Panentheism—The Other God of the Philosophers: From Plato to the Present

369 Pages·2014·3.307 MB·English

by  John W. Cooper

Panentheism
The Other God
of the Philosophers
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Panentheism
The Other God
of the Philosophers
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From Plato to the Present
John W. Cooper
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© 2006 by John W. Cooper
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Paperback edition published 2013
ISBN 978-0-8010-4931-6
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior
written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Cooper, John W., 1947–
Panentheism—the other God of the philosophers : from Plato to the present / John W.
Cooper.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 10: 0-8010-2724-1 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-8010-2724-6 (cloth)
1. God—History of doctrines. 2. Panentheism—History of doctrines. I. Title.
BT98.C67 2006
211.2—dc22 2006016976
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of
publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch
for their content or permanence.
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To the students of Calvin Theological Seminary
and all who seek to shape their ministries
according to sound doctrine
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Contents
Acknowledgments 9 4 Schelling and Hegel: The Godfathers
Abbreviations 11 of Modern Panentheism 90
Background: Kant and Fichte
1 Panentheism: The Other God of the
Schelling
Philosophers 13
Hegel
Classical Theism, Relational Theology, and “the God Conclusion
of the Philosophers”
The Other God of the Philosophers: The Panentheistic 5 Nineteenth-Century Proliferation 120
Tradition
Germany
The Two Purposes of This Survey
Karl Krause
The Intended Readers: Theological Learners
Isaak Dorner
A Preliminary Overview
Gustav Fechner
Basic Terms and Distinctions in Panentheism
Hermann Lotze
2 Panentheism from Plato through Otto Pfleiderer
Christian Neoplatonism 31 Ernst Troeltsch
Platonism: Source of Two Theological Traditions England
Plato Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Stoicism: Naturalistic Pantheism Thomas Hill Green
John and Edward Caird
Neoplatonism
James Ward
Pseudo-Dionysius and Christian Neoplatonism
Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison
John Scotus Eriugena
Samuel Alexander
Meister Eckhart
William Ralph Inge and Anglican Theology
Nicholas of Cusa
The United States
Jakob Böhme
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism
Conclusion
Charles Sanders Peirce
3 Pantheism and Panentheism from the William James
Renaissance to Romanticism 64 France
Giordano Bruno Jules Lequier
Baruch Spinoza Charles Renouvier
Seventeenth-Century Neoplatonism Henri Bergson
Jonathan Edwards Conclusion
Early German Romanticism: Lessing and Herder
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Conclusion
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8 Contents
6 Teilhard de Chardin’s Christocentric The Trinity and the Kingdom
Panentheism 148 God in Creation: Perichoresis Universalized
Cosmic Evolution to the Omega Point The Coming of God
Teilhard’s Theology: Omega Is God in the Cosmic Moltmann’s Panentheism as Christian Theology
Christ
11 Pannenberg’s Panentheistic Force
Teilhard’s Panentheism: “Christian Pantheism”
Field 259
Conclusion: From Heretic to Prophet
Is Pannenberg a Panentheist?
7 Process Theology: Whitehead, An Overview of His Life and Theology
Hartshorne, Cobb, and Griffin 165 Pannenberg’s Panentheism: The Divine Force Field
Alfred North Whitehead Pannenberg’s Historical-Trinitarian Panentheism
Charles Hartshorne Conclusion
John Cobb and David Griffin’s Christian Process
12 Panentheistic Liberation and
Theology
Ecological Theologies 282
Process Theology and Free-Will (Open) Theism
James Cone’s Black Theology
Conclusion
Latin American Liberation Theology
8 Tillich’s Existential Panentheism 194 Gustavo Gutiérrez
Tillich’s Correlation of Philosophy and Theology Juan Luis Segundo
Tillich’s Existential Ontology Leonardo Boff
Tillich’s Doctrine of God and the World Feminist-Ecological Theology
Tillich’s Panentheism Rosemary Ruether
Sallie McFague
9 Diversity in Twentieth-Century
Matthew Fox’s Creation Spirituality
Philosophy, Theology, and
Conclusion
Religion 213
Philosophers in the Christian Tradition 13 Panentheism in Theological
Martin Heidegger Cosmology 301
Hans-Georg Gadamer Barbour’s Qualified Process Panentheism
Nicolai Berdyaev The Uniformitarian Panentheism of Davies
Theologians in the Christian Tradition Peacocke’s Naturalistic Sacramental Panentheism
William Temple Clayton’s Emergent Personal Panentheism
John A. T. Robinson Polkinghorne’s Eschatological Panentheism
John Macquarrie Conclusion
Karl Rahner
14 Why I Am Not a Panentheist 319
Hans Küng
Non-Christian Panentheists The Nature of the Response
Martin Buber and Judaism The God of the Bible
Muhammed Iqbal: Islam Doctrinal and Theological Issues
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Hinduism Philosophical Issues
Masao Abe and Alan Watts: Zen Buddhism The Biblical Worldview and Redemptive History
Starhawk: Wiccan Neopaganism Conclusion
Conclusion
Name Index 347
10 Moltmann’s Perichoretic Subject Index 351
Panentheism 237
Overview
Dialectical Ontology and the Theology of Hope
The Crucified God
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Acknowledgments
I
wish to thank Calvin Theological Seminary for supporting this book
in several ways. I was granted two sabbaticals and one publication leave
during the years I worked on it and was provided comfortable work space
and excellent technical support. Calvin Seminary also awarded me two Heri-
tage Fund Grants to pay assistants during the final two summers of writing.
Several Ph.D. student assistants helped with initial research and provided
thoughtful feedback on early drafts. The excellent theology and philosophy
collections of the Hekman Library of Calvin College and Seminary include
all but half a dozen of the works cited.
I am thankful to my editor, Brian Bolger of Baker Academic, whose
sound advice on early drafts helped greatly to improve the readability of
the final product.
I am especially grateful to my son, John, and my daughter, Catherine, who
helped with research, critical reading, and thorough editing.
Finally, I express my abiding gratitude to Sylvia, my wife, for her faithful
support, interest, patience, and willingness to let me spend time and personal
energy that rightfully belonged to her on this book. I cannot repay her, but
I am trying.
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