RT Article
T1 The Image of God in Western (Christian) Panentheism: A Critical Evaluation from the Point of View of Classical Theism
JF Sophia
VO 61
IS 3
SP 611
OP 642
A1 Tabaczek, Mariusz 1980-
LA English
PB Springer Netherlands
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1817423851
AB A considerable group of contemporary philosophers and theologians—including those engaged in the science-theology dialogue, such as Barbour, Clayton, Davies, and Peacocke—supports panentheism, i.e., a theistic position which assumes that the world is in God, who is yet greater than everything he created. They see it as a balanced middle ground between the positions of classical theism and pantheism. In this article, I offer a presentation and a critical evaluation of the most fundamental principles of panentheism from the point of view of classical theism. First, I list six main species of panentheism and the motivations of those who support it. In the second part, I analyze the three main difficulties concerning its ontological and theological principles, i.e., (1) the meaning of the preposition ‘in’ (en) in ‘panentheism’; (2) the accuracy of panentheistic definition of divine immanence, and (3) the question of whether panentheism is successful in protecting God’s transcendence. I conclude that panentheism fails as a Christian theistic position. Nevertheless, it might still be valuable and play an important role in addressing the cognitive drama of the modern human beings, often seduced by secular (scientific) or spiritual naturalism, or pantheism.
K1 Classical Theism
K1 Divine Action
K1 God-world relationship
K1 Panentheism
K1 science and theology
K1 Transcendence and immanence of God
DO 10.1007/s11841-021-00848-2