Bibliography 2: #BIB39831

Key	BIB39831
Reference type	Unpublished Work
Short title	The Potent God and the Attracting God : Metaphysics and its Social Consequences
Title of work	The Potent God and the Attracting God : Metaphysics and its Social Consequences
Author	Momen, Moojan
Year	2025
Abstract	This paper examines two conceptual frameworks that have been used in relation to God. The orthodox and normative view of God in the religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism is based on the concept of God derived by theologians such as St Thomas Aquinas from Aristotle’s notion of the Unmoved Mover as the first cause of all subsequent chains of cause and effect. This then produces the image of God as the Creator of the world and the unseen force that controls and directs the events that happen in the world (the Potent God). This image of God as the Omnipotent King was very attractive to medieval rulers who could then point to the structure of the spiritual world (with an Omnipotent Ruler at its head) as justifying a similar social structure on earth with themselves as the symbol and image of the Divine ruler. There is however an alternative view of God that may be the view that Aristotle originally intended by his Unmoved Mover and which creates an entirely different view of God. This conceptual framework sees God as the cause of all that occurs but in the sense that God is the ultimate aim or goal of all events B that God is attracting all of Creation towards Him/It. Thus God acts on the universe not through a rigid cascade of cause and effect but rather through the attraction of love (the Attracting God). This view of God has a profound consequences not just in theology but also in our structure of thought and our social structure. It dissolves the ground from under questions that have caused many to turn away from God (for example, why an omnipotent God would allow the Holocaust to occur) and leads to social interactions that are more cooperative and collaborative rather than coercive and hierarchical. This paper examines the evidence that this second view of God (the Attracting God) is given priority over the first view (the Potent God) in the Baha’i scriptures.
Language	English
Keywords	GOD; METAPHYSICS; POTENT (COMPELLING, COERCIVE) GOD; ATTRACTING GOD
Pages	17
File attachments	internal-pdf://0928398859/Momen - Potent_Attracting_God.pdf

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