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Panentheism and the Conception of the Ultimate in John B. Cobb’s Process Philosophy
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology, Studies in Faith and Ideologies, Philosophy of Religion.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6018-429x
2019 (English)In: Sophia, ISSN 0038-1527, E-ISSN 1873-930X, Vol. 58, no 4, p. 631-643Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The concept of ultimate reality has an important role in the metaphysics of religious pluralism. John B. Cobb—a process philosopher in the Whiteheadian tradition—has suggested not only two ultimates, like other process philosophers, but three ultimates: God, creativity, and the cosmos. Based on this, I argue, firstly, that Cobb’s tripartite conception of the ultimate offers greater conceptual resources for inter-religious dialog than, for example, John Hick’s conception of ultimate reality or ‘the Real’. In support of this first claim, I will apply Cobb’s conception of the ultimate to Zen-Buddhism, thus exemplifying the resources of this conception. Secondly, given the conclusion that Cobb’s conception of the ultimate does indeed offer greater conceptual resources, I further explicate how panentheism, understood as the thesis of a transcendent, immanent divine being who is bilaterally related to the world, can be read in terms of Cobb’s conception of the ultimate. I thus argue that panentheism in general inherits and retains many of the conceptual resources of Cobb’s understanding of the ultimate, and can be seen as a preferable position in relation to religious pluralism. Finally, I conclude from the example of Zen-Buddhism that, although Cobb’s conception offers greater resources for engaging in a dialog from a metaphysical point of view, work has to be done to adequately address questions on the level of soteriology.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2019. Vol. 58, no 4, p. 631-643
Keywords [en]
Panentheism, Process philosophy, Ultimate reality, Zen-Buddhism, Religious pluralism
National Category
Religious Studies Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
Research subject
Philosophy of Religion
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-395412DOI: 10.1007/s11841-019-0715-8ISI: 000513216700006OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-395412DiVA, id: diva2:1362273
Available from: 2019-10-18 Created: 2019-10-18 Last updated: 2020-03-26Bibliographically approved

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