One of the most important movements in recent philosophy and theology is the “process thought” associated with the name Alfred North Whitehead, the distinguished Cambridge thinker who died in 1947. In North America this conceptuality is increasingly being used by Christian theologians for the restatement of Christian faith, worship, and practice. The present book is the first attempt, by a British theologian, to apply this kind of thinking to the interpretation of the church itself. In an earlier book, “The Last Things” in a Process Perspective, Dr. Pittenger interpreted death, judgement, heaven, and hell in this new way. Now he turns to the church, its nature, its purpose, its ministry, its concern for the world, its interest in social issues, and seeks to show how the Christian fellowship is a “social process” in which the Love which is God and which was incarnate in Jesus is continuing to work in the affairs of men through the community which took to Jesus as its Lord and Master. “Process thought” is at last receiving its due recognition in Britain. In this book the reader will find an application of that conceptuality to the institution which all too often has been looked upon as wooden and static. The contention of the author is that the church, rightly understood, is a dynamic, living, vital, and forward-looking fellowship. He believes that acceptance of this truth will revitalize the discipleship of Christians and will attract and interest those who hitherto have dismissed the church as an outworn and dead “establishment.”
Norman Pittenger here questions the conventional notions of life after death, particularly the idea of immortality, and many of the statements about a future life to be found in the Christian tradition. He grew up in an atmosphere of fairly conventional piety, but as the years went by he found he could not teach traditional Christian beliefs because they presented him with more and more problems. These led him to the reinterpretation given here, which is not just a negative approach, but gives positive grounds for hope. Above all. Or Pittenger writes with a deep love and well-tried experience only to be found in someone in the latest years of life. As he comments, most of those for whom he has cared most are now dead, and he has had to live and cope with the fact of their parting. If the accepted ideas of life after death have to go, something better can take their place. Readers must discover the details for themselves, but they will be heartened in doing so by Dr Pittenger's own experience: 'When the more conventional talk, so familiar and often (alas) so superficial in its attempt at securing some permanent value for those loved persons, has been subjected to the kind of critical analysis which is proper to any inherited belief, then the certain conviction that in God the value of human existence is guaranteed and the worth of all those for whom one has cared is assured, becomes an abiding and unshakable occasion for Joy Norman Pittenger is a senior member of King's College, Cambridge.
At the age of ninety, and with a mind as lively as ever, Norman Pittenger can look back on an impressive series of books. In this, his last, he sees Mary as a model for Christian discipleship, a type of the church and a symbol of the world redeemed by God. Before presenting the main substance of his view of Mary he discusses what we may claim to know about Mary and how we know it, going on to see her as the consenting case for what God accomplished in the event of Jesus Christ. Then he surveys the devotion given to her during the centuries of Christian history and ends with comments on the practical value of mariological devotion and an indication of what that can contribute to Christian faith in God. He expects that conservatives will think that he is too sceptical about history, Catholics may think what he has said inadequate, and Protestants may regard the whole exercise as absurd and unbiblical.Yet he is convinced that what he has to say is important and valuable, and has written for those who appreciate the beauty and richness of mariological devotion. Norman Pittenger was a senior member of King's College, Cambridge.
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