Editing Panentheism (section)

==== Panentheism in other Christian confessions ====
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 [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]]. In later years, he joined the [[Austin, Texas]], [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian Universalist]] congregation and was an active participant in that church.<ref>[http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/charleshartshorne.html About Charles Hartshorne] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114200326/http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/charleshartshorne.html |date=2007-11-14 }}.</ref> Referring to 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:

<blockquote>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.<ref>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/.</ref></blockquote>

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]]''). [[Church of the Nazarene|Nazarene]] [[Methodist]] theologian [[Thomas Jay Oord]] (born 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 overcome the problem of evil and proposes that God's love for the world is essential to who God is.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Vaughn W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2lNAwAAQBAJ |title=Evangelism and the Openness of God: The Implications of Relational Theism |date=2013 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=9781620320471 |location=Eugene OR |pages=242–243 |access-date=1 October 2015}}</ref>

The [[Latter Day Saint movement]] teaches that the [[Light of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Light of Christ]] "proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things".<ref name = churchofjesuschrist.org>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/light-of-christ "Light of Christ"], churchofjesuschrist.org.</ref>