Was Whitehead right about God?
Whitehead's idea ofGoddiffers from traditional monotheistic notions.[116]Perhaps his most famous and pointedcriticism of the Christian conception of Godis that "the Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively toCaesar."[117]Here Whitehead is criticizing Christianity for definingGod as primarily a divine kingwho imposes his will on the world, and whose most important attribute is power. As opposed to the most widely accepted forms of Christianity, Whitehead emphasized an idea of God that he called "the brief Galilean vision of humility":
It does not emphasize the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist, or the unmoved mover. It dwells upon the tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quietness operates by love; and it finds purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this world. Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as tomorals. It does not look to the future; for it finds its own reward in the immediate present.[118]
It should be emphasized that for Whitehead, God is not necessarily tied toreligion.[119]Rather than springing primarily from religiousfaith, Whitehead saw God as necessary for hismetaphysicalsystem.[119]His system required that an order exist among possibilities, an order that allowed for novelty in the world and provided an aim to all entities. Whitehead posited that these ordered potentials exist in what he called theprimordial natureof God. However, Whitehead was also interested inreligious experience. This led him to reflect more intensively on what he saw as the second nature of God, theconsequent nature. Whitehead's conception of God as a "dipolar"[120]entity has called for freshtheologicalthinking.
The primordial nature he described as "the unlimited conceptual realization of the absolute wealth of potentiality,"[118]i.e., the unlimited possibility of the universe. This primordial nature iseternalandunchanging, providing entities in the universe with possibilities for realization. Whitehead also calls this primordial aspect "the lure forfeeling, the eternal urge of desire,"[121]pulling the entities in the universe toward as-yet unrealized possibilities.