Abstract

"Organic" has become a central term in twentieth century cultural discourse. It connotes change, evolution, multi-faceted and multi-layered interrelatedness, and flexible responsiveness. It has become a new paradigm through which contemporary society interprets the world. Notions of the organic have increasingly appeared in theology providing focal concepts, models and metaphors for interpreting God and God-world relations. Process and feminist theologians such as Charles Hartshorne, John Cobb, Delwin Brown, Marjorie Suchocki, Sallie McFague, Catherine Keller, and Rosemary Ruether all construct theologies in which the organic plays a central, defining role. The exploration, clarification and extension of the way these theologians, among others, apply the organic to God provide substantive resources for thinking theologically today about God and the world. ;This dissertation presents an organic view of how God functions in the world through interrelatedness, creativity, and balance of value. As theologians have often done, I analyze appropriate philosophical, scientific, and theological texts, contrast them and then expand their meanings. An analysis and elaboration of mechanistic, as defined by George E. Moore, biological, as defined by Ann Plamondon, and Whiteheadian understandings of organic provide a preliminary working definition of organic. This preliminary definition frames how process and feminist applications of the organic to God are explored, assessed, compared and elaborated. These applications are dealt with as proposals that need clarification and whose meanings can be expanded. Critiques of feminist and process concepts of organic made by Robert Neville, Jurgen Moltmann and Nancy Frankenberry are also presented as part of the task of clarification. ;This combined analysis results in a more consistent definition of organic and its application to God than process or feminist theology has offered thus far. Furthermore, it results in an expanded view of how the organic can be applied to God. In these two respects, my task is both critical and constructive. The analysis and construction done here set the stage for rigorous discourse about God that can resonate widely in the context of the contemporary organic paradigm