1st Edition

God and the Processes of Reality Foundations of a Credible Theism

By David A. Pailin Copyright 1989
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    Can belief in God be rational? David A. Pailin identifies the reasons behind this questioning of theistic faith in his book God and the Processes of Reality (originally published in 1989) and demonstrates how the supposed incoherences in the concept of God are due to the generalization of partial insights. He establishes the basic character of the concept of God, and examines the nature of the major attributes of the divine and of the relationship of God to the processes of reality, looking at God as creator, the relation of God to historical events, and the role of God as the basis for individual fulfilment.

    The book takes up many of the insights developed by Whitehead and Hartshorne in what is commonly known as process thought. Pailin explains these insights and counters common misapprehensions about them critically, sometimes radically so, to present a credible understanding of the God of theistic belief and a coherent understanding of the relationship of that God to the processes of reality. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of religion and philosophy.

    1. The problem of God today  2. The concept of God: demands and difficulties  3. God, metaphysics, and process thought  4. The dipolar structure of the concept of God  5. Panentheism  6. God as perfect and personal  7. God and creation: cosmogenesis  8. God and creation: evolution  9. God and history  10. God and human being: the act of God  11. God and human being: the significance of the human

    Biography

    David A. Pailin was Professor Emeritus of Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester, UK.

    Review of the first publication:

    “For those who find the pronouncements of process theology often elusive and impenetrable David Pailin’s [book] will provide a remarkably clear exposition of its central themes.”

    Scottish Journal of Theology, 1993