R____, you almost seem to be implying or saying that "panentheism"
overstates the immanence of God in His relation to Creation, as if there
might be something wrong or less than Biblical in affirming this reality
of the living immediacy (offering the direct experience) of God in Nature.
This, however, is certainly well known to Orthodox theology and in fact
informs the Orthodox epiphanic and sacramental vision. Perhaps I am
reading more into your words that you intended to say. In any case, I
would just like to mention a fascinating book...which makes a quite
convincing case that "panentheism" certainly is the appropriate term
to describe Orthodoxy's interpretation and experience of the Patristic
teachings on the relation of God to His creation, and which documents
the fundamental, positive significance which this understanding has
for Christian missions. The book is S. A. Mousalimas, _The Transition
From Shamanism to Russian Orthodoxy in Alaska_, Oxford: Berghahn Books,
1995. In particular, I would draw attention to Chapters 2. _Correspondence_,
and 3. _Point of Comprehension_, in which the Christian panentheistic
world view is lucidly set forth and the Biblical criteria...are established.
Although the author has not used the expression "missionary meshing"....
clearly this is exactly what he is documenting. If I may suggest a further
point, I would say that a corollary of this study must be that panentheistic
experience is a *sine qua non* for our personal appropriation of
Orthodoxy, and for the appreciation also of the place of animals in
God's good creation (with all nature (re)enchanted by the Uncreated
Energies)...
"See note on the "theandric totality".
November, 1996
mmm
Index