Panentheism (meaning "all-in-God", from the
Ancient Greek πᾶν pân, "all", ἐν en,
"in" and Θεός Theós, "God") is the belief
that the divine pervades and interpenetrates
every part of the universe and also extends
beyond time and space. 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 pantheism of Baruch Spinoza.
Unlike pantheism, which holds that the divine
and the universe are identical, 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, like in the Kabbalah concept of
tzimtzum. Also much Hindu thought – and
consequently Buddhist philosophy – is highly
characterized by panentheism and pantheism.
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.
== In philosophy ==
=== Ancient Greek philosophy ===
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
hypostasis above the original monad of force
or Dunamis (Δύναμις). This new all-pervasive
monad encompassed all creation and its original
uncreated emanations.
=== Modern philosophy ===
Baruch Spinoza later claimed that "Whatsoever
is, is in God, and without God nothing can
be, or be conceived." "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." Though Spinoza has been called the
"prophet" and "prince" 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".
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.
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.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. 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.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).
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.
== In religion ==
=== Hinduism ===
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, which was compiled
before 1100 BCE. 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.
From this being the sukta holds, the original
creative will proceeds, by which this vast
universe is projected in space and time.The
most influential and dominant 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." 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. The relationship
between Brahman and the creation is often
thought to be panentheistic.
Panentheism is also expressed in the Bhagavad
Gita. 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. Caitanya's
Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which elucidates the
doctrine of Acintya Bheda Abheda (inconceivable
oneness and difference), is also thought to
be panentheistic. In Kashmir Shaivism, all
things are believed to be a manifestation
of Universal Consciousness (Cit or Brahman).
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). Thus, Kashmir Shaivism is also propounding
of theistic monism or panentheism.Shaktism,
or Tantra, is regarded as an Indian prototype
of Panentheism. 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." 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 ===
Taoism says that all is part of the eternal
tao, and that all interact through qi.
=== Buddhism ===
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.
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 ===
Panentheism is also a feature of some Christian
philosophical theologies and resonates strongly
within the theological tradition of the Orthodox
Church. 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 ====
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. 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. 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
====
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.
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. 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).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. 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.
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.The Christian
Church International also holds to a panentheist
doctrine.
=== 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, 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. 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."
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. 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.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.
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.
=== Judaism ===
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 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.Many scholars would argue that
"panentheism" is the best single-word description
of the philosophical theology of Baruch Spinoza.
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.
=== Islam ===
Several Sufi saints and thinkers, primarily
Ibn Arabi, held beliefs that have been considered
panentheistic. These notions later took shape
in the theory of wahdat ul-wujud (the Unity
of All Things). Some Sufi Orders, notably
the Bektashis 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 ===
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. 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.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. (North American Native writers have
also translated the word for God as the Great
Mystery or as the Sacred Other) 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.One exception can be modern
Cherokee who are predominantly monotheistic
but apparently not panentheistic; 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.
=== Sikhism ===
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 ===
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. God is understood to be independent
of his creation, and that creation is dependent
and contingent on God. Accordingly, the Bahá'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. Creation
is seen as the expression of God's will in
the contingent world, 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.
=== Konkōkyō ===
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 ==
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
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.Thomas Jay Oord, The Nature of Love:
A Theology, 2010. 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.
== External links ==
Culp, John. "Panentheism". In Zalta, Edward
N. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Dr. Jay McDaniel on Panentheism
Biblical Panentheism: The “Everywhere-ness”
of God—God in all things, by Jon Zuck
John Polkinghorne on Panentheism
The Bible, Spiritual authority and Inspiration
– Lecture by Tom Wright at Spiritual Minded
