An argument for conjoined panentheism

How to prove the existence of God: an argument for conjoined panentheism

Elizabeth D. Burns

This article offers an argument for a form of panentheism in which the divine is conceived as both ‘God the World’ and ‘God the Good’. ‘God the World’ captures the notion that the totality of everything which exists is ‘in’ God, while acknowledging that, given evil and suffering, not everything is ‘of’ God. ‘God the Good’ encompasses the idea that God is also the universal concept of Goodness, akin to Plato’s Form of the Good as developed by Iris Murdoch, which is inextricably conjoined with God the World because it is the nature of the world which determines the nature of perfect Goodness. This form of ‘conjoined’ panentheism yields a concept of divine personhood which includes both divine agency and human/divine engagement. God the Good is an agent of change by providing human persons with a standard of Goodness against which to measure the goodness of their own actions, while God the World provides the physical embodiment through which God acts. Human engagement with the divine may take a number of forms and may lead to moral action, the means by which the divine acts upon the world and changes it for the better.

Added the missing link - apologies for the error!

PROSPECTS FOR PANENTHEISM AS RESEARCH PROGRAM

Philip Clayton

Claremont School of Theology

Abstract. Panentheism is best understood as a philosophical research program. Identifying the core of the
research program offers a strong response to the demarcation objection. It also helps focus both objections
to and defenses of panentheism — and to show why common objections are not actually criticisms of the
position we are defending. The paper also addresses two common criticisms: the alleged inadequacy of
panentheism’s double “in” specification of the relationship between God and world, and the “double God”
objection. Once the research program framework is in place, topics like these become opportunities for
panentheists to engage in the kind of careful constructive work in theology and philosophy — historical,
analytic, and systematic — that is required for making long-term, positive contributions to our field