Summary of "Theodicy and the Nature of Evil in Process Theology: Part 3"

Theodicy and the Nature of Evil in Process Theology (Part 3)

In process theology God creates not for ego or praise but to actualize aspects of God’s own character — responsive love, relationship, and community.

God wants “more of God” to take up space in the world.
Creation is intended to instantiate those divine qualities within actuality rather than simply to glorify God in a conventional sense.

God influences and draws the cosmos — from atoms and forces through life, plants, animals, to human self-awareness — toward greater self-expression, awareness, interdependence, and communion.
This influence is persuasive rather than coercive: God does not unilaterally determine outcomes but offers possibilities and lures creation toward greater harmony.

Evil is only apparent
- Suffering is ultimately part of God’s purposes and serves to glorify God in ways not always visible to creatures.
Free will defense
- God allows creaturely freedom (with its potential for evil) as a component of genuine loving relationship.

God is responsible for creating a world in which evil can occur because genuine relationality and creativity require freedom of response; however, God is not culpable in a deterministic or Calvinist sense.
Evil and “discord” arise from creaturely self-expression that moves away from God. Such departures cause pain in God’s contingent experience but are not directly controlled by God.
The evolutionary, interdependent process of creation seeks to reduce “triviality” (insignificance) and increase responsive love; evil is part of that messy developmental process rather than a final or necessary end.

Many process thinkers are panentheists: the world is an expression within God, yet God also transcends creation.
Formally: God = universe + a concrete, transcendent “pole” of identity (so God contains and is greater than the world, rather than being identical to it).

Because all creatures participate in the divine-drawn process, process theology emphasizes:
- Care for creation
- Nonviolence
- Ecological concern
Some adherents adopt practices such as vegetarianism as an expression of these commitments, though such practices are not doctrinally required.

God does not coerce creatures into conformity, but God is the most consequential influence on creation.
The expectation is that God will ultimately succeed in drawing creation toward the fullness of responsive love, though individual outcomes are not guaranteed.

The speaker references Alfred North Whitehead and (in auto-captions) a name rendered as “duardin,” likely referring to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Genesis is treated as mythic or formative rather than literal in the lecture.
A later part of the series will address Jesus and Christianity.