“Ultimately, Henry Nelson Wieman identified the “creative event” with “God,” emphasizing that “God, according to this interpretation is immediately accessible to human living and human feeling in all the fullness of God’s concrete reality.” The divine creative process, he stresses, “makes qualities more appreciable by creative sensitive organisms; by making them progressively more sensitive; by generating signs with meaning and thus producing mind; by bringing forth the communication of meanings and thus establishing society; and by sustaining the continuity of history and thus accumulating meaning through a sequence of generations.” Despite his attention to this planet, there is no reason to restrict these claims of the “creative good” to our planet alone. Indeed, the creative good is at work in and among the “cosmic whole of things.” –Andrew M. Davis

The above passage comes from Andrew Davis’ book, Metaphysics of Exo-Life: Toward a Constructive Whiteheadian Cosmotheology,  which offers a constructive philosophical response to historian Steven J. Dick’s “naturalistic cosmotheology” from within the process metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead. Davis found the Wieman quote in his book, The Source of Human Good.

I am completely fine with this cosmo- and exo-theology trend sticking around, and Davis’ book is a wonderful offering to this category. This passage above, from appendix a of Davis’ book, about Wieman, not only stood out but has inspired me to read more Wieman because his work has been in my periphery for quite a while and I know him as being a religious naturalist influenced by Whitehead who has, in-turn, influenced many other thinkers I admire including, for example, Loyal Rue and MLK Jr. Theologically, I’m loving Wieman’s emphasis here about how God “makes qualities more appreciable by creative sensitive organisms; by making them progressively more sensitive.” Forever broadening our scope of concern is right up my omnisenstive alley, everyone!

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Art above by Rachelle Bussières

Tags:Andrew DaviscosmotheologyHenry Nelson WiemanMetaphysics of Exo-lifeOmnisensitivityreligious natrualismSteven Dickwhitehead