As a rebuttal to:
This is the pan-en-theistic insight:
That everything is IN God, no exceptions. Yet in this God can still be found and sorted out a more blessed way. That in spite of everything equally IN God, there is yet a distinct way OF God.
For this is how the way OF God is found:
We discover that of all the things which come to pass IN God, whether good or bad, that there is something which yet remains in spite of their being or happening. So that which yet remains IN God is what can be called ‘OF God’.
Yet what exactly is that which remains OF God? What exactly is meant by this?
Here are a few short examples:
1. That which remains OF God, in spite of the best of things IN God, is a grateful heart, brimming beyond those things. For while good things may be fleeting, gratitude remains.
2. Yet that which remains OF God, in spite of the worst things IN God, is in fact one’s very soul, stripped bare and pure. For while misfortune can bring you down for sure, one discovers at last that such things are in fact powerless to ultimately destroy you.
3. And then there is that which remains OF God, in spite of any in-between things IN God, which is none other than one’s middle way of daily life. Neither filled nor emptied, yet still alive and driven to life in spite of any ambivalence.
These are things which can be found to yet remain distinctly OF God, despite considering all things as existing indiscriminantly IN God. And we can find that there are many, many more lasting things OF God if we simply examine our own lives for what they are, and then ask, "What of this?" "What yet remains?" Thus seeking and discovering the ways OF God is a discerningly spiritual task. This, even while acknowledging that ALL things are IN God is an unconditional act of worship.
This is how the IN-God / OF-God pan-en-theistic approach touches even to the heart of the Judeo-Christian faith. For when asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus replied, “Love God with all your self” and then directly ties in, “Love your neighbor as your self” “These two sum up everything about the way of God”.
So I sincerely ask, what is the act of acknowledging that ALL things are all-inclusively and unconditionally IN God, but a singular, prime, and unconditional act of loving worship?
And yet what is the result of finding both ourselves and our neighbors equally IN God, all the while uncovering these amazing indestructible insights for living the way OF God, but at the heart of what it means to love thy neighbor?
For here is the pan-en-theistic Christian gospel for our lives: That if we are all IN God, then we all are equally presented with the work of discovering the ways OF God. And when we simply choose to do so, we come to find the amazing truth that we can give limitlessly of our lives to each other without ever really losing ourselves. For it seems this is exactly what it means to be a “living sacrifice”.
Yet living a life of living sacrifice is tough. In fact, learning to do this well seems to require nothing less than a life time of being human, and living in the world around us. For in this human world we are faced with all the things IN God. Yet ALL these things come to pass to yet continually and pointedly bring to bare certain insights. And these insights are found by simply yet persistently asking the existential question, “What of this?” “What in spite of this?”
Is this not the very voice of God speaking to our human freedom? Is this not the very voice of God speaking directly to and from our human condition? Is this not the living “Word” which permeates all Creation? And so, is not our being distinctly human directly on the way of discovering the way(s) OF God? So why, why should we ever think to exclude anything from that which is IN God?
For here is the careful pan-en-theistic insight: We can embrace it all! For only by doing so can we fully discover that which remains in spite of it all. Yet does this mean we’ll embrace some risky things, take some wrong turns? Yep. Does this mean that if we embrace too many things foolishly without asking ‘What of this?’ ‘What in spite of this?’ that we might get burned? Yep. But does this change the inextricably gracious and merciful ‘in-spite-of’ nature OF God, IN God? Certainly not. For we have seen, that which is OF God always remains in spite of all which may be found IN God.
For what does grace and mercy teach us but that “everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial”. But this is part of being alive and living: surveying the whole world given us IN God, and yet coming to discover ever more clearly the ways OF God. And no matter what one finds their fate to be, may we all yet find this blessed way OF God, and find it always at hand. For this is the very 'in-spite-of' way that Jesus taught:
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth.’” -Matthew 5:1-13a
Thus we might see that the gospel OF God occurs by necessity always IN God rather than such as ‘from’ or ‘under’ or ‘coming down from’ a God. Moreover, in this way we identify the very incarnation of God in human life and living. For as Christians this is what we profess, that Jesus is anointed as the prime and most excellent example of human life IN and OF the divine. Thus the self-proclaimed ‘Son of Man’ we may rightly call also the ‘Son of God’; the ‘First Born’ of humanity IN God. And we too also coming to know this way OF God becoming ‘Joint Heirs’ with Christ IN God. Alas, this dialectical IN-God / OF-God pan-en-theistic approach puts forth what is called a “realized eschatology” as opposed to the conventional Christian “apocalyptic eschatology”.
IN-God are all things. No exceptions. Yet OF-God we realize the profound blessings of this truth. Pan-en-theism, IN-God / OF-God.
Foot notes:
The German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781–1832) seeking to reconcile monotheism and pantheism, coined the term pan-en-theism ("all in God") in 1828. Subsequently, 19th century German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel referred to this pan-en-theistic ‘in spite of’ dynamic as “absolute negation” and as occurring in the “Absolute” (aka God). 20th century theologian Paul Tillich referred to this in more positive terminology calling it the “unconditional acceptance of acceptance” in the “God above God”. Dr. Clark Butler, translator and scholar of Hegel, refers to this ‘in spite of’ dynamic as a dialectical “negation of negation” (i.e. gospel is the good news of the rejection of the rejection of our selves). Furthermore, Dr. Butler refers to this distinctly spiritual (i.e. phenomenological) dynamic as always occurring per “that outside of which is nothing” (i.e. God); that this dynamic is always occurring in and by the very nature of God (aka Reality) rather than conditionally coming across the way from a God per se. There are many other scholarly proponents of pan-en-theism both Christian and non-Christian who can be found attempting to reconcile divine experience in a unified world yet through the lens of our human condition.
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