Bruce G. EpperlyBesprekingen

As always Bruce Epperly's hope filled vibrant and fluid Christianity is both liberating and soothing for the spiritual wanderer. Do not miss this little gem.

If you are going to read one book on process theology, this is the one.

The Work of Christmas: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Howard Thurman by Bruce Epperly is a devotional guide to be read during the traditional 12 day Christmas season. Howard Thurman was an African-American theologian and minister who lived and wrote in the 20th Century. Thurman founded what was said to be the first inter racial religious congregation in the US, the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. After that he was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University. Bruce Epperly took a brief bit of Thurman's writing and added his own reflections to each daily chapter. All the chapters make up a call to live a more reflective and compassionate life. While I had heard of Howard Thurman before I read The Work of Christmas I want to read some of his works myself. I also want to read more of what Mr. Epperly has written.

Epperly explores what it means to join prophetic ministry with personal and social healing. Despite the racism he experienced throughout his life, Thurman joined his spiritual experiences with a commitment to racial and social healing. He was a prophet, challenging racism and social injustice. He was also a healer who experienced God's presence in oppressors as well as oppressed. Thurman's holistic spirituality provides a pathway for social healing in a time characterized by polarization, incivility, and hatred. Thurman reminds us that we can both picket and pray, and protest injustice while working toward reconciliation.

I have a love/hate relationship with Job. If I’m reading an insightful exposition, one which highlights the deep, poetic messages of the book, I love Job. If I’m reading a dry commentary drawing traditional conclusions, I want to chuck Job in the round file.

Today I love Job again.

Epperly doesn’t pull punches, yet his writing is tender and honest. As he explains, reading Job is not for the faint-hearted. It is a theology which emerges from the vantage point of excruciating and undeserved pain. It is written in the place where the rubber meets the road. And it is the experience of every man and woman on earth.

The question of why remains unanswered. Are we really supposed to believe that Job’s intense pain is the result of God and Satan sharing a friendly wager? Is God really that amoral, acting no differently than the arbitrary behavior of the surrounding nations’ deities?

God’s ways are beyond our comprehension. Job’s spiritual growth requires stepping out of his comfortable paradigm where the universe is intricately structured, where goodness is always rewarded and evil is always punished, so that he can embrace the unknown and unsolvable … while retaining an intimacy with God even in times of pain. In this chaos, Job finally finds peace.

Here’s an interesting observation by Epperly: “I have found that many people are more reticent to question God’s omnipotence, his unrestricted ability to achieve his will, than God’s love. They can live with God causing cancer or a devastating earthquake, but worry that a loving God might not be powerful enough to insure that God’s will be done…”

Read this one; it’s a journey you don’t want to miss. You may find yourself losing faith in the God you thought you knew, only to find the living God. Comfort hides in deep waters.

Energion Publications, © 2014, 94 pages

ISBN: 978-1-63199-107-3

Process Theology looks at God as not immutable and eternal, but as temporal and affect-able. It describes a God who is personal, who we can share a relationship with, and who cares about all living things. These are my own words, gleaned from the feelings Epperly’s work left me with.

I confess to feeling ungrounded through half of the book. I had not heard of Process Theology before, and it was ambiguous and difficult for me to pin down. Epperly’s approach is to prance around it in circles, poking it open here and there with a stick. Consequently, though I developed a sense for Process Theology, I never nail down a definition … and when I went in search of a definition through Google, I felt just as discombobulated. Had I trusted Epperly and let him continue his dance around the outside, I would have been better off. I would have slowly begun to grasp the point: that God is a partner with us in healing the world. God and the world are profoundly interdependent.

The result of this way of interacting with God is a vibrant, living faith that never turns stale. Process theology affirms that God still speaks to us today, that our understanding and growth continues with new revelation. Christians are not alone in sharing in the Divine. Wherever truth and healing are present, God is its source, and through respect for other religions, we can grow in spiritual wisdom. Epperly finds no contradiction here with John 14:6, which states that “no one comes to the father except through [Jesus].” Epperly’s revelation of “Christ” as a life-giving reality permeating multiple belief systems is refreshing, affirming pluralism and goodness.

I really enjoyed this book, and was left hungering for more. This is another Topical Line Drive booklet by Energion Publications, short and sweet–just 40 pages. I noted on the back cover that Epperly had previously authored a book titled Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed. If I can get my hands on a copy, I’ll let you all know what I learn.

Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania, USA.

“Faith without works is dead.” This may be the most notable phrase in the epistle of James. Bruce Epperly would agree, describing the practical teachings of James as “holistic,” grounded in God’s generous care for each of us.

We don’t know who James felt he was correcting with this epistle, but presumably there were some early followers of Jesus who were so “heavenly minded that they were no earthly good.” James sets them straight, reminding them of their responsibility in upholding the goodness of Christ. This is no epistle of straw, as Luther claimed, nor is it the work of a simple-minded follower. Epperly puts it like this: “James is a theologian, but his theology moves from the classroom and the study to the street corner and the soup kitchen.”

This is a short 40-page booklet in the Topical Line Drives series by Energion Publications, each of which is meant to zero in on a topic with simple precision. Epperly is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, and the author of over 30 books.

This is my first taste of Epperly’s work. I enjoyed the simplicity and clarity of his approach, and look forward to a couple more books of his that have been shared with me.

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