More Reviews
Community Ministry and the Meadville Lombard Theological Model Cambridge Forum National Radio Broadcasts The Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed's quest for spiritual integration A Faith For a Few? by Mark W. Harris Memorial Address Celebrating Henry W. Bellows and Ralph Waldo Emerson by Frederic H. Hedge Carl Seaburg: Minister, Scholar, and Poet of Lyrical Unitarian Universalism by Alan Seaberg Rev. Phebe Hanaford by Rosemarie C. Smurzynski The Making of American Liberal Theology by David B. Parke William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe The God Strategy Two Views of Preston Bradley • Is God Necessary? No! and Yes! Revolutionary Sprits: The Enlightened Faith of America’s Founding Fathers Notable American Unitarians Vol I - 1740-1900 Notable American Unitarians Vol II - 1936-1961 Dancing with the Sacred: Evolution, Ecology, and God
Is God Necessary? No! and Yes!
By Herbert F. Vetter
Harvard Square Library, 2007
Reverend Herbert Vetter has always believed in the power of ideas. Let truth and falsehood contend in the public square, and the finer conceptions will rise of their own accord to guide women and men in their thinking, elevate the common culture and raise the level of moral discourse. As Director of the Cambridge Forum from 1970 to 1990, Vetter played the role of intellectual impresario, bringing together many of the country's best minds—from astronomers like Carl Sagan to poets like May Sarton--to reflect on the great issues of the day, confident that a liberal religious voice in media could be a powerful (and progressive) force for enlightenment. As a student intern at the First Parish in Cambridge, I worked with Herb in producing a weekly current affairs program on public TV. At that point, around 1980, he was almost fixated on the potential of satellites as the next step in communications technology, beyond broadcast and cable, in bringing information to an ever wider audience. Now in his eighties, Herb has shifted his attention to the power of the internet; as founder of the Harvard Square Library, Vetter has compiled an online compendium of Unitarian Universalist biographies that document our denomination's persistent ability to spawn creative personalities, on the cutting edge.
His newest book (his seventh) is a response to the recent revival of militant atheism in our midst and intended as a counter to Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, and Sam Harris' The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. As Vetter notes, all of these authors target an antiquarian deity, taking aim at a supernatural (and superannuated) God located outside of space and time. Marshalling twenty-first century science against fourteenth century theology, there is no real contest, and Vetter agrees that classical theism is bankrupt, both as an explanation for the natural world and as an engine for transforming lives. "Is God Necessary?" Certainly not the kind of divinity that demands uncritical obedience or submission to idolatrous authorities of nation, tribe or creed.
Most of Vetter's book is a manifesto for a different kind of deity: a spirit immanent in the world as unfolding evolution and creative process, who exercises influence more as a persuasive lure than as an irresistible force. The author offers brief and illuminating summaries of notable American philosophers who have held this view like Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, William Ernest Hocking, Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, along with short excerpts of their writing. He also includes literary figures like Robert Frost, whom he views as a religious ally (son of a non-believing father and Swedenborgian mother, and married to the daughter of a Universalist clergyman who had lost his faith, Vermont's poet laureate always walked the line between world affirmation and personal despair). Together these naturalistic theists convince Vetter that a new conception of God is not only necessary but vital for our times.
My only wish is that Vetter had taken more pages to flesh out these seminal figures—and perhaps brought the reader up-to-date on recent developments in process thought, including women's contributions.
Still, one must respect Vetter's work and intention. How many other Unitarian Universalist ministers are writing serious theology, sparring philosophically on the published page, or engaging in the great battles of the mind that are wresting for the world's allegiance? Process theology deserves wider appreciation, and really does hold a promise to bridge the gap between science and religion, building a foundation for more intelligent belief. Thanks to Herbert Vetter not only for this book, but for a lifetime of ministry helping others gain acquaintance with new insights, and for his faith that ideas really can change the world.
Rev. Gary Kowalski
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont
Author of Revolutionary Spirits: The Enlightened Faith of America's Founding Fathers
By Herbert F. Vetter
Harvard Square Library, 2007
Reverend Herbert Vetter has always believed in the power of ideas. Let truth and falsehood contend in the public square, and the finer conceptions will rise of their own accord to guide women and men in their thinking, elevate the common culture and raise the level of moral discourse. As Director of the Cambridge Forum from 1970 to 1990, Vetter played the role of intellectual impresario, bringing together many of the country's best minds—from astronomers like Carl Sagan to poets like May Sarton--to reflect on the great issues of the day, confident that a liberal religious voice in media could be a powerful (and progressive) force for enlightenment. As a student intern at the First Parish in Cambridge, I worked with Herb in producing a weekly current affairs program on public TV. At that point, around 1980, he was almost fixated on the potential of satellites as the next step in communications technology, beyond broadcast and cable, in bringing information to an ever wider audience. Now in his eighties, Herb has shifted his attention to the power of the internet; as founder of the Harvard Square Library, Vetter has compiled an online compendium of Unitarian Universalist biographies that document our denomination's persistent ability to spawn creative personalities, on the cutting edge.His newest book (his seventh) is a response to the recent revival of militant atheism in our midst and intended as a counter to Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, and Sam Harris' The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. As Vetter notes, all of these authors target an antiquarian deity, taking aim at a supernatural (and superannuated) God located outside of space and time. Marshalling twenty-first century science against fourteenth century theology, there is no real contest, and Vetter agrees that classical theism is bankrupt, both as an explanation for the natural world and as an engine for transforming lives. "Is God Necessary?" Certainly not the kind of divinity that demands uncritical obedience or submission to idolatrous authorities of nation, tribe or creed.
Most of Vetter's book is a manifesto for a different kind of deity: a spirit immanent in the world as unfolding evolution and creative process, who exercises influence more as a persuasive lure than as an irresistible force. The author offers brief and illuminating summaries of notable American philosophers who have held this view like Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, William Ernest Hocking, Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, along with short excerpts of their writing. He also includes literary figures like Robert Frost, whom he views as a religious ally (son of a non-believing father and Swedenborgian mother, and married to the daughter of a Universalist clergyman who had lost his faith, Vermont's poet laureate always walked the line between world affirmation and personal despair). Together these naturalistic theists convince Vetter that a new conception of God is not only necessary but vital for our times.
My only wish is that Vetter had taken more pages to flesh out these seminal figures—and perhaps brought the reader up-to-date on recent developments in process thought, including women's contributions.
Still, one must respect Vetter's work and intention. How many other Unitarian Universalist ministers are writing serious theology, sparring philosophically on the published page, or engaging in the great battles of the mind that are wresting for the world's allegiance? Process theology deserves wider appreciation, and really does hold a promise to bridge the gap between science and religion, building a foundation for more intelligent belief. Thanks to Herbert Vetter not only for this book, but for a lifetime of ministry helping others gain acquaintance with new insights, and for his faith that ideas really can change the world.
Rev. Gary Kowalski
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont
Author of Revolutionary Spirits: The Enlightened Faith of America's Founding Fathers
| Herbert F. Vetter - Director hfvetter@post.harvard.edu |
Andrew Drane - Webmaster andrew@andrewdrane.com |