This is a book by Peter Hamilton dealing with the "Christian intellectual crisis" using (for the most part) the process thought of A. N. Whitehead. This crisis involves the difficulty in reconciling Christian beliefs with what we have learned since the time of Jesus.
Although published in the 1960's, it still seems very relevant. Overall, it is a well written and thought out book, except for a small confusing part in the middle, and MUCH better than Cobb's book on process thought that I reviewed recently. Maybe I could relate better to Hamilton, because he was an engineer before becoming a minister.
There are many thought provoking topics in the book. I really liked how he made Jesus so much more real for me in a very important way. His description of how Jesus was abandoned by virtually everyone when sent to the cross really struck me as never before!
I like many aspects of process thought as presented here, but I cannot accept all of it. I think that describing God as having two nature's is a very useful model - one as we think of Him traditionally, and one where he interacts with us and is affected by the interaction. That helps me over many difficult theological points. I cannot however (or will not perhaps) buy the idea that we only survive in the mind of God as a memory after we die, and only the parts of us that were not really evil make it - that last part I could buy I guess. This low grade survival would seem to make our existence nearly pointless. Note that process thought is a little hard to understand, but Hamilton explains it pretty well.
I think the Hamilton's analysis of Jesus - his life and especially his resurrection - is brilliant in many respects. I finally understand all that business about the linens in the tomb! He sticks to the scriptures and other ancient documents for the most part in making his points. There are some elements of Spong here, but not so negative. I did not like the conclusions he reached nearly as much though - the application of process type survival after death as only in the mind of God for Jesus, that is.
There are many, many other really good points made in the book (on suffering, heaven, the living God and others), and of these, many do not involve process thought at all in case you aren't a process fan. The book might be a little hard to find given how old it is, but it is worth looking for it. I found it in the local public library.
Let me know on this one if you read it.
