. Shipping will begin early next week.
See An Adventure in Mysticism for more information.
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Process Theology and HealingPrice range: $3.24 through $4.99 -
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Process Theology and Prophetic FaithPrice range: $3.24 through $4.99 -
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Process Theology and MysticismPrice range: $3.24 through $4.99
George Bernard Shaw once noted that the professions are conspiracies against the laity. We see this dynamic often when we visit our physician or attempt to have a conversation with an attorney. Many of us are baffled by the vocabularies of our automobile mechanics and computer technicians as well. That certainly is the case for the relationship of theologians to laity. Complicated and often undefined words, and complex doctrinal formulae, baffle laypeople, leading to the assumption that theology is utterly irrelevant to their lives and that theologians have little or no concern, or worse yet, value to issues in the “real” world. 
My anticipated five-part series on process theology with Energion Publications is an attempt to make process theology come alive for laypersons as well as pastors and spiritual leaders. Beyond the current, Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God and Process Spirituality: Practicing Holy Adventure, I envisage at least three more volumes related, respectively, to ministry, politics, and bioethics. In the first two books and the projected series as a whole, I have sought to join academic rigor, that is, faithfulness to the insights of process theology, with a commitment to communication and transformation across a broad spectrum of lay and professional preparation. I believe theology touches the heart and hands as well as the head, and theology that emerges from experience can be expressed in ways that interested laypersons and pastors can understand and communicate as well. 
Let me be the first person to wish you “A Very Process Christmas.” Process theology and Christmas just seem to fit together. That might surprise you, especially since process theology asserts that God acts naturally, through the regular processes of nature, and not supernaturally, showing up from the outside every so often to overturn the laws of nature to perform a miracle or defeat an enemy. Just the same, process theology joyfully proclaims the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph’s beloved child, and the boy who grew up to be healer, reconciler, prophet, and world-changer. God was in the stable and God is in our lives, too! Every day is an advent adventure in which can train eyes for signs of new birth in a world of threat and challenge.
The world incarnates God! Emmanuel, “God with us,” is just as real today as it was in Bethlehem’s stable. A child is born in Bethlehem and a baby cries in a refugee camp, recalling the fact that shortly after Jesus’ birth, the holy family set out on a refugee journey to Egypt. 
A growing number of liberal Christians are rethinking what it means to be liberal. Many of us are choosing to call ourselves “progressive” as testimony to our dynamic, energetic theological naturalistic vision of reality. We don’t see ourselves or our theologies as “shallow, insipid, plastic, and fuzzy,” as Olson suggests. In fact, despite the inherent limitations of every theological vision, theology is important to us – a lively, well-articulated theology that privileges the love of God, the partnership of God and humankind in healing the world, original wholeness rather than original sin, the affirmation of science, interdependence, and spiritual practices that are both heavenly minded and earthly good. 
The Bible is a book of relationships and nowhere is it more evident than in the Books of Ruth and Esther. Ruth’s and Naomi’s survival depends on their care for one another and the kindness of strangers. Brought to power against her will and hiding her Jewish identity, Esther springs into action when Mordecai reminds her that God is work in these chance, and unpleasant events, to raise her up for just such a time as this. Queen Esther calls for fasting and praying. The young queen herself is transformed from a concern for individual survival to a commitment to the survival of her people, regardless of the cost to herself. 
In my books on Ruth and Esther and Process Theology, I have sought to explore the practical implications of scripture and theological reflection. Ruth and Esther remind us of the need for generosity and a secure social safety net. They clearly tell us that our flourishing and survival depends on a benevolent community of relationships to which we are obligated to contribute. Process theology takes the insights of Ruth and Esther one step further in proclaiming the global interdependence of life. What we do here radiates across the planet and contributes to the good or ill of people we may never meet. In process theology, every decision, including business, economic, and governmental is personal and global. Every decision brings more beauty or ugliness to the world and to God’s experience. Ruth and Esther and process theology invite us to move from individual self-interest to world loyalty, to go from individualism to servanthood, and to the place the well-being of others on par with our own. Yes, we must protect ourselves, but not by spiritual or political walls. Our calling is to do something beautiful for God, to recognize our profound dependence upon others and our responsibility within the intricate interdependence of life, and then commit ourselves as individuals, community members, and citizens to doing something beautiful for God and this good earth.