The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it,
the world and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.
This psalm seems to be speaking of panentheism. My blogging friend Jon writes, “One of the wildest aspects of mystical Christian thought lies in the simple truth that God is everywhere. And if God is in fact everywhere, then God is in all things, and all things are in God”. Mystical theologian Matthew Fox writes: "As the ocean is in the fish and the fish are in God, so God is in everything and everything is in God."
the world and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.
This psalm seems to be speaking of panentheism. My blogging friend Jon writes, “One of the wildest aspects of mystical Christian thought lies in the simple truth that God is everywhere. And if God is in fact everywhere, then God is in all things, and all things are in God”. Mystical theologian Matthew Fox writes: "As the ocean is in the fish and the fish are in God, so God is in everything and everything is in God."
This concept is so fundamental, yet how difficult it is to wrap our minds around this. We tend to separate things into good and bad, of God and not of God, in fact we tend to even separate ourselves as not being of God. However, this psalm clearly suggests otherwise: God is in all things.
10 comments:
I guess catholicism sees pantheism as a kind of heresy :-) because it sees God as everything and everything as God but God isn't a personal being ... as opposed to panentheism, which means God is in everything and sustains it, but is greater than the sum of the universe's parts. For instance, the Jesuits say that they look for God in all things, meaning that he is present in all creation but still a distinct being, I think.
Strictly speaking -- theology makes a distinction between pantheism (a heresy under Catholic doctrine) and panentheism. Pantheism is the belief that the material universe is God - kind of a cosmic version of the Gaia hypothesis. Panentheism affirms traditional doctrine of divine transcendence -- God is present in all things but God also transcends all things. Panentheism isn't strictly speaking a heresy but the emphasis can lead to some sticky places if other aspects of Christian doctrine get sidelined.
I'm really not sure how panentheism deals with sin. And as you may have noticed -- my brand of the mystical tends towards emphasizing kenosis and moral formation rather than omnipresence.
I just recently learned of the idea of penentheism and I stood up and clapped with delight when I did. I'd been sternly warned against pantheism, of course, in my stiff little church, but my heart was telling me there was something more. So when I read about panentheism, my heart shouted YES. If more believers could get ahold of this concept, what a difference it could make in our attitude and treatment of our precious planet.
Wonderful post, wonderful comments! what more can I say, except to suggest that Meredith's idea proclaims, no trumpets the coming out of conventional Christianity so common among those of us who blog. The 'God up there' and the 'God in here' represent two very different visions of reality. A Great Separation, that we can only pray for some resolution.
Panenteism is an accepted doctrine in the Easter Orthodox church. Wikipedia says about it ...
God is not merely necessary to have created the universe, but that His active presence is necessary in some way for every bit of creation, from smallest to greatest, to continue to exist at all. That is, God's energies maintain all things and all beings, even if those beings have explicitly rejected Him. His love of creation is such that he will not withdraw His presence, which would be the ultimate form of slaughter, not merely imposing death but ending existence, altogether. By this token, the entirety of creation is sanctified, and thus no part of creation can be considered innately evil. This does not deny the existence of evil in a Fallen universe, only that it is not an innate property of creation.
Hi,
I don't mean to be un-mystical, for I value the feeling and experience very much. But when I read this psalm I see a rather blatant claiming of ownership, and not any allusions or hints of pantheism of course, or even panentheism. (We can bring these in of course. But the intent of the author seems rather basic and a bit more mundane.)
As in: 'The earth is ownedby the Lord...' or 'The earth is the possession of the Lord...' etc.
...I very much like the idea of panentheism, btw.
Surprised noone's mentioned the doctrine of panthineism, which holds that God is svelte.
Nope a svelte God is clearly heretical. Contradicts the clearly orthodox doctrine of pancakeswithsausagesism.
Ed Wrote: "But when I read this psalm I see a rather blatant claiming of ownership...". I wonder if this is more an objective evaluation of the inherent meaning of the psalm or more a function of Ed's psyche.
The psalm, like all the rest of the Bible is what it is, and you make of it what you will.
Friends,
Thank you for all your careful (and fun) consideration of "God in all things" that I proposed here. I asked my friend Jon what he thought, and he offered this:
Hi, Meredith,
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwazy Kwanzaa!
I apologize for my late reply. I certainly wouldn't use Psalm 24 as panentheism reference. Throughout it, there's a connection between Yahweh and creation, but nothing suggests permeation, identification, or even omnipresence. Rather, it seems to be a celebration of Yahweh's majesty and strength by what he has accomplished:
Who is this King of glory?
Yahweh the strong, the valiant,
Yahweh valiant in battle!
It's really hard to find a fully panentheistic verse in the OT other than Sirach (aka Ecclesiasticus) "He is all" (43.27). My OT selections on that page are actually a bit of stretch, more proof omnipresence than panentheism, but I give them as evidence to be considered since I think panentheism logically follows from omnipresence.
Peace and Love,
jon
Ooooooh, but Psalm 29 on the other hand, really is out-and-out panentheistic. Yahweh is clearly immanent and transcendent with the storm.
The voice of Yahweh shatters the cedars,
Yahweh shatters the cedars of Lebanon,
making Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild bull.
The voice of Yahweh sharpens lightning shafts!( v5-7 Jerusalem Bible 1966)
***
Thank you Jon!
~M
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