A History of the Concept of God: A Process Approach

by Daniel A. Dombrowski

Overview

Daniel A. Dombrowski explores the history of the concept of God from the perspective of neoclassical, or process, theism. His neoclassical approach assuages the current crisis in philosophical theism, caught between a defense of classical theism and assertions of religious skepticism. Instead, the work offers Charles Hartshorne's notion of a God who always evolves, quite unlike the allegedly perfect figure of more traditional, and increasingly unsatisfactory, accounts. Dombrowski surveys the classical theists and their roots in ancient Greek philosophy before turning to contributions from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries, ultimately discussing twenty-three thinkers. The key figures in this history are Plato, who ironically provided the philosophical basis both for classical and neoclassical concepts, and three great figures in process theism: Henri Bergson, Alfred North Whitehead, and Hartshorne. The concept of God has a rich past; this book argues that it can have a rich future as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781438459370
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2016
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Daniel A. Dombrowski is Professor of Philosophy at Seattle University. He is the author of many books, including Hartshorne and the Metaphysics of Animal Rights; Rawls and Religion: The Case for Political Liberalism; and A Platonic Philosophy of Religion: A Process Perspective, all published by SUNY Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 Classical Theism 9

1 Philo (30 bce-50 ce) 11

2 St. Augustine (354-430) 21

3 St. Anselm (1033-1109) 25

4 Al Ghazzali(1058-IIII) 35

5 Maimonides (1135-1204) 39

6 St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) 43

7 Rene Descartes (1596-1650) 61

8 Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) 65

9 Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) 75

Part 2 Ancient Greek Theism 85

10 Plato (427-347 BCE): Omnipresence 87

11 Plato (427-347 BCE): Against Omnipotence 101

12 Aristotle (384-322 BCE) 109

13 Plotinus (205-270 CE) 121

Part 3 Neoclassical or Process Theism 129

14 Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) 133

15 Friedrich von Schelling (1775-1854) 137

16 Gustav Fechner (1801-1887) 141

17 Charles Sanders Peirce(1839-1914) 149

18 Otto Pfleiderer (1839-1908) 157

19 Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948) 161

20 Mohammed Iqbal (1877-1938) 173

21 Martin Buber (1878-1965) 177

22 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) 181

Part 4 Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead 191

23 Henri Bergson (1859-1941) 193

24 Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947): Up to Process and Reality 213

25 Alfred North Whitehead: Appraisal and Works after Process and Reality 235

Bibliography 259

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

"…a fascinating book." — Reading Religion

From the Publisher