Prologue                                        Theory W 974

       Harv's spiritual life has been his primary concern for
 the last 15 years - his first career-life having burned out.
 Now he has a more balanced life, or perhaps simply a
 different life.  And hopefully the Theory W work-web will

 explicitly help in facilitating the future.
 
 Table 149 - Work-web for Harv-Sue
 ____________________________________________________________
 
 Act Verb      Descriptor     Noun          Pre Who Done Whrs
 __ __________ ______________ _____________ ___ ___ ____ ____
 
  1 experience                joy               H S  mu   no
  2 experience                love(caring)      H S  mu   no
  3 experience                freedom        4  H S  mu   no
  3 experience                freedom        5  H S  mu   no
  4 write                     dissertation      H    no  yes
  5 track      time           reality           H    yes  no
 ____________________________________________________________

 Theology and church
       The following essay delayed printing of the
 dissertation's part three (a point for chronological
 reference).  The essay exemplifies the importance of
 advancing and advantaging one's life-support needs
 (existence, relatedness, growth), yet returning once again
 to a major, not necessarily THE major, life-work task of
 writing a dissertation.

                           A CHOSEN
                     THEOLOGY AND CHURCH
                              by
                           H.L.Otto
                           May 1995
                          Leawood KS

       There can come a time when an individual consciously
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 975
 chooses a theology and a church.  In this case the
 individual perhaps created a theology, and formed his own
 church.
       His theology bases on the Old and New Testaments, has
 12 commandments, and enters the Bible at 639 occurances of
 the root word spirit.
       The church realized by this man emphasizes two
 particular definitions from a secular dictionary, resulting
 in conscious acts as becoming and being his own
 worker-minister, his own relatedness-officer, and his own

 ecclesiastical-organizer.

        church - n.4.ecclesiastical government, as opposed to
    secular government; ecclesiastical authority and
    influence...5.the organized body of Christians in any
    particular [extended family,] district, city, state, or
    country; as, the church at [Otto's place]...9.the
    profession [serious work] of the Christian ministry; as,
    he has gone into the church [into church work].149

 ____________________
 
       149 J.L.McKechnie (1983) Webster's new universal
 unabridged dictionary.  New York: Simon & Schuster.
       Other definitions not chosen - 1.an edifice
 consecrated for public worship...2.the collective body of
 Christians, composed of three great branches, the Roman
 Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Eastern...3.C_a
 particular body of Christians united under one form of
 ecclesiastical government, in one creed, and using the same
 ritual and ceremonies...6.the worshipers of God before the
 advent of Christ, 7.any group of worshipers, 8.any organized
 body of Christians occupying the same edifice for religious
 worship; a congregation...10.public worship; religious
 service.
       150 Upon review of The Twelve Spirit Commandments,
 Dr.Pherigo answered, "Yes," to H.L.Otto's question, "Do I
 have a theology here?"  Individuals can create their own
 theology!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 976
       Dedicating his life to church work meant the
 lamination of the term spirit-work onto the church-work
 term.  This 24-hour-a-day life work can now be seen as a
 personal spirit-church adventure.  One item of adventure
 involved theology.
       At a lecture series on theology there was expression
 about truth - not that theologians express same, but rather
 that they express their opinion of the truth.  That idea,
 together with opinion about a replacement theology,150
 began some solidification thought about those good things
 called god and church - or if you prefer, God and Church
 capitalized.
       Process theology appears to be a popular educational
 topic within the Church.  Many church members are talking
 and thinking in the terms of process theology, attempting to
 make better sense of these things called god and church.
       Suchocki begins her 1989 book with several ideas about
 Christian generations being diverse cultural communities -
 "God is for us," "the profound conviction that God is a
 force for love, trust, and hope," "a drive for expression,"
 and "a call to the ever-new creation of communities of love,
 trust, and hope."  "We speak, creating a tradition that is
 continuously appropriated and transformed...so that we might
 live as a complex community called the church." (151 1)
 Thus setting the stage for a theology of change - away from
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 977
 past theologies.  A difficult task considering the magnitude
 of vested interest represented by past theologies.  And
 especially vital when one's individual spiritual growth
 becomes limited by rule and ritual.  That's the time for
 change in thought and verbiage.  Thus enters a process

 (non-changeless or changeling) theology.
       Unfortunately, many are struck dumb by the past
 theologies - and perhaps a few uneasily speak, yet most
 don't speak.  For a primary example, worship service as
 church, doesn't offer speaking and active listening
 opportunity.  Additionally, educational lectures as church
 offer little speaking opportunity.  Finally, few of us
 write, and if we do write, who will read?  And who will draw
 us out to speak "the ever-new creation...that is
 continuously appropriated and transformed...so that we might
 live..."  The complexion of that latter life implies
 personal choices as to life-quality, whereas the
 aforementioned dumb life was "a complex community called the
 church."  Both lives seemingly must live.
       Now comes a selfish truth, "Do you, as church, live a
 life of choice?  Or does the church choose the truth for
 you?"  The essence of this truth is personal responsibility

 ____________________
 
       151 M.H.Suchocki (1989) God, christ, church: a
 practical guide to process theology.  New York: Crossroad.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 978
 for one's spiritual life - the type of spiritual life which
 can be lived beyond the confines of the Church walls, or
 whatever confining walls exist against the god force for
 love, trust, and hope.  A particularly challenging endeavor
 for a Church can be seen as differentiating between love and
 sex, and then to teach definitively as to what exactly love
 can be for the individual.  Failing in defining love versus
 sex, could the Church then be accused of being unloving?
       Where then does one find love, especially when one
 considers that only individuals can provide love.
 Concerning church one can view Church attendance as an
 activity in finding others who will love you and where you
 can love others.
       For definition, love can be seen as a three tiered
 process - respect, time and encouragement, and challenge.
 Love as a life process links essentially with the idea of
 personal responsibility.  The love process naturally orients
 from self to others - loving self first then others to reap
 the benefits of each others' love.  Trust then becomes a
 personal ability, with hope for self-fulfillment springing
 eternal.  Suchocki's book beginning now has a personalized
 connection.
       The human spirit can be seen to spring eternal, with a
 God as Spirit theology providing encouraging results - the
 enthusiastic spirit being attractive to and for others.  The
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 979
 spirit can be seen as THE force of the cosmos, actualized
 each and every moment of time.  Time, like god and love, are
 human concepts.  In that context, nothing exists beyond the
 mind.  Inert matter nor non-souled animals do not care about
 truth - only human deliberation brings truth into their
 reality - including the super-human reality of god.  God
 without the human mind has no need to exist.  What then
 remains without humans in the picture can be seen as ecology
 by process theology. (152 143-58)
       Now put humans back into the ecological god concept
 and the process theology conclusion clearly comes to be that
 humans are to worship the ecology.  Unfortunately for
 process theology, wherever there are humans, there comes
 spirit.  Thus God the Spirit better deserves credit for the
 human condition of love, trust, and hope.
       God the Spirit offers the primary placement of trust
 in self, and hope for what the self can become.  Self-trust
 combined with the challenge level of love can bring the
 individual into self-fulfillment and self-actualization - in
 spite of some church and community theologies.  The
 individual then, becomes the context within which church and
 community exist.

 ____________________
 
       152 J.B.Cobb & D.R.Griffin (1976) Process
 theology: an introductory exposition.  Philadelphia
 PA: Westminister.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 980
       Too often we slip into the perspective that the
 individual exists within the context of the church and
 community.  Occasionally we defy the idea that the
 individual exists for the context of community governments -
 even against governments who are chartered for, by, and of
 the people.  Professional politicians are suspect as vested
 interests, not unlike the clergy and officers of the Church.
 Yet individuals of like spirit will always be church,
 perhaps contrarily as seculars and laity.
       Process theology does not seem to provide the spoken
 creativeness toward "a tradition that is continuously
 appropriated and transformed...so that we might live as a
 complex community called the church."  Many of the dominant
 appropriations of previously theology need first be
 relegated.  Perhaps that will be only be accomplished when a

 functional organization scheme becomes operational. (153)
       Suchocki ends her exposition on process theology with
 a fantasy of expression.  This process theology just doesn't
 reveal a visionary elemental way of life for the human
 individual.  The human spirit, once again, finds their self
 feeding at the theological table of rule and ritual,
 awaiting the facilitation of change - also known as

 ____________________
 
       153 The spirit commandments of table __ are
 translated into functional organization language so that a
 work-web of any church or Church may be constructed.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 981

 leadership.
 
       Finally, perhaps the expression of a vision of reality
    that is relative to our time and place is simply a mode
    in finality of what might finally be an everlasting
    dialogue, each sharing with another a vision of beauty
    from a particular perspective, yet keenly and gratefully
    and joyfully feeling the depths of beauty from which all
    our visions spring. (151 236)
       Cobb and Griffin begin their 1976 book with a
 foreword, rejecting at least five views of God - cosmic
 moralist, unchanging and passionless absolute, controlling
 power, sanctioner of the status quo, male. (152 8,9)
       They begin the book with a succinct Whitehead quote

 from among his many writings.154

       Whatever suggests a cosmology, suggests a religion.
    (RM 141) (154)
       Then they cite Becker for the explaining reason.  This

 also gives credence to a spirit theology.

        The desire to correspond with the general harmony
    springs perennial in the human beast. (155 63)

 ____________________
 
       154  (1926) Science and the modern world. Macmillan.
            (1926) Religion in the making. Macmillan.
            (1929) The function of reason.  Princeton U.
            (1929) Process and reality. Macmillan.
            (1933) Adventures of ideas. Macmillan.
            (1938) Modes of thought. Macmillan.
            (1951) Immortality, pp.682-700 in P.A.Schilpp(ed)
 The philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.  Tudor.
       Born in 1861, his father was a vicar of the Church of
 England. (152 162) C.L.Malik of Lebanon, who, at Harvard
 University in 1937, wrote his doctoral dissertation under
 Whitehead...testifies to his deep indebtedness...later
 became president of the 13th General Assembly of the United
 Nations. (152 165)
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 982
 
       That human spirit, the divinity of which can be seen
 as God, can be seen from the Bible as shown in table __.
       Cobb and Griffin begin their introductory

 process-theology book as follows.
 
       Since our own experiences are instances of the reality
    to which these ideas apply, they are immediately relevant
    to out existence as persons.  They describe the necessary
    and universal features of our experience and indicate the
    options for self-actualization... (152 13)
       Self-actualization can be identified as a Maslow term,
 with the basic universal human needs of existence,
 relatedness, and growth defined by Alderfer's statistically
 significant experimental work in scientific psychology - the
 humanistic entrance differentiated from the other paths of
 Freudianism, cognitivism, behaviorism, and eclectic.  An
 interesting connection.
       Using personal knowledge as to our individual
 experiences, we can study the data for patterns.  Harv's
 case study provides an example.Æ156æ Choice and persistence
 can be readily perceived as the essence of personal
 experience.  Vision for the future can also be integrated
 into the scientific-psychology schema.  The following tables
 demonstrate one approach to an individual case study.
       Cobb and Griffin end their introductory process

 ____________________
 
       155 C.Becker (1932) The heavenly city of the
 eighteenth-century philosophers.  Yale University.
       156 H.L.Otto (1996) Theory W:
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue                                        Theory W 983

 theology book as follows.

        To be responsible...is not finally to shoulder an
    unendurable burden.  It is to share in the divine
    adventure in the world.  Although its outcome is never
    assured, and although it entails the sacrifice of many
    past forms of enjoyment, in itself it is joyful.  The one
    who experiences the joy of this participation in the
    divine life hopes urgently for success, but accepts the
    risk that the only reward may be in the joy
    itself. (152 158)
       Thus can be seen that "process theology is a
 philosophical theology," (152 159) indicating that it has
 an aim, which can be taken as the above "joy itself" and the
 other good feelings of love and freedom.157

       Now let the individual of this case study build his
 own church - the aim being his good feelings, and the good
 feelings of others.  The previous table consciously and
 explicitly structures the way to that end.

 ____________________
       157 Find the introductory psychology reference.