Process-Panentheism and the "Only Way" Argument

Given panentheism, when trying to offer a plausible solution to the problem of evil, what is the most promising way forward? In this article, I argue that a panentheist who wants to answer the problem of evil by using the "only way" argument should embrace the metaphysics of process theism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Open theology
Main Author: Langby, Lina (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: De Gruyter 2022
In: Open theology
Further subjects:B Evil
B Omnipotence
B Process Theism
B Theodicy
B Evolution
B process-panentheism
B Panentheism
B theistic evolution
B only way
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Summary:Given panentheism, when trying to offer a plausible solution to the problem of evil, what is the most promising way forward? In this article, I argue that a panentheist who wants to answer the problem of evil by using the "only way" argument should embrace the metaphysics of process theism. In other words, she ought to be a process-panentheist. Process theism is a version of panentheism, while panentheism generally need not to imply process theism. I shall use the terms "process-panentheist" and "non-process-panentheist" to differentiate adherents of these two forms of panentheism. I examine the "only way" argument as a possible theodicy for panentheists and conclude that it is only a convincing theodicy for the panentheist if (i) she is a process-panentheist, or (ii) she thinks this is the best possible world. If she is a non-process-panentheist or does not think this is the best possible world, the "only way" approach fails to be a coherent theodicy.
ISSN:2300-6579
Contains:Enthalten in: Open theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/opth-2022-0203