Louisville Process Theology Network

Process Theology as a Paradigm

Dec 22, 2006

We've all heard of paradigms and paradigm shifts. These are popular expressions nowadays. They entered our culture about fifty years ago with Thomas Kuhn's groundbreaking book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."

Kuhn recognized that our world is so diverse and complex that our words and concepts change meanings as we move from one subject to another; or even one circumstance to another. We need frames of reference or paradigms in order understand one other.

Within these paradigms we have theories and functions. And, among those functions are statements of truth. We understand that these statements work inside the paradigm while they are neither true or false outside it.

True statements in one paradigm do not contradict true statements in another paradigm. They are just different.

In practical terms, a paradigm helps us make sense of our world. The trick is finding one that actually works. That involves surveying the various alternatives. John Hicks classic book "Philosophy of Religion" suggests tha we ask ourselves these questions about our paradigms.

a. Does this way of categorizing fit together?
b. Does it fit without trickery? Is it honest?
c. How broad a range of data does it cover? What is its scope?
d. How well does it intergrate, both internally and externally? How well does it mesh?
e. Does it accept new data smoothly? Is it adaptable?
f. Does it accept new data willingly? Is it open?
g. Does it generate new and useful ideas? Does it grow?
h. Does it have functions that work? Is it effective?
i. How often does it break down? How reliable is it?
j. Does it have procedures for responding to failures? It it self-correcting?
k. Does it have endurance?
l. Is it parsimonious and elegant?
m. Is it clear?


Personally, we believe that Process Theology works hard to answer challenging questions like these and works well.