Today we continued our exploration of the fundamentals of Progressive Anglican Christianity. As Progressive Anglicans, we follow the decisions of the Great Church Councils, which is Anglican policy. These councils agreed that Jesus is "fully human and fully Divine". The implication of this has not been well researched until after World War II, when nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan. Progressive theologians inspired by the Holy Spirit realized that humans were abusing their gift of reason and acting in non-divine ways, when Divinity was invested in all humans and in the whole of Creation.
In 1976 the Anglican church took a path that embraced a progressive, open view of God. There are a number of points that represent this progressive light:
1) Love is the fundamental character of God
2) God is intimately connected to the world and not remote from it but caring for it and wanting its good
3) God is sensitive to the world and vulnerable to its developments
4) God and the world are intertwined and mutually interactive making real differences to each other.
5) The world makes a real difference to God as God is vulnerable to the world: a) God is a dynamic and affected by the world; b) Joys of our lives makes a difference to God; c) Social Justice and Equality increase the quality of God's life; d) Ecological justice is an advance of the Divine experience; e) God suffers with our suffering; f) God is torn by the persistent injustice of our societies; g) God is diminished by the mistreatment of the non-human world.
6) Creation in its entirety is the "body of God". To advance the well-being of the creation enriches God
The implication is that Progressive Anglicans recognize that God is not a "Cosmic Monarch". God through Jesus has indicated that God is not 'omnipotent' ( all-powerful) and not 'omniscient' (all-knowing)!
This conclusion may seem heretical but if we take seriously the total ministry of Jesus, the idea of the "Cosmic Monarch" is not Christian and not supported by early Christian understanding. It has its roots in Secular Roman and Greek Spirituality as well as the Old Testament-the Hebrew Bible. This understanding grew in the post-reformation era when the Reformed Calvin Protestants did not understand nor accept the Church Council conclusions. God has freely given the world 'free agency'. We see this through human destructive action in the world God is with us on our journey in the world.
God is "omnipresent"(everywhere at the same time). God is love inspiring us to live fully and responsibly as people of a divine community
