Contents

1. The intellectual Crisis Facing Christianity -- pg. 15

The charge of falsity -- pg. 15

Some thinkers who help us to meet this charge -- pg. 20

The elements of permanence and change in the world - pg. 26

The Bible -- pg. 32

2. The Modern World -- pg. 38

Physical reality consists of events -- pg. 39

Is there an element of purpose in biological evolution ? -- pg. 42

The element of creative freedom -- pg. 52

The element of mind -- pg. 53

Some recent cosmologies and the belief in God as
Creator -- pg. 56

The vastness of the universe -- pg. 62

Appended Note: Free will or computer control? -- pg. 65

3. A Philosophy of Process -- pg. 73

(a) A. N. Whitehead’s interpretation of the universe -- pg. 73

“Actual entities” -- pg. 73

Sticks and stones and living things -- pg. 77

Personal identity -- pg. 82

God -- pg. 87

(b) Some ways in which process philosophy helps
Christian belief -- pg. 89

“A most ingenious paradox” -- pg. 89

God’s grace and human free will -- pg. 90

A theology of the inorganic -- pg. 92

God “keeps the rules” -- pg. 94

4. Suffering, Death and Heaven in the Light of Process Thinking -- pg. 97

(a) Can we reconcile suffering with a God of love? -- pg. 97

(b) What happens when we die? -- pg. 108

Some much loved ideas -- pg. 110

Some of the difficulties -- pg. 112

Towards a positive interpretation of everlasting life -- pg. 122

1. Our hope derives from the everlastingness
of God -- pg. 123

2. Heaven is the “mind” of God -- pg. 124

3. Our everlastingness influences the world -- pg. 130

4. Birth and death, heaven and hell -- pg. 133

5.God is more important than we are -- pg. 138

5. The Living God -- pg. 142

God as the ground of being: the theology of Paul Tillich -- pg. 147

God in process philosophy -- pg. 157

Alfred North Whitehead -- pg. 157

Charles Hartshorne -- pg. 168

The Archbishop’s question -- pg. 173

6. “But Who Say Ye That I Am?” -- pg. 180

(a) The answer of the early Church -- pg. 183

(b) Towards an answer for today -- pg. 187

The birth of Jesus -- pg. 187

The adult life of Jesus -- pg. 192

Jesus: true God and true man -- pg. 203

7. The Livingness of Jesus Christ -- pg. 211

“Christ is Risen” -- pg. 214

“Jesus is Lord” -- pg. 229

8. Conclusion -- pg. 235

“The fallacy of misplaced concreteness” -- pg. 235

“God is the great companion” -- pg. 239

Prayer and worship -- pg. 243

Some Suggestions for Further Reading -- pg. 250

Index -- pg. 253

The Rev. Peter Hamilton combines the unusual experience of parish life, life in business and life in an active teaching situation, and latterly in scholastic research. A former scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, with a first class degree in mathematics, he came into the ordained ministry after nine years as a mechanical engineer. Having served two curacies at St. Mark's Portsea and at Petersfield, he taught mathematics and divinity at Marlborough College for three years. He is now at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, engaged in further research into the theological implications of A. N. Whitehead’s 'philosophy of process’.