ABSTRACT
Within the contemporary religion and science debate, process theology is controversial. Some, like Ian Barbour in Religion and Science (1997), see in the process-related metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead a philosophical underpinning for the discussion of key issues separating scientists and theologians. An event-oriented or process-oriented ontology is in their view likely to make more sense to scientists than the classical metaphysics based on substance and accident. Others, however, like John Polkinghorne in The God of Hope and the End of the World (2002) and Arthur Peacocke in Theology for a Scientific Age (1993), are more reserved. As they see it, process theology eliminates or dramatically reinterprets Christian doctrines in the light of Whitehead’s metaphysics, rather than revising Whitehead’s philosophy in the context of traditional Christian belief. Hence, what process theology gains in terms of possible acceptability to scientists, it loses in terms of acceptability to theologians with responsibilities to their faith communities.
