Description
Book SynopsisProcess Catholicism offers an imaginative alternative to the present Catholic ecclesiology that the church in the U.S. currently struggles with, which derives from a one-sided determination of how church relationships should be understood, structured, and carried out. Process thought consists of a dynamic, organic, empirical, aesthetic, and panentheistic worldview that is applied to Jesus'' relationships and Vatican II''s treatment of the church, utilizing the basic concepts of Alfred North Whitehead''s notion of a society. Kinast develops the concept of process Catholicism in terms of an ecclesial environment, a preferential option for novelty, a presumption in favor of new developments and movements within the church, and a process treatment of the major test cases facing the Catholic church, such as the ordination of women, inculturation, and public theological dissent.
Trade ReviewIt will surely enrich intelligent discussion about the unfinished work of bringing together (both conceptually and practically) the Church and the modern world. * New Theology Review *
The author argues persuasively that in order to assimilate the positive developments brought about by the Second Vatican Council, one needs to describe the church in process-relational rather than in substantivist terms. * Theology Today *
Table of Contentschapter 1 Preface chapter 2 Acknowledgments chapter 3 The Church at Present: Confronting Pastoral Heresy chapter 4 Seeking New Ground for the Church: A Process Worldview chapter 5 Elaborating a Process Worldview: Whiteheadian Societies chapter 6 The Origin of the Church: Jesus' Relationships chapter 7 The Conversion of the Church: The Ecclesial Imagination of Vatican II chapter 8 The Future of the Church: Process Catholicism chapter 9 The Hope of the Church: Overcoming Incarnational Cowardice
