The Comparative Process of the Embodiment of God: From an Organic Perspective in East and West

SHIN EUNHEE

doi:10.21049/ccs.2008.12.2.221

The purpose of this paper is to engage in an inter-cultural dialogue over the concept of God’s embodiment between Western and Eastern tradition within the category of panentheistic hermeneutics. The idea of panentheism as a functional philosophical vehicle of integration of the East and West that pursues the organic way of thinking as a heuristic device for suggesting a new way of conceiving God’s relation to the world. The major aim of this organic model of God’s embodiment is to recognize the importance of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all existences in this life-destroying context where the divine intimacy with the world is far more required. The panentheistic model of God’s embodiment emphasizes the radical immanence of God as embodied spirit or ki, with a focus on the relational aspect of God and the world. The core idea of this also follows along the lines of the definition of panentheism: God is in all things and all things are in God. God’s involvement with the world is assumed to be realized by its bodies, that it, human and ecological communities. God’s action in the world is supposed to be realized through these; in other words, it is analogous to the way human beings move their bodies in accordance with their minds. This perspective denotes the traditional interpretation of anthropomorphism which views the human being as the prototype for divine action. Therefore, the idea of God’s embodiment reflects a sensitive awareness of the inadequacy of classical concept of God which alienates God from the world. The comprehensive philosophical articulation of a global search for a new spirituality and a more holistic way of looking at the intimate relation between God and the world are highly relevant and significant contributions for our time. The revision of God’s embodiment is believed to be suited to the postmodern situation. In order to achieve these religio-philosophical tasks, using panentheistic hermeneutics, I shall develop the idea of God’s embodiment in a dialogical way between Western and Eastern (Korean in particular) understanding of the Ultimate reality. I shall then bring together the two streams of thought, affirming the organic way of God’s transcendent and immanent spirit or ki as ‘beyond and yet within’ nature which has been drawn out the soteriological and ecological implication for both human and cosmic order.

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