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Transcript

Theodicy in process philosophy

God's Power

In process theology and philosophy, God is not all-powerful (omnipotent) but rather God 's power is persuasive. God can lure creatures toward the good and away from evil, but God cannot force them to chose good.

Human Freedom

Process theology and the problem of evil

According to process theology

God cannot eliminate the evil in the world because God cannot unilaterally effect any state of affairs.

The Primordial and Consequent Nature of God

For Process thought, all human beings have a measure of freedom. The reality of human freedom means that God can not coerce human action.

God's role in the world is to present constantly the "initial aim" which represents the best that entity can be and become.

However, the final decision left up to each person. God can only persuade but never coerce human actions.

Introduction to Process theology

God's Primordial Nature contains all eternal possibilities for how creatures can advance. The consequent nature of God contains the

experiences and responses of creatures

as they choose to actualize some of

possibilities in their lives.

Thus, God's consequent nature changes

in response to the events in creatures and

in this way God is said to change or be in process.

Theodicy in Process Thought

So what does this all have to do with the problem of evil?

This slide presentation will explore an explanation of evil in process philosophy.

God and Evil

  • God offers persons possibilities and opportunities for the realization of good.
  • God adjusts his plans appropriately when finite creatures fail to live up to the ideal.
  • God attempts to lure his creatures into fulfilling the next set of possibilities.

God and Evil

Because God's power is limited to persuasion, if a person resists and rebels against God's persuasion, then there is literally nothing God can unilaterally do about it.

There is no guarantee that God will ultimately triumph over evil.

Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) modifies the classical attributes of the theistic deity by rejecting the classical concept of divine omnipotence.

Before proceeding, we must first explore

some of the components of process

philosophy. Process philosophy was

developed by Alfred North Whitehead.

Becoming and Being

Process thought is based on the view that reality as becoming rather than being. This notion is a reversal of the traditional approach. Thus, central themes in process thought are: development, the concept change, evolution in God and in creatures.

The Nature of God in Process thought.

  • God processes two natures: a Primordial Nature and a Consequent Nature.
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