Process Thought by David Griffin

• What is Griffin's argument about God's role in creation?

  - The world was ex-materia (with existing material). The universe is uncreated and infinite and having within it a deity

  - God was limited in his role as creator by what resources were already present but also limited in what could be developed. Flawed aspects of creation accounts for natural evil. God works by persuading creation towards a state of greater order and complexity, two kinds of goodness found (harmony and intensity). When creation rebels against God's persuasion he does nor have any power to impose his will so the corresponding evils of discord will result. His role is reduced to one that attracts creation to a state of perfection using persuasion
• What is Griffin's argument about the explanation of evil?

  - As the creation process develops the possibilities for good and evil increase, as both harmony and discord can be experienced in greater intensity. As humans exert their own influence on the world, God's control is further diminished as humans can ignore God.

  - By admitting the limits to God's power, process thought no longer needs to justify why God does not intervene to stop evil, for God is simply unable to do this.

  - God saw the possibility of goodness and believed that the value of goods was worth the risk.
• What is Griffin's argument about God suffering too?

  - God suffers with the world every time a morally evil act is committed. God is part of the world, affected by it and unable to control it. It is harder to be angry with God because he is not an impassive spectator but one who took great risks and shares in our suffering

  - It would be unreasonable for humans to condemn God for his role in the creative process when he suffered unimaginably more than anyone else from the consequences
• What is Griffin's argument about the purpose of evil in process thought?

  - The universe was chaotic and disordered at the start of time. There was no suffering or pain but a state of very high triviality

  - God is benevolent so it makes sense that he would push this chaotic but empty and meaningless universe towards order and harmony. But he should do this by slowly persuading the universe to order according to the fixed laws of nature

  - God of classical theism could create a perfect world in an instant, but realistically harmony and intensity are achieved through slow development of life through the process of evolution

  - The increasing complexity in the universe allows more happiness and pleasure, but also opens up the possibility of more pain and suffering. They are linked.

  - God has the dilemma in knowing that increasing harmony in the universe correspondingly increases the amount of evil. He is not omnipotent so there is no way to avoid this. It is better to live in a world with opportunities for goodness and suffering than to have no world at all.