What are they? How do you differentiate them? Are they consistent with traditional Christian faith? (Reposted)
Starting point. Pantheism is the belief that reality is identical with divinity. Panentheism is the position that God is greater than the universe, that the universe is in God, that he permeates every part of nature, is part of nature, extends beyond nature, and is also distinct from it.
I think if you contemplate the Greek origins of these words, you will find more helpful definitions. PANENTHEISM pan + theos * ism. The story of, the philosophy that understands God is Everything. PANENTHEISM pan + en +theos * ism. The story of, the philosophy that understands God is in Everything. Pantheism is entirely counter what we find in Holy Scripture, starting with Genesis 1:1 where we are clearly told that in the beginning God already was, that is before everything God already had a past tense. Panentheism is far more compatible with Christian thinking, for all creation bears the makers hallmark, and tells us something of the creator of all that is. In Romans 1:19-20 we read: I think mainstream Christianity would be somewhat or completely onboard with Panentheism. My cautionary note here is because there are things where I do not see God, like the gross violence that some human being inflict on other human beings, which I see as running counter to the image and likeness that we bear in creation. I think the experience of Elijah may express that as well.
I had been thinking only in relation to material objects. What you describe is a particular type of interaction between objects. A hammer hitting a nail is not violence. A hammer hitting a person is violence. A hammer hitting my thumbnail is an accident. Considering my coffee cup. A pantheist would say it is a part of God. A panentheist would say that the cup is in God and God is in the cup. Is this a fair description of the two terms?
Marcus Borg was the first person I ever heard talk about panentheism. I almost bought into it until he said that it meant miracles weren't real. Lol
I don't really have a problem with panentheism per se (though I haven't given it sufficient thought I suppose). But those who truck in it do make some very unsettling inferences with it, using it to de-divinize our Lord.
Does the idea of omnipresence imply panentheism? omnipresence - the state of being everywhere at once (or seeming to be everywhere at once) If God is omnipresent then does he pervades everything?
From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: So in pantheism, God is not more than the world, while in panentheism, God is more than the world but is also affected by the world.
I just found this at Learn Religions. There are many different flavours of Pantheism ( and probably Panentheism); Absolute pantheism, emanational pantheism, developmental pantheism, modal pantheism, multilevel pantheism, permeational pantheism. The last in particular “Permeational pantheism is encountered in Zen Buddhism. God penetrates all things, similar to "the Force" in the Star Wars movies.” This sounds an awful lot like Panentheism to me. That's why I suggested 2 ways of looking at a coffee cup as a way to distinguish between them. If a Pantheist says God is all of creation then each part of creation, e.g. the cup, would be a part of God. A Panentehist however would just say that God penetrates the cup so that it is in God and God is in it.
The Earth's magnetic field permeates me, but it is not a part OF me. There is no part of the magnetic field that is unique to me. When I move from one place to another I am permeated by a different part of the magnetic field. Similarly IF God or the spirit of God permeates material objects that does not make it a part of them. It does not confer on them an immortal soul that survives their destruction. My soul is unique to me. When I move it moves. When I die it will continue until the resurrection when it will be clothed in a new body and made whole again.