In process theology, God is constantly, in every moment and in every place, doing everything within God’s power to bring about the good. Divine power, however, is persuasive rather than coercive. God cannot force people or the world to obey God’s will. Instead, God works by sharing with us a vision of the better way, of the good and the beautiful. God’s power lies in patience and love, not force.

Our power is of the kind that arises from our existence in small, organic bodies with eyes, ears, hands and a nervous system. God has no body like ours. God’s power is the power that enables all of reality to continue its creative advance, that makes creatures free, that shares the experience of every creature and is experienced by every creature. God’s creative power sustains the universe. Yet, it is only through the creatures of the world that God has hands.

Process Theology: A Basic Introduction
C. Robert Mesle

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In Process Theology: A Basic Introduction, Mesle outlines three key attributes of process theology:

1. God experiences both the joy and suffering of humanity
2. God is not omnipotent in the classical sense
3. God exercises relational power and not unilateral control

C. Robert Mesle
born 1950

C. Robert Mesle is a process theologian and is currently a professor of philosophy and religion at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa.

Books written by C. Robert Mesle include:

• Fire in my bones: A study in faith and belief
• John Hick’s Theodicy: A Process Humanist Critique
• Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead
• Process Theology: A Basic Introduction
• The Bible As Story and Struggle

C. Robert Mesle — Process Relational Theology