The summer issue of the progressive spiritual-political magazineTikkun includes feature essays on the topic "Thinking Anew about God" which should be of interest to PaganSquare readers. The editor of the journal suggested to contributors that though many thoughtful people have rejected the (dominant male) God out there who is in control of the world, these same people often are not aware of new ways to thinking about divinity. All of the contributors respond to the challenge to imagine and conceptualize divinity in new ways. Though most of them are not pagan, I suspect that aspects of some of their views will resonate with every reader of this blog. 

Jewish feminist Judith Plaskow and I contributed a jointly written essay. In it, I speak of Goddess as a personal presence who loves and understands the world and whose power is power-with not power-over.  Judith speaks of God as a power of creativity that is the ground of both good and evil.

The Table of Contents provides a glimpse of the exciting new ideas about Goddess and God discussed in the issue.

THINKING ANEW ABOUT GOD

What Takes the Place of What Used to Be Called God?
SALLIE MCFAGUE
We often mean different things when we say “God.” Distinguishing between theistic, pantheistic, and panentheistic notions can clarify our discussions.

God and Goddess Emerging
MICHAEL LERNER
In this historical moment, we need to blend a panentheism that recognizes humans as in and part of God with the radical visions of God as YHVH (source of transformation) and El Shaddai (a love-oriented Breasted God).

The Empty Throne: Reimagining God as Creative Energy
ROSEMARY RADFORD RUETHER
God is not an old man who sits on a throne in the sky—God is the creative energy within earth, air, water, plants, animals, and humans!

Two Feminist Views of Goddess and God
JUDITH PLASKOW AND CAROL P. CHRIST
Feminist theologians agree that the old view of a male God has got to go. But the debate gets heated when we talk about what should take its place.

A Beaked and Feathered God: Rediscovering Christian Animism
MARK I. WALLACE
Contrary to public opinion, Christianity is an animist religion that celebrates the enfleshment of God in many forms. Sometimes, the Spirit is a dove!

A Progressive Hindu Approach to God
J.A. KASTURI, SUNITA VISWANATH, AMINTA KILAWAN, and ROHAN NARINE
Riotous diversity is central to Hinduism: taken together, its panoply of local gods and goddesses represent the many manifestations of the unity of Being.

A Buddhist God?
DAVID R. LOY
Is it right to describe Buddhism as atheistic? Many people do, pointing to the fact that Buddhism doesn’t refer to a creator God. Yet it’s not so simple.

Allah
HAROON MOGHUL
In the Muslim tradition, God is the Loving, the Evolver, the First, the Last, the Bringer of Life, the Destroyer, the Generous, the Patient, and much more.

The God of Process Theology: An Interview with John Cobb
If we could liberate science from the shackles of an outdated metaphysics, the line between physics and spiritually would be radically blurred.

Ideality, Divine Reality, and Realism
GARY DORRIEN
At its best, theology begins with the experience of the Holy and then presses to a prophetic demand for justice and the good.

Embracing and/or Refusing God-Talk
WALTER BRUEGGEMANN
The most mature faith is not all “sweetness and light”—it is a grappling with holiness that also addresses the abrasiveness of the biblical God.

These essays may spark you to think anew about divine power. Ideas about divinity often transcend religious boundaries. Enjoy!

Carol P. Christ is the author of Rebirth of the Goddess and leads Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. A few spaces are still available on the fall tour.