2019/09/04

How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs - Kindle edition by Andrew M. Davis, Philip Clayton, Deepak Chopra, Richard Rohr, Rupert Sheldrake. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.



How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs - Kindle edition by Andrew M. Davis, Philip Clayton, Deepak Chopra, Richard Rohr, Rupert Sheldrake. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.






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How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs Kindle Edition
by Andrew M. Davis (Editor), Philip Clayton (Editor), Deepak Chopra (Contributor), Richard Rohr (Contributor), Rupert Sheldrake(Contributor)


4.7 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews 


How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere captures for a general audience the spiritual shift away from a God “up there” and “out there” and towards an immanent divine right here. It’s built around the personal journeys of a close-knit group of prominent contributors. Their spiritual visions of immanence, sometimes called “panentheism,” are serving as a path of spiritual return for a growing number of seekers today. 
Contributors include 
Deepak Chopra, 
Richard Rohr, 
Rupert Sheldrake, 
Matthew Fox, and 
Cynthia Bourgeault.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By the time I reached the second chapter of this unique book, I had started recommending it to others. By the time I reached the last chapter, I felt its deep impact on my own life. Such rich stories, such clear, insightful, and at times tender writing, with common themes arising spontaneously and enriching one another ... this book takes the old Evangelical practice of 'giving testimony' and elevates it to a theological and philosophical practice."--Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration

"Reading these spiritual journeys--what my tradition calls 'testimonies'--is a sacred experience. The eminent minds and holy souls writing for this tome take sacred experience to new heights! And yet the 'heights' of these adventures are this-worldly: the here, the harrowing, and the hallowed. Many take adventures away from god only to find God: anatheism to panentheism. I suspect many readers will feel drawn--as I was--to imagine how best to describe their own adventures toward the God we find in the midst of it all!"--Thomas Jay Oord, Professor, Speaker, and Author of The Uncontrolling Love of God

"What a world we live in - filled with believers, non-believers, and the vast majority who are somewhere in between. We in-betweeners yearn for a way of using the word "God" that does not pretend absolute certainty, that does not imagine God as a king on a throne, and that does not reduce God to a mere concept in the imagination. We yearn to find God - or something like God - in the here and now of daily life, in the garbage and, yes, the flowers. It helps if we have stories from others: people who likewise struggle and somehow find their way into a God of tenderness and creativity, of struggle and peace, of faith and doubt. They become our mentors, evoking and inspiring us with an invitation to seek God on our own terms, too, and in our own way. This marvelous anthology can do just that. Read carefully and freely, with a relaxed grasp, and let the stories take you on a journey well worth the walking."--Jay McDaniel, Founder of openhorizons.org and author of Gandhi's Hope: Learning from the World's Religions as a Path to Peace

"This is a book for people who, in spite of themselves, cannot stop dreaming about God. Unwilling to dismiss their dreams as mere wishes, to discount their imaginations as pure fantasy, they seek words and concepts by which they may begin to think and talk their way back to 'God after God.' In How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs, they get to meet a rich array of others on their own versions of this 'spiritual journey beyond the dead-end.'" --Rabbi James Ponet, Emeritus Jewish Chaplain and Divinity School Lecturer, Yale University

"Davis and Clayton are ontological trail guides. They have gathered the stories of an impressive array of theological and spiritual leaders who discovered a living and credible God after the God of old had died for them. It turns out that God was not dead after all. God is hidden where we least expect it--in butterflies and hospital beds, waterfalls and embodied rage, in the messiness and mysteriousness of our own real life experience. These guides know. They point to and describe a God who is with us."--Frank Rogers Jr., Ph.D., Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy and Director of the Center for Engaged Compassion at the Claremont School of Theology, and author of Practicing Compassion

"This passionate and captivating book is a collection of inspiring spiritual memoirs told by many eminent scholars and spiritual leaders of our day. Capturing the many twists and turns of human experience, these memoirs movingly illuminate the many spiritual and intellectual questions which shape the journey to God, and beyond, in the 21st century. This fascinating collection offers readers opportunities for theological engagement beyond the standard anthology, in hopeful engagement with a deeply relational and imminent divine reality which encompasses all. Scholars, religious leaders, students, and interested seekers will find inspiration and challenge in these narratives." --The Rev. Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, Ed.D, Ph.D, Professor of Practical Theology & Religious Education, Dean of the Faculty, Claremont School of Theology, and author of God Beyond Borders: Interreligious Learning Among Congregations

About the Author


Andrew M. Davis is a philosopher, theologian, and scholar of world religions. He holds degrees in Philosophy/Theology and Interreligious Studies, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Religion at Claremont School of Theology. His research interests surround Metaphysics and Philosophical Theology, Philosophy of Religion, Natural Theology, Comparative Religion and Applied Spirituality. His studies have led him to India, Israel-Palestine, Europe and avariety of other places around the world. Davis was the recipient of the 2013 Award for Excellence in Biblical Studies and a 2017 fellowship with FASPE (Fellowshipsat Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics). How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs is his first of many planned books on philosophy, theology and the religious/spiritual life.More of his work can be found on academia.edu.

Philip Clayton is a contemporary American philosopher of religion and philosopher of science. His work focuses on the intersection of science, ethics, and society. He currently holds the Ingraham Chair at Claremont School of Theology and serves as an affiliated faculty member at Claremont Graduate University. Clayton specializes in the philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of religion, as well as in comparative theology.
As an administrator in higher education, he served as Dean of the Claremont School of Theology, and as Provost and Senior Vice President of Claremont Lincoln University, which at that time was an interreligious university. He was Principal Investigator for the Science and the Spiritual Quest project from 1999 to 2003.
He is the author of many books including Explanation from Physics to TheologyGod and Contemporary ScienceThe Problem of God in Modern ThoughtMind and Emergence: From Quantum to Consciousness, and In Quest of Freedom: The Emergence of Spirit in the Natural World.
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File Size: 4087 KB
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Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing (September 18, 2018)
Publication Date: September 18, 2018
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Language: English


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13 customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
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Ronald W. Maron

2.0 out of 5 stars..how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?May 24, 2019

We are all different from one another. Each of us has a different educational background, upbringing, professional status, existing reality, etc..... Being so each of us independently has a different view and understanding of who God is to us. None of us should intercede with any one else's vision of God that is within our individual minds. World religions have never heeded this simple, basic premise and, by failing to do so, have developed a countless series of 'group thinks' in which its members are to compromise their visions and collectively agree on a set of tenets that have been developed for them. Any disagreement with this collective thought must not and cannot be made within the religious realm they find themselves engaged in. Individuals generally succumb to the majority and proceed as it they have heard from the 'authorities of the most high' and, being so, should have their individual visions meld into oblivion. Either that or they leave the church all together and are labeled as being 'back-sliders'.

Each of the authors in this assembly of works (with the exception of only two) take the same stance; This is the correct vision of God and everyone should agree! This should not be the case! Likewise the authors show their professional backgrounds and training as clearly as the faces on pre-lit jack-o-lanterns. If a person is immersed in science, they have a scientific view. If the author has spent most of his/her time in a college classroom or a cloistered convent, this is the thrust of their argument, etc... All definitions may be quite accurate for them as individuals but for us, the readers, it should merely be viewed as simply that; individual people giving their unique view that may only true for them. None of the extrapolations nor the multisyllabic terminology should either impress nor distress us. It is only their view of who God is to themselves and themselves alone.

After reading this book I advise that you, as a reader, go back into your own childhood and remember how easy it was to define God at that time. It is only the passage of time with its influx of seemingly endless data and accompanied questions that have fogged over our certainty. Your next step is to find an apple tree that has a great deal of shade on a pleasant afternoon and simply sit under it and ask yourself the simple question; "Who is God to me now?". While the answer will be different from everyone else in your parish or your neighbourhood, it will be true and it will be yours. Savour the answer and live the rest of your life accordingly......

4 people found this helpful

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Wanda Moon

5.0 out of 5 starsI'm not alone!December 4, 2018
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I was born into a fundamentalist family, and as an adult moved along to a mainline protestant denomination. I love these folks and help out where I can. And yet, I could find nobody to talk to about my internal spiritual journey, my curiosity, my feeling that I did not "fit". Over the years, thanks to the internet and to well written books I found a community. This book has renewed my acquaintance with old friends and introduced me to new ones. My mind is once again expanded, my spirit is fed and I have enough new books in the endnotes of each memoir to keep me busy for a while! And I have renewed energy to engage in healthy ways with my "real" life.

5 people found this helpful

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Lauren McKenna

5.0 out of 5 starsA gift! deep calling to deepJanuary 6, 2019
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
In reading this volume I found myself saying "yes!" quite often. Not only did some of these chapters reaffirm many of my core convictions about the Divine, but they also named them in ways much more succinct, more articulate and more beautiful. While reassuring to find yourself in the company of fellow pilgrims on the way, it is refreshing to hear from voices you may not usually hear - say from religious traditions different from your own - and find your own story in theirs. The book offers many kernels of wisdom that readers will connect with, savor and take with them on their own spiritual journey. After just the first chapter I began to recommend to family and friends!

Especially for those interested in the practical implications of theology and panentheism, this book is a treasure trove of examples. I think this is rare and SO SO needed today - the ecological, political and social implications are huge, such as the imperative to care for the earth and those society has named as the "other." My own spiritual upbringing always emphasized that all things, experiences, people, emotions are imbued with the divine. And here is some easy to digest theology that backs that up and challenged me to go deeper (and I think will continue to do so for a long time). I am so glad I read this.

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Ken Haynes

5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent !! Highly RecommendSeptember 24, 2018
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Highly Recommend......a beautiful curation of contemporary spiritual memoirs . It is truly some of the best spiritual reading published in 2018. You fill find it spiritually enlightening AND theologically robust. It is helpful for giving new language to "God after God".

5 people found this helpful

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Bryan Norman

5.0 out of 5 starsDeeply thought-provokingAugust 2, 2019
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I really enjoyed reading this book, which challenged me to broaden my understanding of God. I'd lost faith in mainline Christianity over the last 2 decades, and many stories in the book made me realize why. I resonated so deeply with many things in the text, and the authors wrote things I've been feeling, and even knowing, but unable to find the words to express it. Thanks so much!

One person found this helpful

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Paul J. Wheeler

5.0 out of 5 starsA great anthology for the modern mysticDecember 4, 2018
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If you would like to hear about the faith journey of some fantastic modern mystics, this is the book for you.

2 people found this helpful

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Eleanor Hoppe

5.0 out of 5 starsRead it slowly, savor the storiesDecember 4, 2018
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Generous sharing of spiritual journeys, honest questioning and deep reflections. Powerful.

2 people found this helpful

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Don Heckelmiller

5.0 out of 5 starsGood readAugust 10, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
What most of us already Know!


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Panentheism - Wikipedia



Panentheism - Wikipedia
Panentheism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Not to be confused with pantheism.
Part of a series on
God

General conceptions[hide]

Agnosticism
Apatheism
Atheism
Deism
Henotheism
Ietsism
Ignosticism
Monotheism
Monism
Dualism
Monolatry
Kathenotheism
Omnism
Pandeism
Panentheism
Pantheism
Polytheism
Theism
Transtheism

Specific conceptions[show]

In particular religions[show]

Attributes[show]


Experiences
Practices[show]

Related topics[show]


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Panentheism (meaning "all-in-God", from the Greek πᾶν pân, "all", ἐν en, "in" and Θεός Theós, "God")[1] is the belief that the divine pervades and interpenetrates every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time. The term was coined by the German philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 to distinguish the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling(1775–1854) about the relation of God and the universe from the supposed pantheismof Baruch Spinoza.[1] Unlike pantheism, which holds that the divine and the universe are identical,[2] panentheism maintains an ontological distinction between the divine and the non-divine and the significance of both.
In panentheism, God is viewed as the soul of the universe, the universal spirit present everywhere, which at the same time "transcends" all things created.
While pantheism asserts that "all is God", panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe. Some versions of panentheism suggest that the universe is nothing more than the manifestation of God. In addition, some forms indicate that the universe is contained within God,[2] like in the Kabbalah concept of tzimtzum. Also much Hindu thought – and consequently Buddhist philosophy – is highly characterized by panentheism and pantheism.[3][4] The basic tradition however, on which Krause's concept was built, seems to have been Neoplatonic philosophy and its successors in Western philosophy and Orthodox theology.


Contents
1In philosophy
1.1Ancient Greek philosophy
1.2Modern philosophy

2In religion
2.1Hinduism
2.2Taoism
2.3Buddhism
2.4Christianity
2.4.1Eastern Orthodoxy
2.4.2Panentheism in other Christian confessions
2.5Gnosticism
2.6Judaism
2.7Islam
2.8In Pre-Columbian America
2.9Sikhism
2.10Bahá'í Faith
2.11Konkōkyō

3See also
4References
5Bibliography
6External links

In philosophy[edit]
Ancient Greek philosophy[edit]

The religious beliefs of Neoplatonism can be regarded as panentheistic. Plotinus taught that there was an ineffable transcendent God ("the One", to En, τὸ Ἕν) of which subsequent realities were emanations. From "the One" emanates the Divine Mind (Nous, Νοῦς) and the Cosmic Soul (Psyche, Ψυχή). In Neoplatonism the world itself is God (according to Plato's Timaeus 37). This concept of divinity is associated with that of the Logos (Λόγος), which had originated centuries earlier with Heraclitus (c. 535–475 BC). The Logos pervades the cosmos, whereby all thoughts and all things originate, or as Heraclitus said: "He who hears not me but the Logos will say: All is one." Neoplatonists such as Iamblichus attempted to reconcile this perspective by adding another hypostasisabove the original monad of force or Dunamis (Δύναμις). This new all-pervasive monad encompassed all creation and its original uncreated emanations.


Modern philosophy[edit]

Baruch Spinoza later claimed that "Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived."[5] "Individual things are nothing but modifications of the attributes of God, or modes by which the attributes of God are expressed in a fixed and definite manner."[6] Though Spinoza has been called the "prophet"[7] and "prince"[8] of pantheism, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg Spinoza states that: "as to the view of certain people that I identify god with nature (taken as a kind of mass or corporeal matter), they are quite mistaken".[9] For Spinoza, our universe (cosmos) is a mode under two attributes of Thought and Extension. God has infinitely many other attributes which are not present in our world.

According to German philosopher Karl Jaspers, when Spinoza wrote "Deus sive Natura" (God or Nature) Spinoza did not mean to say that God and Nature are interchangeable terms, but rather that God's transcendence was attested by his infinitely many attributes, and that two attributes known by humans, namely Thought and Extension, signified God's immanence.[10] Furthermore, Martial Guéroult suggested the term "panentheism", rather than "pantheism" to describe Spinoza's view of the relation between God and the world. The world is not God, but it is, in a strong sense, "in" God. Yet, American philosopher and self-described panentheist Charles Hartshorne referred to Spinoza's philosophy as "classical pantheism" and distinguished Spinoza's philosophy from panentheism.[11]

In 1828, the German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781–1832) seeking to reconcile monotheism and pantheism, coined the term panentheism (from the Ancient Greek expression πᾶν ἐν θεῷ, pān en theṓ, literally "all in god"). This conception of God influenced New England transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. The term was popularized by Charles Hartshorne in his development of process theology and has also been closely identified with the New Thought.[12] The formalization of this term in the West in the 19th century was not new; philosophical treatises had been written on it in the context of Hinduism for millennia.[13]

Philosophers who embraced panentheism have included Thomas Hill Green (1839–1882), James Ward (1843–1925), Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison (1856–1931) and Samuel Alexander (1859–1938).[14] Beginning in the 1940s, Hartshorne examined numerous conceptions of God. He reviewed and discarded pantheism, deism, and pandeism in favor of panentheism, finding that such a "doctrine contains all of deism and pandeism except their arbitrary negations". Hartshorne formulated God as a being who could become "more perfect": He has absolute perfection in categories for which absolute perfection is possible, and relative perfection (i. e., is superior to all others) in categories for which perfection cannot be precisely determined.[15]

In religion[edit]
Hinduism[edit]

Earliest reference to panentheistic thought in Hindu philosophy is in a creation myth contained in the later section of Rig Veda called the Purusha Sukta,[16] which was compiled before 1100 BCE.[17] The Purusha Sukta gives a description of the spiritual unity of the cosmos. It presents the nature of Purusha or the cosmic being as both immanent in the manifested world and yet transcendent to it.[18] From this being the sukta holds, the original creative will proceeds, by which this vast universe is projected in space and time.[19]

The most influential[20] and dominant[21] school of Indian philosophy, Advaita Vedanta, rejects theism and dualism by insisting that "Brahman [ultimate reality] is without parts or attributes...one without a second."[22] Since Brahman has no properties, contains no internal diversity and is identical with the whole reality it cannot be understood as an anthropomorphic personal God.[23] The relationship between Brahman and the creation is often thought to be panentheistic.[24]

Panentheism is also expressed in the Bhagavad Gita.[24] In verse IX.4, Krishna states:


By Me all this universe is pervaded through My unmanifested form.
All beings abide in Me but I do not abide in them.

Many schools of Hindu thought espouse monistic theism, which is thought to be similar to a panentheistic viewpoint. Nimbarka's school of differential monism (Dvaitadvaita), Ramanuja's school of qualified monism (Vishistadvaita) and Saiva Siddhanta and Kashmir Shaivism are all considered to be panentheistic.[25] Caitanya's Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which elucidates the doctrine of Acintya Bheda Abheda (inconceivable oneness and difference), is also thought to be panentheistic.[26] In Kashmir Shaivism, all things are believed to be a manifestation of Universal Consciousness (Cit or Brahman).[27] So from the point of view of this school, the phenomenal world (Śakti) is real, and it exists and has its being in Consciousness (Cit).[28] Thus, Kashmir Shaivism is also propounding of theistic monism or panentheism.[29]

Shaktism, or Tantra, is regarded as an Indian prototype of Panentheism.[30] Shakti is considered to be the cosmos itself – she is the embodiment of energy and dynamism, and the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe. Shiva is her transcendent masculine aspect, providing the divine ground of all being. "There is no Shiva without Shakti, or Shakti without Shiva. The two ... in themselves are One."[31] Thus, it is She who becomes the time and space, the cosmos, it is She who becomes the five elements, and thus all animate life and inanimate forms. She is the primordial energy that holds all creation and destruction, all cycles of birth and death, all laws of cause and effect within Herself, and yet is greater than the sum total of all these. She is transcendent, but becomes immanent as the cosmos (Mula Prakriti). She, the Primordial Energy, directly becomes Matter.

Taoism[edit]

Taoism says that all is part of the eternal tao, and that all interact through qi. Chapter 6 describes the Tao thus: "The heart of Tao is immortal, the mysterious fertile mother of us all, of heaven and earth, of every thing and not-thing."[32]
Buddhism[edit]

The Reverend Zen Master Soyen Shaku was the first Zen Buddhist Abbot to tour the United States in 1905–6. He wrote a series of essays collected into the book Zen For Americans. In the essay titled "The God Conception of Buddhism" he attempts to explain how a Buddhist looks at the ultimate without an anthropomorphic God figure while still being able to relate to the term God in a Buddhist sense:


At the outset, let me state that Buddhism is not atheistic as the term is ordinarily understood. It has certainly a God, the highest reality and truth, through which and in which this universe exists. However, the followers of Buddhism usually avoid the term God, for it savors so much of Christianity, whose spirit is not always exactly in accord with the Buddhist interpretation of religious experience. Again, Buddhism is not pantheistic in the sense that it identifies the universe with God. On the other hand, the Buddhist God is absolute and transcendent; this world, being merely its manifestation, is necessarily fragmental and imperfect. To define more exactly the Buddhist notion of the highest being, it may be convenient to borrow the term very happily coined by a modern German scholar, "panentheism," according to which God is πᾶν καὶ ἕν (all and one) and more than the totality of existence.[33]

The essay then goes on to explain first utilizing the term "God" for the American audience to get an initial understanding of what he means by "panentheism," and then discusses the terms that Buddhism uses in place of "God" such as Dharmakaya, Buddha or AdiBuddha, and Tathagata.

Christianity[edit]

Panentheism is also a feature of some Christian philosophical theologies and resonates strongly within the theological tradition of the Orthodox Church.[34] It also appears in process theology. Process theological thinkers are generally regarded in the Christian West as unorthodox. Furthermore, process philosophical thought is widely believed to have paved the way for open theism, a movement that tends to associate itself primarily with the Evangelical branch of Protestantism, but is also generally considered unorthodox by most Evangelicals.

Eastern Orthodoxy[edit]
See also: Omnipresence

In Christianity, creation is not considered a literal "part of" God, and divinity is essentially distinct from creation (i.e., transcendent). There is, in other words, an irradicable difference between the uncreated (i.e., God) and the created (i.e., everything else). This does not mean, however, that the creation is wholly separated from God, because the creation exists in and from the divine energies. In Eastern Orthodoxy, these energies or operations are the natural activity of God and are in some sense identifiable with God, but at the same time the creation is wholly distinct from the divine essence.[citation needed] God creates the universe by His will and from His energies. It is, however, not an imprint or emanation of God's own essence (ousia), the essence He shares pre-eternally with His Word and Holy Spirit. Neither is it a directly literal outworking or effulgence of the divine, nor any other process which implies that creation is essentially God or a necessary part of God. The use of the term "panentheism" to describe the divine concept in Orthodox Christian theology is problematic for those who would insist that panentheism requires creation to be "part of" God.

God is not merely Creator of the universe, as His dynamic presence is necessary to sustain the existence of every created thing, small and great, visible and invisible.[35] That is, God's energies maintain the existence of the created order and all created beings, even if those agencies have explicitly rejected him. His love for creation is such that He will not withdraw His presence, which would be the ultimate form of annihilation, not merely imposing death, but ending existence altogether. By this token, the entirety of creation is fundamentally "good" in its very being, and is not innately evil either in whole or in part. This does not deny the existence of spiritual or moral evil in a fallen universe, only the claim that it is an intrinsic property of creation. Sin results from the essential freedom of creatures to operate outside the divine order, not as a necessary consequence of having inherited human nature.

Panentheism in other Christian confessions[edit]

Many Christians who believe in universalism – mainly expressed in the Universalist Church of America, originating, as a fusion of Pietist and Anabaptist influences, from the American colonies of the 18th century – hold panentheistic views of God in conjunction with their belief in apocatastasis, also called universal reconciliation.[citation needed]Panentheistic Christian Universalists often believe that all creation's subsistence in God renders untenable the notion of final and permanent alienation from Him, citing Scriptural passages such as Ephesians 4:6 ("[God] is over all and through all and in all") and Romans 11:36 ("from [God] and through him and to him are all things") to justify both panentheism and universalism.[citation needed] Panentheism was also a major force in the Unitarian church for a long time, based in part on Ralph Waldo Emerson's concept of the Over-soul (from the synonymous essay of 1841).[citation needed]

Panentheistic conceptions of God occur amongst some modern theologians. Process theology and Creation Spirituality, two recent developments in Christian theology, contain panentheistic ideas. Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), who conjoined process theology with panentheism, maintained a lifelong membership in the Methodist church but was also a Unitarian. In later years he joined the Austin, Texas, Unitarian Universalist congregation and was an active participant in that church.[36] Referring to the ideas such as Thomas Oord's ‘theocosmocentrism’ (2010), the soft panentheism of open theism, Keith Ward's comparative theology and John Polkinghorne's critical realism (2009), Raymond Potgieter observes distinctions such as dipolar and bipolar:


The former suggests two poles separated such as God influencing creation and it in turn its creator (Bangert 2006:168), whereas bipolarity completes God’s being implying interdependence between temporal and eternal poles. (Marbaniang 2011:133), in dealing with Whitehead’s approach, does not make this distinction. I use the term bipolar as a generic term to include suggestions of the structural definition of God’s transcendence and immanence; to for instance accommodate a present and future reality into which deity must reasonably fit and function, and yet maintain separation from this world and evil whilst remaining within it.[37]

Some argue that panentheism should also include the notion that God has always been related to some world or another, which denies the idea of creation out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). Nazarene Methodist theologian Thomas Jay Oord (* 1965) advocates panentheism, but he uses the word "theocosmocentrism" to highlight the notion that God and some world or another are the primary conceptual starting blocks for eminently fruitful theology. This form of panentheism helps in overcoming the problem of evil and in proposing that God's love for the world is essential to who God is.[38]

The Christian Church International also holds to a panentheist doctrine.

Gnosticism[edit]
Main article: Gnosticism

"Gnosticism" is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems prevalent in the first and second century AD. The teachings of the various gnostic groups were very diverse. In his Dictionary of Gnosticism, Andrew Phillip Smith has written that some branches of Gnosticism taught a panentheistic view of reality,[39] and held to the belief that God exists in the visible world only as sparks of spiritual "light". The goal of human existence is to know the sparks within oneself in order to return to God, who is in the Fullness (or Pleroma).

Gnosticism was panentheistic, believing that the true God is simultaneously both separate from the physical universe and present within it.[citation needed] As Jesus states in the Gospel of Thomas, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all ... . Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."[40] This seemingly contradictory interpretation of gnostic theology is not without controversy, since one interpretation of dualistic theology holds that a perfect God of pure spirit would not manifest himself through the fallen world of matter.

Manichaeism, being another gnostic sect, preached a very different doctrine in positioning the true Manichaean God against matter as well as other deities, that it described as enmeshed with the world, namely the gods of Jews, Christians and pagans.[41]Nevertheless, this dualistic teaching included an elaborate cosmological myth that narrates the defeat of primal man by the powers of darkness that devoured and imprisoned the particles of light.[42]

Valentinian Gnosticism taught that matter came about through emanations of the supreme being, even if to some this event is held to be more accidental than intentional.[citation needed] To other gnostics, these emanations were akin to the Sephirot of the Kabbalists and deliberate manifestations of a transcendent God through a complex system of intermediaries.[citation needed]
Judaism[edit]

While mainstream Rabbinic Judaism is classically monotheistic, and follows in the footsteps of Maimonides (c. 1135–1204), the panentheistic conception of God can be found among certain mystical Jewish traditions. A leading scholar of Kabbalah, Moshe Idel[43] ascribes this doctrine to the kabbalistic system of Moses ben Jacob Cordovero(1522–1570) and in the eighteenth century to the Baal Shem Tov (c. 1700–1760), founder of the Hasidic movement, as well as his contemporaries, Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch (died 1772), and Menahem Mendel, the Maggid of Bar. This may be said of many, if not most, subsequent Hasidic masters. There is some debate as to whether Isaac Luria (1534–1572) and Lurianic Kabbalah, with its doctrine of tzimtzum, can be regarded as panentheistic.

According to Hasidism, the infinite Ein Sof is incorporeal and exists in a state that is both transcendent and immanent. This appears to be the view of non-Hasidic Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, as well. Hasidic Judaism merges the elite ideal of nullification to a transcendent God, via the intellectual articulation of inner dimensions through Kabbalah and with emphasis on the panentheistic divine immanence in everything.[44]

Many scholars would argue that "panentheism" is the best single-word description of the philosophical theology of Baruch Spinoza.[45] It is therefore no surprise, that aspects of panentheism are also evident in the theology of Reconstructionist Judaism as presented in the writings of Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983), who was strongly influenced by Spinoza.[46]

Islam[edit]
Further information: Tawheed

Several Sufi saints and thinkers, primarily Ibn Arabi, held beliefs that have been considered panentheistic.[47] These notions later took shape in the theory of wahdat ul-wujud (the Unity of All Things). Some Sufi Orders, notably the Bektashis[48] and the Universal Sufi movement, continue to espouse panentheistic beliefs. Nizari Ismaili follow panentheism according to Ismaili doctrine. Nevertheless, some Shia Muslims also do believe in different degrees of Panentheism.

Al-Qayyuum is a Name of God in the Qur'an which translates to "The Self-Existing by Whom all subsist". In Islam the universe can not exist if Allah doesn't exist, and it is only by His power which encompasses everything and which is everywhere that the universe can exist. In Ayaẗ al-Kursii God's throne is described as "extending over the heavens and the earth" and "He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them". This does not mean though that the universe is God, or that a creature (like a tree or an animal) is God, because those would be respectively pantheism, which is a heresy in traditional Islam, and the worst heresy in Islam, shirk (polytheism). God is separated by His creation but His creation can not survive without Him.
In Pre-Columbian America[edit]

The Mesoamerican empires of the Mayas, Aztecs as well as the South American Incas(Tahuatinsuyu) have typically been characterized as polytheistic, with strong male and female deities.[49] According to Charles C. Mann's history book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, only the lower classes of Aztec society were polytheistic. Philosopher James Maffie has argued that Aztec metaphysics was pantheistic rather than panentheistic, since Teotl was considered by Aztec philosophers to be the ultimate all-encompassing yet all-transcending force defined by its inherit duality.[50]

Native American beliefs in North America have been characterized as panentheistic in that there is an emphasis on a single, unified divine spirit that is manifest in each individual entity.[51] (North American Native writers have also translated the word for God as the Great Mystery[52] or as the Sacred Other[53]) This concept is referred to by many as the Great Spirit. Philosopher J. Baird Callicott has described Lakota theology as panentheistic, in that the divine both transcends and is immanent in everything.[54]

One exception can be modern Cherokee who are predominantly monotheistic but apparently not panentheistic;[55] yet in older Cherokee traditions many observe both aspects of pantheism and panentheism, and are often not beholden to exclusivity, encompassing other spiritual traditions without contradiction, a common trait among some tribes in the Americas. In the stories of Keetoowah storytellers Sequoyah Guess and Dennis Sixkiller, God is known as ᎤᏁᎳᏅᎯ, commonly pronounced "unehlanv," and visited earth in prehistoric times, but then left earth and her people to rely on themselves. This shows a parallel to Vaishnava cosmology.

Sikhism[edit]

The Sikh gurus have described God in numerous ways in their hymns included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhism, but the oneness of the deity is consistently emphasized throughout. God is described in the Mool Mantar, the first passage in the Guru Granth Sahib, and the basic formula of the faith is:


(Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 1) — ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥


Ik Oankar Satnaam KartaaPurakh Nirbhau Nirvair AkaalMoorat Ajooni Saibhan GurPrasad


One primal being who made the sound (oan) that expanded and created the world. Truth is the name. Creative being personified. Without fear, without hate. Image of the undying. Beyond birth, self existent. By Guru's grace~

Guru Arjan, the fifth guru of Sikhs, says, "God is beyond colour and form, yet His/Her presence is clearly visible" (Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 74), and "Nanak's Lord transcends the world as well as the scriptures of the east and the west, and yet He/She is clearly manifest" (Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 397).

Knowledge of the ultimate Reality is not a matter for reason; it comes by revelation of the ultimate reality through nadar (grace) and by anubhava (mystical experience). Says Guru Nanak; "budhi pathi na paiai bahu chaturaiai bhai milai mani bhane." This translates to "He/She is not accessible through intellect, or through mere scholarship or cleverness at argument; He/She is met, when He/She pleases, through devotion" (GG, 436).

Guru Nanak prefixed the numeral one (ik) to it, making it Ik Oankar or Ek Oankar to stress God's oneness. God is named and known only through his Own immanent nature. The only name which can be said to truly fit God's transcendent state is SatNam ( Sat Sanskrit, Truth), the changeless and timeless Reality. God is transcendent and all-pervasive at the same time. Transcendence and immanence are two aspects of the same single Supreme Reality. The Reality is immanent in the entire creation, but the creation as a whole fails to contain God fully. As says Guru Tegh Bahadur, Nanak IX, "He has himself spread out His/Her Own “maya” (worldly illusion) which He oversees; many different forms He assumes in many colours, yet He stays independent of all" (GG, 537).

Bahá'í Faith[edit]

Further information: God in the Bahá'í Faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, God is described as a single, imperishable God, the creator of all things, including all the creatures and forces in the universe. The connection between God and the world is that of the creator to his creation.[56] God is understood to be independent of his creation, and that creation is dependent and contingent on God. Accordingly, theBahá'í Faith is much more closely aligned with traditions of monotheism than panentheism. God is not seen to be part of creation as he cannot be divided and does not descend to the condition of his creatures. Instead, in the Bahá'í understanding, the world of creation emanates from God, in that all things have been realized by him and have attained to existence.[57] Creation is seen as the expression of God's will in the contingent world,[58] and every created thing is seen as a sign of God's sovereignty, and leading to knowledge of him; the signs of God are most particularly revealed in human beings.[56]
Konkōkyō[edit]

In Konkōkyō, God is named “Tenchi Kane no Kami-Sama” which can mean “Golden spirit of the universe.” Kami(God) is also seen as infinitely loving and powerful.

See also[edit]

Brahman
Christian Universalism
Conceptions of God
Creation Spirituality
Divine simplicity
Double-aspect theory
Essence-Energies distinction
German idealism
Henosis
Kabbalah
Neoplatonism
Neutral monism
Open theism
The Over-Soul(1841), essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Orthodox Christian theology
Pantheism
Pandeism

Parabrahman
Paramatman
Philosophy of space and time
Process theology
Subud, a spiritual movement, founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo(1901–1987)
Tawhid, the concept of indivisible oneness in Islam
Universal Sufism

People associated with panentheism:
  • Gregory Palamas(1296–1359), Byzantine theologian
  • Baruch Spinoza(1632–1677), Dutch philosopher of Sephardi-Portuguese origin
  • Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), English mathematician and philosopher
  • Charles Hartshorne(1897–2000), American philosopher
  • Arthur Peacocke(1924–2006), British Anglican theologian and biochemist
  • John B. Cobb (* 1925), American theologian and philosopher
  • Mordechai Nessyahu (1929–1997), Jewish-Israeli political theorist and philosopher of Cosmotheism
  • Sallie McFague (* 1933), American feminist theologian, author of Models of God and The Body of God
  • William Luther Pierce (1933–2002), American political activist and self-proclaimed cosmotheist
  • Jan Assmann (* 1938), German Egyptologist, theorist of Cosmotheism
  • Marcus Borg(1942-2015), American New Testament scholar and theologian. Prominent member of the Jesus Seminar
  • Richard Rohr (* 1943), American Franciscan priest and spiritual writer. Author of Everything Belongs and The Universal Christ
  • Carter Heyward (* 1945), American Episcopal priest and feminist theologian
  • Norman Lowell (* 1946), Maltese writer and politician, self-proclaimed cosmotheist
  • John Philip Newell(* 1953), Canadian-born minister ordained in the Church of Scotland, spiritual writer, author of numerous books including The Rebirthing of God: Christianity's Struggle for New Beginnings
  • John Polkinghorne(* 1960), English theoretical physicist and theologian
  • Michel Weber (* 1963), Belgian philosopher
  • Thomas Jay Oord(* 1965), American theologian and philosopher


References[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b John Culp (2013): “Panentheism”, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
^ Jump up to:a b Erwin Fahlbusch; Geoffrey William Bromiley; David B. Barrett (2005). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. 4. William B. Eerdmans. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8028-2416-5.
^ “Pantheism and Panentheism in non-Western cultures”, in: Britannica.
^ Whiting, Robert. Religions for Today. Stanley Thomes, London 1991, p. viii. ISBN 0-7487-0586-4.
^ Ethics, part I, prop. 15.
^ Ethics, part I, prop. 25S.
^ Picton, J. Allanson, "Pantheism: Its Story and Significance", 1905.
^ Fraser, Alexander Campbell, "Philosophy of Theism", William Blackwood and Sons, 1895, p. 163.
^ Correspondence of Benedict de Spinoza, Wilder Publications, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60459-156-9, letter 73.
^ Karl Jaspers, Spinoza (Great Philosophers), Harvest Books, 1974, ISBN 978-0-15-684730-8, pp. 14 and 95.
^ Charles Hartshorne and William Reese, Philosophers Speak of God, Humanity Books, 1953, ch. 4.
^ Smith, David L. (2014). Theologies of the 21st Century: Trends in Contemporary Theology. Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock. p. 228. ISBN 978-1625648648. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
^ Southgate, Christopher (2005). God, Humanity and the Cosmos: A Companion to the Science-Religion Debate. London: T&T Clark. pp. 246–47. ISBN 978-0567030160. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
^ John W. Cooper Panentheism, the other God of the philosophers: from Plato to the presentBaker Academic, 2006, ISBN 0-8010-2724-1.
^ Charles Hartshorne, Man's Vision of God and the Logic of Theism (1964) ISBN 0-208-00498-X p. 348; cf. Michel Weber, Whitehead’s Pancreativism. The Basics. Foreword by Nicholas Rescher, Ontos Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Paris, 2006.
^ Nigal, Sahebrao Genu (2009). Vedic Philosophy of Values. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre. p. 81. ISBN 978-8172112806. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Oberlies (1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest hymns in book 10. Estimates for a terminus post quem of the earliest hymns are more uncertain. Oberlies (p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100
^ The Purusha Sukta in Daily Invocations by Swami Krishnananda
^ Krishnananda, Swami. A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India. Divine Life Society. P. 19
^ "Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta ," By William M. Indich, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1995, ISBN 81-208-1251-4.
^ "Gandhi And Mahayana Buddhism". Class.uidaho.edu. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
^ Wainwright, William. "Concepts of God". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Wainwright, William, "Concepts of God", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
^ Jump up to:a b Southgate, Christopher. God, Humanity, and the Cosmos. T&T Clark Int'l, New York. P. 246. ISBN 0567030164.
^ Sherma, Rita DasGupta; Sharma Arvind. Hermeneutics and Hindu Thought: Toward a Fusion of Horizons. Springer, 2008 edition (December 1, 2010). P. 192. ISBN 9048178002.
^ Caitanya Caritamrita, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
^ The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism, By Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, p.44
^ Ksemaraja, trans. by Jaidev Singh, Spanda Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.119
^ The Trika Śaivism of Kashmir, Moti Lal Pandit
^ Vitsaxis, Vassilis. Thought and Faith: The concept of divinity. Somerset Hall Press. P. 167. ISBN 978-1-935244-03-5.
^ Subramanian, V. K., Saundaryalahari of Sankaracarya: Sanskrit Text in Devanagari with Roman Transliteration, English Translation, Explanatory Notes, Yantric Diagrams and Index. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi, 1977; 6th ed. 1998). P. ix.
^ "Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) (translated Brian Browne Walker)". Retrieved 2018-12-12.
^ Zen For Americans by Soyen Shaku, translated by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, 1906, pages 25–26. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zfa/zfa04.htm
^ Nesteruk, Alexei V. (2004). "The Universe as Hypostaic Inherence in the logos of God: Panentheism in the Eastern Orthodox Perspective", in In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being: Panentheistic Reflections on God's Presence in a Scientific World, edited by Philip Clayton and Arthur Robert Peacocke. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. 169–83. ISBN 978-0802809780. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
^ St. Symeon in Practical & Theological Discourses, 1.1: “When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.”
^ About Charles Hartshorne Archived 2007-11-14 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Potgieter, R., 2013, ‘Keith Ward’s soft panentheism’, In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi 47(1), Art. #581, 9 pages. https://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ ids.v47i1.581
^ Baker, Vaughn W. (2013). Evangelism and the Openness of God: The Implications of Relational Theism. Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock. pp. 242–43. ISBN 9781620320471. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Smith, Andrew Phillip (2014). A Dictionary of Gnosticism. Wheaton IL: Quest Books. p. 186. ISBN 9780835608695. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Gospel of Thomas, saying 77.
^ “Now, he who spoke with Moses, the Jews, and the priests he says is the archont of Darkness, and the Christians, Jews, and pagans (ethnic) are one and the same, as they revere the same god. For in his aspirations he seduces them, as he is not the god of truth. And so therefore all those who put their hope in the god who spoke with Moses and the prophets have (this in store for themselves, namely) to be bound with him, because they did not put their hope in the god of truth. For that one spoke with them (only) according to their own aspirations.” And elsewhere: “Now God has no part in this cosmos nor does he rejoice over it.” Classical Texts: Acta Archelai, p. 76 ([www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Manicheism/Manicheism_II_Texts.pdf pdf online]). Cf. The Mystica an Dualism.
^ "But the blessed One [...] sent, through his beneficent Spirit and his great mercy, a helper to Adam, luminous Epinoia which comes out of him, who is called Life. [...] And the luminous Epinoia was hidden in Adam, in order that the archons might not know her, but that the Epinoia might be a correction of the deficiency of the mother. And the man came forth because of the shadow of the light which is in him. [...] And they took counsel with the whole array of archons and angels. [...] And they brought him (Adam) into the shadow of death, in order that they might form (him) again from earth [...] This is the tomb of the newly-formed body with which the robbers had clothed the man, the bond of forgetfulness; and he became a mortal man. [...] But the Epinoia of the light which was in him, she is the one who was to awaken his thinking. ([1])
^ Hasidism: Between Ecstacy and Magic, SUNY, 1995, p. 17 f.
^ Ariel, David S. (2006). Kabbalah: The Mystic Quest in Judaism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 184–85. ISBN 978-0742545649. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
^ Diller, Jeanine and Asa Kasher (2013). Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities. Dordrecht: Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 425–26. ISBN 978-94-007-5218-4. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Scult, Mel (2013). The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-0-253-01075-9. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Minai, Asghar Talaye (2003). Mysticism, aesthetics, and cosmic consciousness: a post-modern worldview of unity of being. N.Y.: Global Academic Pub. p. 250. ISBN 978-1586842499.
^ Abiva, Huseyin. "Bektashi Thought & Practice". Bektashi Order of Dervishes. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ Murphy, John (2014). Gods & Goddesses of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec Civilizations. New York: Rosen Education Service. ISBN 978-1622753963. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
^ Maffie, James (2013). Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 9781607322238. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
^ Solomon, Robert C. and Kathleen M. Higgins (2003). From Africa to Zen: An Invitation to World Philosophy. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 51–54. ISBN 978-0742513495. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
^ Russell Means, Where White Men Fear To Tread (Macmillan, 1993), pp. 3–4, 15, 17.
^ George Tinker, Spirit and Resistance: Political Theology and American Indian Liberation, 2004, p. 89. He defines the Sacred Other as "the Deep Mystery which creates and sustains all Creation".
^ Earth's Insights: A Multicultural Survey of Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin to the Australian Outback. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1994. p. 122. ISBN 9780520085602. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
^ The Peoples of the World Foundation. Education for and about Indigenous Peoples: The Cherokee People, retrieved 2008-03-24.
^ Jump up to:a b Smith, Peter (2000). "God". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-85168-184-6.
^ `Abdu'l-Bahá (1981) [1904–06]. Some Answered Questions. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-0-87743-190-9.
^ Smith, Peter (2000). "creation". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1-85168-184-6.
Bibliography[edit]
Ankur Barua, "God’s Body at Work: Rāmānuja and Panentheism," in: International Journal of Hindu Studies, 14,1 (2010), pp. 1–30.
Philip Clayton and Arthur Peacock (eds.), In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being; Panentheistic Reflections on God's Presence in a Scientific World, Eerdmans (2004)
Bangert, B.C. (2006). Consenting to God and nature: Toward a theocentric, naturalistic, theological ethics, Princeton theological monograph ser. 55, Pickwick Publications, Eugene.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica articlePanentheism.

Cooper, John W. (2006). Panentheism: The Other God of the Philosophers, Baker Academic ISBN 9780801027246
Thomas Jay Oord (2010). The Nature of Love: A Theology ISBN 978-0-8272-0828-5.
Joseph Bracken, "Panentheism in the context of the theology and science dialogue", in: Open Theology, 1 (2014), 1–11 (online).
Marbaniang, Domenic (2011). Epistemics of Divine Reality. POD. ISBN 9781105160776.

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“인간화 실현된 세계야말로 예수의 하느님나라” : 종교 : 사회 : 뉴스 : 한겨레



“인간화 실현된 세계야말로 예수의 하느님나라” : 종교 : 사회 : 뉴스 : 한겨레




“인간화 실현된 세계야말로 예수의 하느님나라”

등록 :2019-06-05

인터뷰 | 원로 신학자 송기득 교수 인터뷰
---------------------------
‘예수 안 믿으면 지옥 간다’는 미신
십일조 목매는 한국 기독교 낳아
예수가 대신 속죄한다는 ‘대속론’
희생양 바친 유대교 제사에서 유래
인간을 비주체적 노예로 전락시켜

자유·평등·평화·정의 구현하는
인간 회복이 곧 하느님나라 만들기
예수는 로마 압제에 저항한 정치범


중학 시절 설교 듣고 평생 목사 결심
더 좋은 목자 되려 대학은 철학과로
류영모 강연 듣고는 더 넓은 세계로
늦깎이 교수 되곤 토착신학 길 개척
먼저 간 아내에게 쓴 편지 10권 출간


송기득 교수 앞에 그가 매일 산책길에서 주워 병상의 부인에게 선물했다는 솔방울이 놓여 있다.
------

지난달 24일 전남 순천시 봉화산 기슭에 머물고 있는 송기득(88) 교수를 찾았다. 봉화는 공동체의 위기에 타오른다. 그는 봉화다. 그러나 송 교수는 자신을 다 타버린 숯인 양 “이제 죽을 준비를 하고 있는 사람에게 어인 발걸음이냐”고 했다. 대학을 정년 은퇴한 뒤 2001년부터 계간지 <신학비평>을 내고 이어 낸 <신학비평너머>마저 지난해 말로 폐간시켰으니 허언만은 아니다.


그런 그가 끝내 놓지 않는 단 하나의 글이 있다. ‘아내 정순애에게 보내는 편지’다. 그의 아내는 2016년 7월22일 96살을 일기로 ‘몸옷’을 벗었다. 대학생 때 여순사건으로 졸지에 남편을 잃고 전도사로 살며 아이 셋을 키우던, 11살 연상의 아내를 만나 그는 63년을 해로했다. 아내가 떠난 뒤 그는 매일처럼 870통의 편지를 써 10권째 책을 냈다. 별난 사랑이다. 아내는 63년을 살면서 늘 따뜻한 미소를 짓고, 한번도 화를 낸 적이 없었다고 한다. 그래서 쌍둥이 큰딸들에게 물었다. ‘너희들 어릴 때도 엄마가 그랬느냐’고. 그중 한 딸은 어린 시절 너무 배가 고파 남의 집 고구마를 훔쳤는데, 그때 딱 한 번 어머니에게 매를 맞았다고 했다. 그때 고구마 주인이 집에 쫓아와 “전도사 딸도 남의 고구마를 훔치느냐”고 힐난하자 평생 말대답을 삼가던 어머니가 “전도사 딸은 사람이 아니다요?”라고 했단다. 인근 요양원에 사는 81살의 그 딸이 거동도 힘겨운 노구를 이끌고 점심때가 되면 어김없이 찾아와 수양아버지의 식사를 챙겨준다.

누구도 대신할 수 없는 ‘인간 송기득’만의 삶은 ‘특별한 사랑’에만 한정되지 않는다. 그는 해창만이 바라다보이는 전남 고흥의 빈농에서 5남매 중 장남으로 태어났다. 일곱 식구 끼니가 어려운 집안 형편상 중학교 진학은 어렵다는 부모 몰래 연락선을 타고 여수로 가서 수산중학교에 합격하며 그의 신산한 삶이 시작됐다. 선산에서 소나무 몇 그루를 베어 판 돈으로 입학금을 내고 한 달에 쌀 한 말, 된장 한 단지, 간장 한 병 이외 더 이상 지원은 요구하지 않는다는 조건으로 겨우 진학은 했으나 불도 때지 않는 토굴 같은 방에서 한겨울을 지내며 굶기를 밥 먹듯 했다. 그나마 수산중학교 1학년 때 1등을 하자 고향 수협의 추천으로 수산청에서 수산대학 졸업 때까지 장학금을 주겠다고 해 고생을 면할 만하자 그는 순천 매산중학교로 전학을 단행했다. 고향 교회에 봉사하러 왔던 여수 손양원 목사의 설교를 듣고는 ‘나도 목사가 되어야겠다’고 한 결심을 실행하기 위해 인근에 하나뿐이던 ‘미션스쿨’로 간 것이다.

또 그는 음으로 양으로 돌봐주던 보이열 선교사가 형편상 등록금이 싼 지방국립대를 가라고 하는데도 기어코 ‘미션스쿨’인 연세대에 합격했고, 연세대에 가려면 신학과를 가라는 요구도 거절하고 ‘무식한 목사가 안 되려면 철학을 공부해야 한다’며 철학과 진학을 결행했다. 그는 철학과 수석을 놓치지 않아 전 학년에서 한 명만 주는 전액 장학생으로 형편이 좀 나아지는 듯했으나 4학년 때 폐결핵으로 무려 3년 반이나 사투를 벌였다. 당시 광주 동광원에서 요양하면서 수양회 강연을 온 류영모의 강연을 들은 그는 “기독교 외엔 무지했고 알 필요도 없다고 여겼던 ‘좁은 우물’에서 나와 그리스도교만이 아닌 드넓은 보편 세계에 눈을 떴다”고 한다.



송기득 교수와 부인 정순애씨의 다정했던 모습
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.투병 뒤 그를 너무도 아낀 교수들의 천거로 학부 졸업생임에도 연세대 문과대 전임조교가 됐으나 5·16 쿠데타가 터져 군 미필자를 몰아냈다. 폐결핵을 앓다가 군대를 못 간 처지도 받아들여지지 않았다. 국토건설단에 지원해 강원도 정선 탄광에서 1년간 중노동으로 군복무를 마쳤지만 복직을 시켜주지 않았다. 그는 그때 2개월 동안 무일푼으로 거지 행각을 하며 민초 구원자들을 만났다.

그는 폐결핵을 치료해주던 여의사 여성숙 선생이 시작한 목포의 한산촌에 내려가 불모지에서 폐병 환자 수용소를 짓기 시작했다. 여 선생의 친구로 한산촌에 자주 내려와 글을 쓰던 민중신학자 안병무와 인연을 맺은 것도 그때였다. 가난한 폐병 환자였던 그는 한산촌이 갈 곳 없는 폐결핵 환자들의 안식처로 계속 남기를 희망하며 헌신했다. 그러나 한산촌에 디아코니아수도회를 설립하기를 원했던 안병무·여성숙 선생에 의해 하루아침에 쫓겨나는 신세가 됐다. 그로부터 53살에야 목원대에 안착할 때까지 10여년을 보따리 강사로 지내야 했다. 그는 목원대에서도 늦깎이 교수로 머물지 않고 민중신학과 여성신학, 한국신학을 개설해 토착신학의 길을 개척해갔다.

그는 “‘예수 믿지 않으면 지옥 간다’는 미신이 그저 성서와 찬송가를 끼고 교회만 가고, 찬송하고 기도하고, 십일조만 바치면 복 받는다는 수준의 ‘한국 기독교’를 만들었다”고 한탄한다. 그는 둘째가라면 서러워할 외골수 보수 기독교인에서 ‘탈신학’까지 치열히 고군분투하며 변신한 결과, 지금 ‘정통’이라는 이름의 기독교가 말하는 그리스도는 ‘역사적 예수’가 아니라고 한다.

“당시 로마의 법은 신성에 대한 죄는 돌로 내려쳐 죽이고, 십자가형은 정치범에게만 하는 것이었다. 예수가 성전을 뒤엎은 날도 이스라엘이 이집트에서 해방된 유월절이다. 예수는 로마 압제에 저항하다 정치범으로 죽임을 당한 것이다.”

그는 기독교의 핵심 진리인 ‘대속자 그리스도’는 예수 이전 구시대의 유물이라고 한다. 즉 ‘자신이 저지른 죄를 예수가 대신 받아 자신의 죄를 사함 받는다는 대속론은 양이나 소, 순결한 처녀 같은 가엾은 희생제물을 바친 유대교의 제사 전통에서 유래했다’는 것이다. 송 교수는 “예수는 ‘사람은 안식일(모든 것)의 주인’이라며 주인됨과 주체성을 천명했는데 대속론은 인간을 비주체적인 노예로 전락시킨다”고 지적했다. 노학자의 대미는 ‘인간’으로 귀결되었다.

“예수의 하느님나라 운동은 로마의 지배세력과 헤로데의 독재권력, 그리고 예루살렘 성전 체제의 집권자들이 일삼은 탄압과 착취로부터 이스라엘 민중이 해방되어 사람으로 살아갈 수 있는 세계를 실현하기 위한 인간 회복 운동이었다. 실제 예수는 하느님의 나라를 이 역사 안에 실현하기 위해서 온 삶을 다해 살다 처형당했다. 해방과 자유, 평등과 평화, 정의와 구원으로 사람이 사람답게 살 수 있게 하는 인간화가 실현된 세계가 예수의 하느님나라다.”

그와 아내는 가정에서부터, 또 한산촌에서, 대학에서 그런 삶을 구현했다. 병상의 아내에게 산책길에서 주워 매일 선물했다는 솔방울을 보는 노신학자의 눈이 촉촉했다.

순천/글·사진 조현 종교전문기자 cho@hani.co.kr



원문보기:
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/religious/896702.html#csidx69d5e8e5cebf9c29f3d42d83b968e32