Process Theology with Dr. Blair

What does process theology have to say about major illnesses? This is a highly complex issue, so I will address only several of the highlights here. It is a most timely issue, at least for me. I spent the holidays, in and out of the hospital. I was diagnosed with severe pneumonia, severe dehydration, renal failure, dangerously low blood pressure, abnormal weight loss, and depression. It was also determined that I have Addison's disease, which means my adrenalin glands are unable to provide sufficient cortisone. Thee is no cure, but this disease is manageable by heavy doses of medication. I am currently on elven medications, plus a catheter, and probably will be for the rest of my life. But hold on, there is more. I am also scheduled for future tests to determine if I might have additional serious medical problems. For a theist such as myself, serious illness present major spiritual issues, After all, that is why hospital's all have chaplains. In our culture, deeply influenced a

  Doesn't the fact that God cannot guarantee he divine aims will not always be actualized by creatures mean God is a is a major failure in many respects? The unique claim of process theology is that there is tragedy in God. Whereas classical theism would view such statement as abhorrent, process understands it as something positive, an affirmation of God's unfathomable love and empathic sensitivity with the joys sorrows, triumphs, tragedies, and failures of all creatures. Where matters get tricky is how and if we should peak of God's failures. We have to be careful here because referring to “God's failures,” strongly implies that God lacks imagination, has unrealistic explications, doesn't know that the possibilities really are. Attributing such traits to God is ridiculous. A God displaying those traits would be no God at all. Another issue here is by what standards, what criterion we would use to judge God a failure. It has become a theological cliche to speak of “

  What is being said about God and the Coronavirus, in the social media? What is your process response? God's relationship to the virus is currently a hot-button issue in he spiritual circles of the social media. It seems everyone has a definite opinion to share. However, definite patterns emerge. I will address of the more popular ones. This necessitates I repeat points from my previous columns. So if you missed any of them, here is your chance to get caught up. Ever popular is the classical notion of predestination. Before the foundations of the world were ever laid, God, thought of as a Ruling Caesar or Cosmic Dictator, came up with a plan for absolutely every detail, for the largest to the smallest, of all events in creation. Everything that happens, including the virus, is a part of that master plan, from which there is no deviancy. Hence, one poster wrote, “Sorry to beak up the big panic, but the Coronavirus will not take anyone outta this world unless that's the good Lor