365: More on the Mormon God (with help from Process Theology)

Published: Feb. 2, 2017, 11:26 p.m.

In somewhat of a continuation of our previous episodes (363 &\xa0364), Jim McLachlan and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon are joined by David Ray Griffin, a world-renowned philosopher and theologian specializing in process theology. Griffin has recently published a new book, God Exists But Gawd Does Not: From Evil to Atheism to Fine-Tuning,\xa0in which lays out the powerful\xa0the arguments against the existence of the omni-everything God of classical theism (what Griffin terms "Gawd"--pronounced as in "awed") yet challenges this as the only "God" possible to believe in and worthy of that title. Hence, in the second part of the book he presents and evaluates arguments\xa0for the existence of another type of God (that he labels in the book "God") that is the God of process theology, and very much like the Mormon God in terms of its rejection of\xa0creation ex nihilo,\xa0and its affirmations of a God who is powerful yet not omnipotent, who exists within a context of other pre-existing entities with whom God seeks\xa0to persuade to embody the greatest amount of life and experience possible for them. It's certainly a book well-grounded in the arguments of many, many other thinkers, with some technical philosophy/theology here and there, but ultimately it is a very accessible and readable overview of arguments for and against the existence of God, which is one of the key issue of the philosophy or religion, but also of many faith journeys, including Mormon ones. For those who find themselves in turmoil as older conceptions of God are falling away for them, this is a must-listen episode. There is a lot of terrific common sense here, as well as hints about lovely possible ways to re-engage with Deity as well as persons and the world around us.