Panentheism
In the year 1828, a German philosopher named Karl Christian Friedrich Krause introduced a new word into the philosophical lexicon. He called it panentheism. This term emerged from his study of Hindu scriptures and his desire to distinguish between two competing ideas about God. One idea came from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who lived from 1770 to 1831. The other came from Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, who lived from 1775 to 1854. Krause wanted to separate their views from the strict identity proposed by Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza claimed that whatever exists is in God. Krause argued instead that the universe resides within God while God also extends beyond the universe. This distinction created an ontological gap between the divine and the non-divine. It preserved the significance of both realms without collapsing them into one identical mass.
Ancient Greek thinkers laid early groundwork for these concepts through Neoplotonist philosophy. Plotinus taught that an ineffable transcendent God existed as the source of all reality. He called this entity the One. From the One emanated the Divine Mind known as Nous. It also produced the Cosmic Soul referred to as Psyche. Heraclitus had previously described a Logos that pervaded the cosmos centuries before Plotinus wrote. Heraclitus stated that anyone who hears not him but the Logos will say: All is one. Iamblichus later attempted to reconcile this perspective by adding another hypostasis above the original monad of force or Dynamis. This new all-pervasive monad encompassed all creation and its original uncreated emanations. The world itself was considered God according to Plato's Timaeus 37. These ancient ideas established a framework where divinity permeates existence yet remains distinct from it.
Charles Hartshorne became the central figure in modernizing panentheism during the mid twentieth century. Born in 1897, he died in 2000 after a long career developing process theology. Hartshorne examined numerous conceptions of God beginning in the 1940s. He reviewed and discarded pantheism, deism, and pandeism in favor of panentheism. He found 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. God has absolute perfection in categories for which absolute perfection is possible. Relative perfection applies to categories for which perfection cannot be precisely determined. He maintained lifelong membership in the Methodist church while also joining an Austin Texas Unitarian Universalist congregation later in life. His work influenced theologians like John Cobb and Arthur Peacocke who continue to explore these themes today.
Hindu philosophy offers some of the earliest references to panentheistic thought in history. The Purusha Sukta section of the Rig Veda was compiled before 1100 BCE. It describes the spiritual unity of the cosmos through the nature of Purusha or cosmic being. This being remains immanent in the manifested world yet transcendent beyond it. Krishna states in verse IX.4 of the Bhagavad Gita that he pervades everything. Advaita Vedanta insists Brahman is without parts or attributes and one without a second. Nimbarka's school of differential monism and Ramanuja's qualified monism both embrace panentheistic views. Kashmir Shaivism teaches that all things are manifestations of Universal Consciousness called Cit or Brahman. Shaktism regards the cosmos itself as energy embodied by Shakti, the primordial force holding all creation within herself. These traditions reject dualism while maintaining that God is greater than the sum total of all cycles of birth and death.
Jewish mysticism developed complex interpretations of divine immanence distinct from mainstream Rabbinic tradition. Moshe Idel identified this doctrine within the kabbalistic system of Moses ben Jacob Cordovero who lived from 1522 to 1570. The Baal Shem Tov founded the Hasidic movement around 1700 and died in 1760. His contemporaries included Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch who died in 1772 and Menahem Mendel the Maggid of Bar. Isaac Luria proposed the doctrine of tzimtzum which some scholars debate as panentheistic. Hasidism describes the infinite Ein Sof as incorporeal yet existing in a state that is both transcendent and immanent. Mordecai Kaplan wrote extensively on Reconstructionist Judaism between 1881 and 1983. He strongly influenced by Spinoza presented aspects of panentheism through his theological writings. This approach merges nullification with a transcendent God via intellectual articulation of inner dimensions found in Kabbalah.
Pre-Columbian empires like the Aztecs and Mayas have been characterized as polytheistic but also contain panentheistic metaphysics. Philosopher James Maffie argued that Aztec metaphysics was panentheistic since Teotl functioned as an ultimate all-encompassing force defined by inherited duality. Native American beliefs in North America emphasize a single unified divine spirit manifest in each individual entity. Lakota theology describes this divine presence as both transcending and immanent in everything. Cherokee traditions often observe both pantheism and panentheism without contradiction. Storytellers Sequoyah Guess and Dennis Sixkiller describe God as unehlanv who visited earth in prehistoric times before leaving humanity to rely on themselves. The Great Spirit concept appears across many tribes as a deep mystery which creates and sustains all creation. These indigenous systems resist Western categories while affirming that divinity resides within nature and every particle of being.
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Common questions
Who introduced the term panentheism in 1828?
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause introduced the term panentheism in the year 1828. He developed this concept to distinguish his views from those of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling.
When did Charles Hartshorne modernize panentheism during the mid twentieth century?
Charles Hartshorne began examining conceptions of God in the 1940s to develop process theology. He lived from 1897 until 2000 while formulating a doctrine where God could become more perfect.
What is the date range for the Purusha Sukta section of the Rig Veda?
The Purusha Sukta section of the Rig Veda was compiled before 1100 BCE. This text describes the spiritual unity of the cosmos through the nature of Purusha or cosmic being.
Which Jewish mystic proposed the doctrine of tzimtzum around 1522 to 1570?
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero lived from 1522 to 1570 within the kabbalistic system that Moshe Idel identified as containing divine immanence. Isaac Luria later proposed the doctrine of tzimtzum which some scholars debate as panentheistic.
How does Lakota theology describe the divine presence in Native American beliefs?
Lakota theology describes this divine presence as both transcending and immanent in everything. The Great Spirit concept appears across many tribes as a deep mystery which creates and sustains all creation.