Episode 63, 'Pantheism and Panentheism' with Andrei Buckareff (Part I - The Divine Mind)

Andrei Buckareff is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Cognitive Science Program at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Associate Editor of the journal Science, Religion, and Culture. Andrei’s work focuses on a range of fascinating topics, from metaphysics, philosophy of mind, epistemology and the philosophy of action, to philosophy of religion, the afterlife, pantheism, and alternative concepts of God. Andrei is a prolific writer, publishing extensively in these fields, and his influence cannot be overstated. Alongside Yujin Nagasawa and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Andrei is also the co-leader of the ‘the Pantheism and Panentheism Project’, which will form our focus for today.

In this episode, we’ll be speaking to Andrei about alternative concepts of God; more specifically, on Andrei’s recent work surrounding pantheism and panentheism. In a word, Andrei argues that if we are to understand God as ‘acting in space-time’, we should be inclined to believe that this God exists within time and space, at all spatial locations. Moreover, if we are inclined to think that God is omniscient, then we should also believe that God ‘is the universe’ – that is, God and the universe are essentially made of the same stuff, with God being either identical with or constituted by the cosmos.

Andrei’s work calls the orthodox theist to radically reconceptualise their understanding of God, in the light of a more philosophically plausible philosophy. Our question, if we are theists, do we need to change the way we think about God?

This episode is produced in partnership with ‘the Pantheism and Panentheism Project’, which is led by Andrei Buckareff and Yujin Nagasawa and funded by the John Templeton Foundation.