On 2005-04-15 Allan M. Gathercoal, Norcross, GA wrote: Marjorie Suchocki writes from a `process theology´, a theology that postulates that God created the world through ´call and response.´ God ´calls´ (i.e., creates) then waits for creation´s response. After evaluating the response, God then ´calls´ again, waiting for creation to respond, and thus the cycle continues, ad infinitum. This is the `process´ in `process theology´. God´s actions, Suchocki says, ´depend upon creaturely response.´
Suchocki uses `process theology´ to advance her argument that `diversity of religions´ exist because various cultures have, through the eons, responded differently to God. The diverse expressions of religions in the world exist in response to God. Every culture, every language, every belief, and thus every religious creed was created from unique response to God. Thus God is the author of every religious expression in the world today, and therefore every religion should be acknowledged as a God initiated religion.
Regarding Christianity, Suchocki believes that the task of the Church is not to convert the world to Jesus Christ, but rather to invite the others to cooperate collectively to bring compassion and common good to our world. She challenges all faiths (especially Christians) to reach out to each other in a spirit of dialogue and friendship. For Schocki, when a world community of peace exists, then the ´Reign of God´ has come. Out of these encounters a friendship will grow and works of mercy can begin. She contends that in a world plagued by hatred, ´to not engage religiously in global friendship is to cede the world to forces of evil.´ ´We live in a world of diversity,´ says Suchocki, ´and are richer because of it.´
A significant shortcoming is the book´s lack of an index. In ´Divinity and Diversity´ Suchocki has given the reader a solid apologetic that stresses that religious pluralism is part of the design that God has for this world. Though the books is a short 121 pages, it is a demanding read. This is a text that will be best received by divinity graduate students, scholastic clergy and academia. Strongly recommended.
. And summed up by saying Religious pluralism is an expression of God´s activity. Currently Divinity and Diversity: A Christian Affirmation of Religious Pluralism has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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Abingdon Press claimed One of today´s foremost theologians presents the case for embracing religious pluralism as integral to the Christian gospel. Religious pluralism is a fact in North American society today. More than at any other time, adherents of different religious traditions live, work, and play side by side. Yet the fact of religious pluralism creates a tension for a large number of Christians. At the same time they have realized that Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and members of many other religious groups have become their neighbors, they are also aware of Christian teachings that seem to exclude these groups. Statements such as ´no one comes to the Father except through me,´ and ´outside the church there is no salvation,´ seem to imply that these new neighbors are not part of the family of God, or at least that their religious beliefs and practices are not viable avenues to human wholeness and salvation. In this insightful and irenic work, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki demonstrates that Christians need not ignore, nor even compromise, the teachings of the gospel in order to accept and rejoice in religious pluralism. She argues that the Christian doctrines of creation, incarnation, the image of God, and the reign of God make the diversity of religions necessary. Without such diversity the rich and deep community of humanity that is the goal of the Christian gospel cannot be realized. Along the way Suchocki rejects the exclusivist claim that there can be no relationship with God apart from the church, and the inclusivist idea that Christianity is the highest expression of the search for God, with other religions possessing in part that which Christians possess in full. She argues instead for a pluralist position, insisting on a full recognition of the distinctive gifts that all of the religious traditions bring to the human table.
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