RT Article
T1 Panentheisms, Creation and Evil
JF Open theology
VO 5
IS 1
SP 166
OP 181
A1 Attfield, Robin 1931-
LA English
PB De Gruyter
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1830005243
AB Can panentheism cope with the problem of evil? This problem is often understood as one for classical theists, who maintain that the cosmos, together with its evils, was created by an all-powerful and benevolent God. For classical theists need to reconcile the world’s evils with divine creation. But corresponding problems re-emerge for theologies of both pantheistic and panentheistic kinds. Thus a problem arises for panentheists, with their teachings about a close relation between God and the cosmos. The closer the relation, the more intense the problem. Thus panentheists who regard the world as necessary to or part of God must hold that its evils are likewise necessary to or part of God. I explore in this paper whether panentheism can overcome the corresponding problem. This exploration involves sifting different varieties of panentheism. While for some varieties the problem is insoluble, this turns out to be less so for others, which retain central features of classical theism, while stressing interaction between God and the created world. In particular, grounds will be offered for holding that the version of panentheism put forward by Jürgen Moltmann and by Arthur Peacocke is defensible and can overcome this problem.
K1 Arthur Peacocke
K1 Bethany N. Sollereder
K1 Christopher Southgate
K1 Jürgen Moltmann
K1 Panentheism
K1 Strict Panentheism
K1 Contingency
K1 Creation
K1 Moral Evil
K1 Natural Evil
DO 10.1515/opth-2019-0012