Abstract:
The article aims to defend the
compatibility of Kaufman’s concept of a world grounded on immanent creativity and
Bultmann’s concept of God who addresses us in the proclamation of the cross. Since Darwin’s
natural selection it is hard to conceive of a universe that is designed and allows for the
assumption of a creator. Theologians have grappled with the meaning of nature and history
from the time their purposiveness was contested. Wilhelm Herrmann argued that we undergo
a transforming goodness in our experiences of Jesus’ inner life which makes us confess that the
goodness of a hidden God determines the world and makes us contribute to its development.
We cannot prove the influence of God’s goodness, but we can experience it personally. Rudolf
Bultmann radically changed this perspective. He argued that we are not placed in a meaningful
world on behalf of Jesus’ inner life; instead, the proclamation of the cross liberates us from any
worldview in order to live authentically. Gordon Kaufman proposes an understanding of God
as the creativity in the world and its evolution without any dualism or supernaturalism. He
denies a blueprint for creation but accepts a serendipitous creativity that can function as the
basis for the articulation of our worldview and our orientation in the world. According to
Kaufman, Bultmann still retains the dualistic presupposition of the traditional understanding
of God. This article argues that the differences between Kaufman and Bultmann are limited,
for whereas Bultmannn underlines the reality of God who addresses us in the proclamation
of the cross and thereby recreates us, Kaufman wants to construct a worldview grounded on
creativity. The creativity in the world and God’s (re)creative acts are not incompatible.
Description:
Prof. Dr. Rick Benjamins is
participating as research
fellow of Prof. Dr Danie
Veldsman, Faculty of
Theology at the University
of Pretoria, South Africa.
This article represents a
reworked version of a paper
read at an Expert Seminar
on ‘Anthropology in an Age
of Science’ with scholars
in Systematic Theology of
the Protestant Theological
University and the Faculty of
Theology of the University of
Pretoria (on 08 September
2011 in Pretoria).