Reflections on Panenthism

Panenthism maintains that God is in everything and everything is God, that God is immanent within the universe but also transcends it. God is viewed as creator but is also seen as an animating force within it. The term was first coined by Krause (1828) who sought to reconcile monotheism and pantheism. Neo Platonism can be seen as a panetheistic approach. For Plato, the forms contain a perfect vision of everything, and are godly. The forms are seen as dictating our values and ethics. The ideology of Panentheism can be traced to pre Socratic Greek philosophy. Heraclitus of Ephesus (known as The Obscure) had very similar ideas to Logos and saw the universe as constantly changing. Only God can change the universe therefore God must be in the universe. ..

Does evil exist in this world view? Is evil the absence of God? Can the devil (in terms of a personified evil as described in the bible) exist?

If evil is simply denial of reality rather than the absence of God, then yes, evil can exist. Evil is simply the result of humanity denying their own reality as being part of God, and thereby denying their own innate divine qualities.

As to the question of the Devil's existence, this depends on how the bible is interpreted. If the interpretation is literal, then this ideology has a real challenge to answer, for if everything is part of God then the Devil too is part of God if the Devil is the personification of evil, and this has implications for the nature and will of God. If however, the interpretation is metaphorical, then the language describing the Devil can be seen as a metaphor for the struggle of the mind and body over the soul, as well as a metaphor for the internal struggle to do what is right, what is moral, what is in line with God's Will.

In the Thomist view, humans are by their very nature fallen, and therefore there is an internal struggle to do what is moral and in line with the will of God, to affirm God's presence in our lives, versus what is immoral, in line with our own will and to deny God's presence. This internal battle of Wills is what this metaphorical language can be seen to describe. We are still part of God but we have free will, and this free will can allow us to choose to deny God, to deny the reality of our true nature. Therefore Evil is a human construct. The reality therefore becomes degrees of goodness, of being "like God", and the more we act in line with Gods will, the more moral we are, the more good we are.