Editing Panentheism (section)

=== Christianity ===
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2021}}

Panentheism is also a feature of some [[Christianity|Christian]] [[philosophical theology|philosophical theologies]] and resonates strongly within the [[Eastern Orthodox Christian theology|theological tradition]] of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].<ref name="Nesteruk">{{cite book|last1=Nesteruk|first1=Alexei V.|title="The Universe as Hypostaic Inherence in the logos of God: Panentheism in the Eastern Orthodox Perspective", in In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being: Panentheistic Reflections on God's Presence in a Scientific World, edited by Philip Clayton and Arthur Robert Peacocke|date=2004|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans|location=Grand Rapids, MI|isbn=978-0802809780|pages=169–83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N123ZrSR2b0C&q=Orthodox+christianity+panentheism&pg=PA169|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> It also appears in [[process theology]]. Process theological thinkers are generally regarded as unorthodox in the [[Western Christianity|Christian West]]. Furthermore, [[process philosophy]] is widely believed{{by whom|date=April 2025}} to have paved the way for [[open theism]], a movement that tends to associate itself primarily with the [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] branch of [[Protestantism]] but is also generally considered unorthodox by most evangelicals.

====Catholic panentheism====
A number of ordained [[Christian mysticism|Catholic mystics]] (including [[Richard Rohr]], [[David Steindl-Rast]], and [[Thomas Keating]]) have suggested that panentheism is the original view of Christianity.<ref name="Rohr19">{{Cite book |last=Rohr |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSNPDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22whereas+I+am+really+a+panentheist%22+Rohr&pg=PT48 |title=The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe |date=2019-03-05 |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-5247-6210-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Shared Spirituality |url=https://gratefulness.org/resource/shared-spirituality/ |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=Gratefulness.org}}</ref><ref name="Keating93">{{Cite book |last=Keating |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DHI4F-uiqJAC&dq=%22Clarifications+regarding+Centering+Prayer%22&pg=PT44 |title=The Thomas Keating Reader: Selected Writings from the Contemplative Outreach Newsletter |date=2012 |publisher=Lantern Books |isbn=978-1-59056-352-6 |language=en}}</ref> They hold that such a view is directly supported by [[Mysticism|mystical experience]] and the teachings of [[Jesus]] and [[Paul the Apostle]]. Richard Rohr surmises this in his 2019 book ''The Universal Christ'':

{{blockquote|text=But Paul merely took incarnationalism to its universal and logical conclusions. We see that in his bold exclamation “There is only Christ. He is everything and he is in everything” (Colossians 3:11). If I were to write that today, people would call me a pantheist (the universe is God), whereas I am really a panentheist (God lies within all things, but also transcends them), exactly like both Jesus and Paul.<ref name="Rohr19" />}}

Similarly, David Steindl-Rast posits that Christianity's original panentheism is being revealed through contemporary mystical insight:

{{blockquote|text=What characterizes our moment in history is the collapse of Christian theism. Gratefulness mysticism makes us realize that Christianity never was theistic, but panentheistic. Faith in God as triune implied this from the very beginning; now we are becoming aware of it. It becomes obvious, at the same time, that we share this Trinitarian experience of divine life with all human beings as a spiritual undercurrent in all religions, an undercurrent older and more powerful than the various doctrines. At the core of interreligious dialogue flows this shared spirituality of gratefulness, a spirituality strong enough to restore to our broken world unity.<ref name=":0" />}} This sentiment is mirrored in Thomas Keating's 1993 article, ''Clarifications Regarding Centering Prayer'':

{{blockquote|text=Pantheism is usually defined as the identification of God with creation in such a way that the two are indistinguishable. Panentheism means that God is present in all creation by virtue of his omnipresence and omnipotence, sustaining every creature in being without being identified with any creature. The latter understanding is what Jesus seems to have been describing when he prays "that all might be one, Father, as we are one" and "that they may also be in us" (John 17:22). Again and again, in the Last Supper discourse, he speaks of this oneness and his intentions to send his Spirit to dwell within us. If we understand the writings of the great mystics rightly, they experience God living within them all the time. Thus the affirmation of God's transcendence must always be balanced by the affirmation of his imminence both on the natural plane and on the plane of grace.<ref name="Keating93" />|source=}}

==== 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>