The Many Faces, and Causes, of Unbelief - Apologetics Press

The idea of “process theology” as expressed in its current
form essentially is the brainchild of philosopher Alfred North
Whitehead, who penned several influential books on the subject,
including Process and Reality (1929), Adventures of Ideas
(1933), and Modes of Thought (1938). For those of us who are
non-philosophers (or not even very philosophically oriented),
process theology can seem a little like wading into a gently
flowing creek that unexpectedly turns into a raging torrent.
The first few steps do not begin to prepare you for what is yet
to follow. Allow me to explain.
According to Whitehead (and other eminent proponents
of process theology like Samuel Alexander, Charles Hartshorne,
and Schubert Ogden), God is composed of two “poles”
(thus, He is “bipolar,” which is why another synonym for panentheism
is “bipolar theism”). First, there is what is known as
His primordial pole, which is eternal, unchanging, ideal,
and beyond the world. Second, however, there is what is
known as His consequent pole, which is temporal, changing,
real, and identical to the world. The primordial nature of
God is His “potential” pole—i.e., what He can be. The consequent
nature is his “actual” pole—i.e., what He actually is at
any given moment. Geisler and Brooks have explained this
as follows:
So the world is not different from God; it is one of
God’s poles. His potential pole inhabits the world
just like a soul inhabits a body. There it becomes actualized
or real. So what the world is, is what God has
become. As such God is never actually perfect; He is
only striving toward perfection.... So God is always
changing as the world changes. He in the process of
becoming all that He can be (1989, pp. 48,47, emp. in
orig.).
Since God is in the “process” of becoming all that He can be
(sounds like the U.S. Army recruitment campaign slogan,
doesn’t it?), the concept is known as “process theology.” And
if you are wondering right about now if this is just a tad convoluted
and thus a bit difficult to follow, let me set your mind
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