The Rise Of The Eighth-Day Man: The Advent Of Modern Panentheism And Its Impact On The Doctrine Of Biblical Sufficiency -- By: Kevin D. Smith

Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 09:3 (Feb 2012)
Article: The Rise Of The Eighth-Day Man: The Advent Of Modern Panentheism And Its Impact On The Doctrine Of Biblical Sufficiency
Author: Kevin D. Smith


The Rise Of The Eighth-Day Man: The Advent Of Modern Panentheism And Its Impact On The Doctrine Of Biblical Sufficiency

Kevin D. Smith

Guidance Counselor

BJU Press Academy of Home Education

[email protected]

Abstract

The foundations of a worldview depend primarily on the source to which one looks to provide a framework for truth and reality. In the same fashion, where God is sought is a prime factor in determining the God one finds. The rise of modern panentheism has led to the advent of a man of the eighth day who seeks to discover the nature and character of God in the mechanics of an emergent universe rather than in words of Divine revelation. The following study will explore the idea that to take one step back from Scripture is to take one step too far.

A. The Advent Of Modern Panentheism

In her book When God is Silent, Barbara Brown Taylor tells of a pastor she met at a preaching conference. This pastor admitted having a nagging difficulty in finding words to preach to a nursing home congregation. The reason given was a recurring nightmare.

I had it again last night. In the dream, I die and find myself standing before the house of God. When I knock, the door blows open and it is clear no one has lived there for a very long time. The place is vacant. There are dust balls everywhere. All I want is to hear God call me by name. I would give anything just to hear God say my name.1

Taylor says that the group listened sympathetically but didn’t really know how to respond. Eventually, a therapist was recommended.

For some, the experience of the struggling pastor in the above story would serve to illustrate a persistent dilemma in theological understanding. This dilemma centers on the struggle to locate and define the nature of God’s activity in the world. According to theologian Kevin Vanhoozer, the decision one makes as to how to conceive the relationship of God to creation is one of the single most important factors in shaping one’s theology.2 Classical theism has long held that God is transcendent in His essential separation from His creation, but that He is also immanent in it primarily through the incarnation and redemptive work of Christ. Modern theologians, however, have been sounding out a challenge to the theistic conception of God’s transcendence.

Though the voices of contemporary theology are diverse, an influential segment of it is unified in its assertion that the transcendent God of theism has abdicated His throne, if in fact He was ever there in the first place. The idea of a God Who reigns above and exerts His sovereign influence ...

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