Louisville Process Theology Network

“We are nearing the end of an epoch that stretched across
half a millennium of history. The age of expansion, with its faith in unlimited
economic growth and the governing truths of science and technology is about to
give way to a new age of scarcity and economic contraction ….

At the same time, we are in the early morning hours of a
second Protestant reformation. This should come as no surprise since the age of
expansion and the Protestant Reformation have existed in a symbiotic
relationship with each other since their inception.

As a consequence, the end of the prevailing economic epoch
presages the end of the prevailing theological one as well …

Strangely enough, it is not a spirit of innovation or a mood
of open rebellion that is spawning what could be the greatest change in
Protestantism since it birth. On the contrary, it is in the name of orthodoxy,
and in the name of church renewal, that millions of devoted Christians are
giving form a new theological construct; one whose sweep is so broad that it
could well consume the theological world view of the Reformation.

Todays’ Christian renewal movement is a two-pronged
phenomenon. First, there are the millions upon millions of Charismatics, whose
beliefs in supernatural gifts of faith healing, speaking in tongues, and
prophesy represent a monumental assault on the modern age itself. For the
Charismatics, these supernatural powers are beginning to replace science ….

While the Charismatics are generating a potential liberating
impulse, the more mainline evangelical movement is beginning to provide the
necessary reformulation of theological doctrine that is essential for the
creation of a new covenant vision and new world view.

At this very moment a spectacular change in Christian
theology is taking place, virtually unnoticed.  The change itself is simple but
basic. The ramifications are extraordinary.

God’s very first commandment to humankind in the book of
‘Genesis’ is being redefined. It redefinition changes the entire relationship
between human beings to both God and the temporal world.

In the beginning, God says to Adam ‘have dominion over the
fish and the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that
moves upon the earth.’

‘Dominion’ which Christian theology has for so long used to
justify people’s unrestrained pillage and exploitation of the natural work, has
suddenly and dramatically been reinterpreted. Now, according to the new
definition of dominion, God’s first instruction to the human race is to serve as
a steward and protector over all his creation.

Continued ----  

It is interesting to observe that this fundamental
re-conception of God’s first order to his children on Earth has been accepted by
Protestant scholars, ministers and practitioners in just a few short years
without any significant opposition being voiced.

In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a leading
Protestant scholar anywhere today who would openly question this new
interpretation of dominion in the Book of Genesis …

In the other major social upheavals in American History – the
American Revolution and the Civil War – it was the forces of Christian
evangelicalism that provided both the initial liberating drive and the
components of a new covenant vision. … Certainly, in terms of structure and
outreach there is no other single cultural force in American life today that has
as much potential as the evangelical community to influence the future direction
of the country . . .

As we run out of precious stock of the nonrenewable resources
that allowed humankind to catapult into the vast expanses of the Industrial Age;
the Reformation doctrines that provided the theological sparks for running the
giant engine is itself nearly spent. Of one thing, then, we can be sure. The
first Protestant Reformation will not outlive the economic age it grew up with.

What replaces it is a matter of debate and speculation. With
the emergence of both long-range energy crisis and the new Christian renewal
movement, that discussion has begun.

From “The Emerging Order” by Jeremy Rifkin and Ted Howard in
1979. Rifkin’s most recent book is “The Third Industrial Revolution” published
in 2011.