Process theodicy- Griffin

• arose out of twentieth-century process theology, which was an attempt to take into account the insights of quantum mechanics.
• what christian beliefs did process theology reject?

  • idea of creation ex nihilo: process theologians say its based on a mistranslation of genesis 1:1, god didn't create the universe from scratch but made existing chaotic matter into an ordered universe
  • the concept of god's omnipotence. if the universe already existed and posed a challenge to god's purpose for it, then god couldn't be in full control of it.
• both god and the universe have necessary, panentheistic and eternal existence:

  • god isn't transcendent
  • griffin uses the analogy of humans as embodied minds
  • god, then, is the soul of the universe
  • the universe is 'in' god, both existing necessary and eternally as 'god-and-a-world'
• panentheistic

  existence refers to the relationship between god and the universe. panentheism means 'everything (is) in God'. god is the soul of the universe, existing therefore within space and time.
• transcendent

  the belief that god is beyond space and time.
• just as the human mind cannot dictate the way the body works, so god cannot control his 'body', the universe. over billions of years god persuaded the universe into ever-increasing complexity and order.
• panentheism means there is no problem of evil for theists to solve as god cannot intervene or answer prayer. instead, there is just a long process of divine persuasion.
• the drive towards increased complexity inevitable leads to two possible and parallel results

  • the increased and increasing potential foe enjoyment and fulfilment
  • the increased and increasing capacity for suffering
  • the more complex the creature, the greater the potential either to work with god towards greater harmony in creation or to reject his purpose and encourage others to do the same.
• god is responsible but not culpable for having sparked off the evolutionary process that has resulted in suffering:

  • he cannot influence entities at the 'lowest' level of existence as they lack any awareness for god to appeal to
  • if god avoided the process that could lead to evil, the result would ave been a world without value
  • there are huge risks, but it is better to have our universe with its mixed experiences and possibly with worse purring to come than no universe at all
  • god shares all our suffering
• culpable

  deserving of blame
• strength & response


  s: fits in with current scientific knowledge and with biblical criticism

  w: some theists claim that we cannot be sure of the correct translation and interpretation of genesis 1:1.
• strength & response

  s: the concept of god as a 'fellow sufferer' because the entire sensory experience of the universe is 'in' him means that those who suffer have the assurance that god understands what they are going through

  w: this doesn't apply to animals, whose suffering is equally as great as that of humans. for humans, the risks of even worse suffering to come are enough to make them just give up the struggle to maximise good
• strength & response

  s: rejection of god's omnipotence means there is no conflict between the existence of an all-loving god and the reality of evil.

  w: for many theists, such a god is unworthy of worship:

  • given this, why did god bother to start of his project of persuasion?
  • and when he realised the extent of opposition, why did he not abandon it?
• strength & response

  s: the emphasis is on what we know from this world, so there is no speculation about what happens at death; the only immortality is objective immortality, where humans 'live on' eternally in the mind of god. griffin also makes a strong case, however, for subjective immortality, based on parapsychology and near-death experiences.

  w: the idea of objective immortality is deeply dissatisfying for many theists. the 'jury is still out' on parapsychology and near-death experiences: we don't know if they are evidence for some kind of existence beyond the current one.
• parapsychology

  the study of paranormal and psychic phenomena that are not within the sphere of scientific psychological phenomena.