Panentheism: The Other God of the Philosophers: From Plato To The Present

by John W. Cooper

The God of classical theism is often referred to as the God of the philosophers. Today, however, the contemporary theological landscape has shifted in the direction of the other god of the panentheism. This intricate and complex world-view literally means that all is in God; as a soul is related to a body, God is related to the world.
While panentheism is not a new theological system, it has experienced a renaissance, especially among thinkers who study the intersection of science and religion. Philosopher and theologian John Cooper's ' The Other God of the Philosophers' is the first text of its kind written in English. The author traces the development and proliferation of panentheism from Plato to Alfred North Whitehead and beyond. Along the way, Cooper examines the panentheism of several contemporary thinkers such as Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Philip Clayton and John Polkinghorne. Furthermore, he discusses how panentheism has influenced liberation, feminist and ecological theologies. The discussion also examines the so-called open view of God to consider whether this view is panentheistic.
The concluding chapter offers a judicious analysis of panentheism, as Cooper explains his commitment to a modified classical theism over panentheism. He believes that classical theism is more adequate than panentheism for providing a biblically faithful, philosophically sound articulation of Christian theology, salvation history, and the Christian world-view. While he ultimately sides with classical theism, Cooper's aim throughout is to provide a fair, accurate, and empathetic overview of panentheism that is helpful for all readers, including panentheists .

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Religion

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

About the author

John W. Cooper (PhD, University of Toronto) is professor of philosophical theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. He has written Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate and Our Father in Heaven: Christian Faith and Inclusive Language for God.

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cooper's treatment of the history of panentheism is simply brilliant. He retraces the origins of panentheism from Plato and Plotinus, Cusa and Böme to Hegel and Schelling, Moltmann and Pannenberg. He focuses more extensively on some rather than others, and carefully distinguishes between the diverse strands of panentheism: dividing it between classical and modern (the former is deterministic [Schleirmacher as the last representative], the latter is libertarian [Moltmann, etc.]).

This book was so informative and extremely pertinent to my studies as well. I highly recommend this book (7/12/15).

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I have begun reading this book again, this time as a requirement for Prof. Cooper's class on panentheism.

Finished a second time as of 12/1/16

[Sooho Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An invaluable resource to Panentheism in its historical development. Caveat: the author is not a panentheist.

[Sean Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

A challenging but enlightening book.

[Shayaz Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I myself have strong leaning towards panentheism, it's an average reference book for introduction to its proponents. It contains all the philosophers and theologians who had panentheistic tendencies in history (western history). It's very euro-centric by default, has a small portion in the end discussing non-Christian panentheistic writers with barely 7 pages. Also there is a lot of repeating ideas (necessarily) which might make the reader a little impatient. Overall this is an okay introduction for the novice non-panentheistic audience, to grasp the theistic terminology and philosophical doctrines of God. You have to read furthur books of the mentioned writers to understand panentheistic nuisances and delicate divergences from pantheism and monism better.

[Aisling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was useful in many ways, and I will probably dip into it more than once just to clarify some ideas and terminology. But Cooper has a tendency to state things in a rather arbitrary fashion, leading the reader to take things as fact that are, historically and philosophically, probably closer to conjecture. I don't like didacticism, but much of the information was useful, as long as I checked it and filtered it through what I already knew.

[Wyatt Houtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that causes you to reevaluate pantheism and the philosophy of all theologians.