Panentheism

In my continuation of explaining the 3 “p“s of natural theology, the second p of Naturalismppp is panentheism.

This term is often mistaken for “pantheism.” There is nothing wrong with a word like pantheism. It simply means God or gods are in every natural thing.

“Panentheism”, on the other hand, simply means all are in God. By “all”, I mean ALL….the universe(s), every living creature, every particle. Thus, via panentheism, all is contained in God and God experiences what everything experiences. This “everything experiences” is the concept of panexperientialism (the third “p“) which will be discussed later.

The God of panentheism is different from the Aristotelian God. Per Aristotle:

“For the most divine science is also most honourable; and this science alone
must be, in two ways, most divine. For the science which it would be most meet for God to have is a divine science, and so is any science that deals with divine objects; and this science alone has both these qualities; for (1) God is thought to be
among the causes of all things and to be a first principle, and (2) such a science either God alone can have, or God above all others.”

By the way, a great 1907 open access article about Aristotle’s God has been written that I highly recommend.

Let’s think about what Aristotle is saying here. God is the “Prime Mover” or the first cause / first principle. God is separate from the world (“God alone can have…”). Is God separate from creation? I would argue that creation IS IN GOD, i.e. panentheism. God is not some lofty ideal that is separate from us, looking down at us, judging us, or perhaps not understanding us as God would be the prime meaning of God and of existence. Perhaps, just perhaps, God is a mighty God that contains all of us. When we say, “I feel God beside me” or “I feel the Spirit within me”, then these are statements that parallel the idea of panentheism. Many religions express or contain such statements. I am Christian, and Christians often say such words not realizing that they are expressing panentheism.

Personally, I find having God in every moment with me, in me, and surrounding me somewhat peaceful. Perhaps, I am simply a mystic here, but God surrounding me and experiencing what I go through is much more reasonable (to me) compared to a separate “God above.”

One more thing……..

In my upcoming book, A Theology of the Microbiome (SacraSage Press), I talk about panentheism in the setting of the microbiome in much detail. It will be much more expansive than an earlier article about this idea that I wrote in God and Nature in 2020. The editors of God and Nature have kindly let me re-use a figure that I initially made to describe panexperientialism, but to be honest, it also conveys the idea of panentheism:

Nature, bacteria, the Earth, and humanity are all in God. It’s quite a lovely idea, IMO.

By the way, I’m heading off to do some kayaking with my spouse tomorrow. It is hot in the grand state of Utah, so we shall see how it goes. I will continue the Naturalismppp route to finish off the trifecta of “p“s. However, there is a small NEJM editorial that I may comment on this weekend.

Thank you for reading.

image generated by Meta AI