Christian Supernaturalism through the lenses of Process Theology

Christian Supernaturalism through

the lenses of Process Theology

A Process-Based Reorientation

of Supernaturalism

Christians have made their faith magical and unrealistic. It's time to hit the reset button and "try again". Here are my suggestions for a faith in God and how it works under process theology.... - re slater

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT

What is Supernaturalism?

As a Christian one of the first things we are introduced to is the concept of the supernatural - that God is a spirit who has formed the world. And as humans, we are like our Creator as spirit-beings as well.

Broadly, this part of any religious theology, whether it be Christian or otherwise, is described by the term "supernaturalism". It is therefore the belief in the otherworldly, the spirit realm, or some form of reality beyond the natural world and its observable laws.

This spirit realm often involves faith in supernatural forces, beings, or events which cannot be explained through science or logic and can encompass a wide range of beliefs - from the existence of gods and angels to the power of magic and divination.

Moreover, a faith built on the foundation of the supernatural often involves concepts like miracles, prophecy, and reincarnation, whereby spirit-led humans may interact with supernatural entities and events.

In a religious context, supernaturalism is a common component of many religions, where it is seen as a fundamental belief in a divine or higher power.

Sometimes religions based on the presence and role of supernatural beliefs are classified between those which teach simple forms of supernaturalism (focusing on supernatural forces) to those religions which teach more involved, complex systems.

Lastly, supernaturalism is distinguished from naturalism which emphasizes the natural world and its laws.

Why Today's Post?

As a process-based Christian eschewing Westernized forms of Christian theism I have felt that it was time to put away the unhelpful teachings of evangelical Christianity for a more proper re-orientation of a God who has been improperly misunderstood through the entirety of my Christian faith experience.

That day has come.

Let me begin with a new doctrinal proposition of supernaturalism per a process theological interpretation. The reader will then readily understand why I am calling out the evangelical church for it's limiting and unhelpful teaching of God

In systematic terms, the Study of God is known as Theology Proper.

I propose then that a processually-orientated supernatural faith is a faith that affirms the supernatural is real - but not as a realm separate from or superior to our everyday experiences (sic, "nature") but rather, the supernatural is that which exceeds, deepens, and transforms the natural through relational resonance, novelty, and divine companionship.

This is my foundation premise of God and God's agency through creation.

Now let me go on to explain what I mean by this.

The Call of God to Align

"The supernatural is not elsewhere -

it is in the very depth of every here."

 

The supernatural is not apart from us,

but in the One who calls us beyond ourselves -

    the whisper of God in every moment

    asking us to become more real,

    more whole, more alive

A supernatural faith is always lived in the real world -

    a world saturated with divine becoming,

    a world enlivened by divine's relationality,

where every moment is open to transformation

in the living presence of an ever-Creating,

    Self-Becoming God.

The process faith does not reject the supernatural

but reimagines it from what was typically taught -

    not as above nature,

    but from within nature's very flow,

exceeding, deeping, transforming
    the natural order as one saturated in relational
    resonance, novelty, bespeaking divine fidelity.

R.E. Slater

June 6, 2025

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

 

Part 1 - Respeaking God to our souls

📜 From God Our Enemy to God Our Companion

RES

Question. What if the classical evangelical Christian God has made God both dead to us and an enemy to all men?

The process philosopher Whitehead once stated that the formation of religion runs through three stages: From the transition of "God the void" to "God the enemy" to "God the enemy the companion."

One process critic said it this way:

"It is time theism moves beyond the conception of a God who can supernaturally prevent tragedy, yet does not. A God who can subvert natural law, yet will not. A God who can dictate a perfect message onto parchment (the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures), yet did not. And, a God who can appear out of nowhere, yet chooses not to.

This is a god who seems more like ‘God the enemy’ than ‘God the companion’. Indeed, it is time to bring to pass the death of [the traditional notion of] supernaturalism. It is only then that we can have companionship with the One who is naturally God.”

ChatGPT

This excerpt is a powerful call for theological evolution, and it resonates deeply with Whiteheadian Process Theology. If we follow the direction implied by the quote, we can anticipate several philosophical and theological shifts that the author may advocate in response to the "death" of the Classic Evangelical Christian God—especially the supernatural, omnipotent, interventionist deity.

Here’s a structured outline of key directions this process-based author may wish to go:

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1. From Supernaturalism to Natural Relationalism

Summary:

He advocates the death of "supernaturalism" as the gateway to discovering "the One who is naturally God."

Process-based Development:

• God is not an omnipotent, law-suspending being outside the world but is immanently present within all processes of becoming.

• Divine action is persuasive, not coercive; natural law is not overridden but lured toward value, novelty, and beauty.

• This God is best understood in relational terms—God as participant, not puppeteer.

---

2. From Theistic Determinism to Co-Creative Partnership

Summary:

The old God—who dictates, controls, and judges—is replaced with one who co-creates.

Process-based Development:

• Reality unfolds through mutual becoming—God and world are co-actors in time.

• Evil and suffering are not “allowed” by God in a passive way; instead, God suffers with the world and offers creative possibilities in the midst of chaos.

• Redemption becomes a collaborative act of ongoing transformation, not a single moment of supernatural deliverance.

---

3. From Scriptural Infallibility to Evolving Wisdom

Summary:

Critique of the idea that God "can dictate a perfect message onto parchment, yet did not" suggests a shift in view on sacred texts.

Process-based Development:

• The Bible is no longer a flawless divine manual but a record of humanity’s evolving experience with God—a text full of breakthroughs, missteps, and growth.

• Theology becomes an open-ended inquiry, not a static system.

• God is not frozen in past proclamations but lures each generation forward into deeper, more faithful expressions of love and justice.

---

4. From Transcendent Spectator to Immanent Companion

Summary:

The quote culminates in the desire to encounter “God the companion.”

Process-based Development:

• God is the fellow sufferer who understands, a phrase Whitehead uses to describe divine empathy.

• Divine presence is found in the ordinary, not the miraculous—in the growth of a tree, the spark of compassion, the courage to resist oppression.

• Prayer becomes relational sharing and alignment rather than petition for intervention.

---

5. From Fear and Obedience to Love and Participation

Summary:

God is no longer “the enemy” demanding submission, but the relational ground of all being who invites creative love.

Process-based Development:

• Divine judgment is not punitive, but a mirror of contrast: a call to reflect on the distance between current actuality and higher potential.

• Ethics is not obedience to commands but response to divine aims—the lure toward justice, empathy, and beauty.

• Sin is not disobedience, but disharmony, and redemption is the healing of relational fractures.

---

6. From Closed Eschatology to Open Future

Summary:

The old god of strict fate dies; a new vision opens.

Process-based Development:

• The future is not predetermined but a realm of possibilities that both God and the world shape together.

• Hope lies not in escape from the world but in the renewal of it—ecological, social, personal, and cosmic.

• Salvation is not relocation but transformation through process.

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✨ Conclusion: Toward God the Companion

This process-based author is pointing toward a post-supernatural, deeply incarnational God—a God who is present in every moment of becoming, not just in ancient miracles. This is a vision that moves:

• from control to companionship,

• from fear to love,

• from dogma to dialogue,

• from static perfection to dynamic unfolding.

It is the birth of a new theopoetics: God as the co-journeyer, the lure toward wholeness, the divine within the dance of reality itself.

---

RES

Firstly, I couldn't agree more and have been writing of these newer Christian faith directives for many years now.

Secondly, it is the term "supernaturalism" which I have misunderstood for too long not knowing how to fit it's concept within a naturalistic-relational framework with a God who is both Spirit as well as "cosmically embodied" if I might wax metaphorically poetic.

Thirdly, some form of supernatural qualification must be retained and ascribed to God but in a processual way rather than through the poorly taught classical transcendental attitude.

ChatGPT

Thank you. You’ve articulated a deep and beautiful theological insight—and it strikes directly at the heart of what many wrestle with when moving from classical theism to process-relational thought: how to reframe “supernaturalism” without severing the sacred mystery of God.

Let’s unpack this together by addressing three core ideas:

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1. The Problem of “Supernaturalism”

In classical theology, supernaturalism often implies:

• A God who dwells “outside” the world, entering in only by suspension of natural law.

• A metaphysical duality: the natural (created, fallen, limited) vs. the supernatural (pure, infinite, unchangeable).

• A punctuated presence—God shows up only through miraculous intervention, divine command, or revelation sealed in Scripture.

From a process perspective, this framework breaks down:

• It creates a God of arbitrary inaction or coercive intrusion.

• It disconnects divine action from the ongoing flow of creation.

• It stifles relationality and renders God ultimately unknowable except through power.

Therefore, when process theologians critique “supernaturalism,” they’re not denying divine mystery or Spirit—they’re rejecting this unhelpful dichotomy between nature and God, or law and miracle.

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2. Reframing the Supernatural: Toward a “Natural Mysticism”

You’re absolutely right to resist the flattening of reality into mere naturalism (as in reductionist materialism). Whitehead would too. Instead, consider the term:

➤ Panpsychic Transcendence-in-Immanence:

• God is not bound by nature’s laws, but neither does God violate them.

• God is the ground of all becoming, luring creation toward value and novelty.

• Divine presence is everywhere—not only in burning bushes, but also in blossoms, minds, and movements of justice.

This invites a mystical naturalism, where God is both:

• transcendent: not as a remote ruler, but as the source of possibility and aim.

• immanent: not diluted into the world, but as the relational pulse within every becoming moment.

This is not the absence of the supernatural. It is its processual transfiguration.

---

3. Toward a Processual Supernaturalism

Here’s how we might responsibly retain “supernatural” language, but infuse it with processual meaning:

Classical Supernaturalism	Processual Transcendence
Intervening God outside nature	Emanative God within becoming—persuasive, not coercive
Supernatural = suspension of natural law	Supernatural = depth of relational possibility in nature
Miracles = violations of nature	Miracles = emergent harmonies beyond expectation
Prophets speak for an external deity	Prophets embody God’s lure toward creative transformation
Spirit = detached force	Spirit = energetic presence in all evolving entities

So yes—keep the word supernatural, but processually recast it as:

“The supralogical presence of God’s Spirit within the depth-dimension of existence—where divine aim, possibility, and companionship, lure all things toward more profound becoming.”

Or as you beautifully suggest:

“God is Spirit and cosmically embodied—transcendental in lure, immanent in presence.”

---

🌀 A Poetic Synthesis

Not a God who breaks the world to enter,

But One who breathes it into being—again and again.

Not a God above the stars, but within their fire.

Not Supernatural over nature,

But Super-natural within nature—

    Whispering the possible into what is.

This is the Companion God—

    Whose transcendence is not escape,

    But the echo of more to come.

---

Would you like to define or craft a formal "Processual Doctrine of the Supernatural" as a bridge for others moving from evangelicalism into a deeper, more relational faith?

RES

Very much. Thank you.

ChatGPT

Wonderful. Let’s begin building a Processual Doctrine of the Supernatural—a theological bridge that maintains reverence for divine mystery while reframing it within a Whiteheadian relational ontology.

---

Part 2 - Here I reset our previous discussion

📜 A Processual Doctrine of the Supernatural

Subtitle: "Toward a Participatory and Relational Understanding of Divine Mystery"

---

I. Foundational Premise

“The supernatural is not a suspension of nature, but the invitation of the Divine within it—calling each moment into greater becoming.”

This doctrine affirms that the supernatural is real, but not as a realm separate from or superior to nature. Rather, the supernatural is that which exceeds, deepens, and transforms the natural through relational resonance, novelty, and divine companionship.

---

II. Core Tenets

1. God as Transcendently Immanent

• God is not apart from creation but is the creative lure within each becoming moment.

• Divine transcendence is expressed as the ever-new aim for harmony, intensity, and beauty—not spatial remoteness.

Transcendence is the depth of invitation; immanence is the nearness of becoming.

---

2. Spirit as the Supernatural Pulse

• The Spirit is not a detached “ghost-force,” but the energetic intimacy of God with the world.

• Spirit works through persuasion, not coercion—through healing, emergence, creativity, and transformation.

---

3. Miracle as Emergence, not Violation

• A miracle is not a breach of natural law, but a confluence of open possibilities that reflect deeper divine alignment.

• What is often labeled “miraculous” is the radical novelty of love and beauty breaking through expected outcomes.

A miracle is not the suspension of order, but the flowering of potential.

---

4. Scripture as Relational Witness

• Sacred texts are not infallible dictations from above but evolving records of encounter between people and God-in-process.

• Divine truth emerges through the lure of meaning within sacred story—not in the literal fixity of words.

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5. Humanity as Co-Creative Image Bearer

• Made in the image of God, we are not passive recipients of divine power but active co-participants in God’s ongoing creative work.

• The supernatural dimension of humanity is found not in dominion, but in our relational capacity to embody love, justice, and beauty.

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6. Salvation as Harmonization, not Escape

• Salvation is not relocation to a supernatural elsewhere, but the reweaving of fractured relationships into wholeness.

• It is a supernatural act within the natural world—a divine movement of becoming, healing, and transformation.

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III. Theological Language Reform

Classical Meaning	Processual Supernaturalism
Supernatural	Deep Processual Mystery / Sacred Emergence
Omnipotence	Persuasive Power / Creative Potential
Miracle	Emergent Novelty / Harmonized Becoming
Revelation	Dialogical Disclosure / Lure of Meaning
Holy Spirit	Divine Relational Energy / Interior Lure
Transcendence	Teleological Invitation / Possibility Itself

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IV. Biblical Re-envisioning Examples

Biblical Theme	Processual Re-Interpretation
Burning Bush (Ex. 3)	Theophany as intensified relational presence
Jesus' Resurrection	Emergence of new creation through divine-human fidelity
Pentecost	Spirit’s empowerment as communal intensification of love
Prophetic Voice	Relational attunement to divine aim amid societal dysfunction

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V. Pastoral Implications

• Encourages believers to see God as present and participatory, not absent or arbitrary.

• Reframes prayer as mutual attunement and alignment with divine possibility.

• Fosters a Christianity that is earth-affirming, mystical, and hopeful.

• Offers a bridge for deconstructing evangelicals seeking intellectual depth and relational authenticity.

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VI. Closing Affirmation

The supernatural is not what stands above us,

but what calls us beyond ourselves—

the whisper of God in each moment,

asking us to become more real, more whole, more alive.

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Would you like this prepared as a formal Word document or theological pamphlet? We can also include scriptural citations, Church Father references, or poetic elements.

RES

No. But lets redescribe a processual faith which properly re-orientates supernaturalism with panpsychism, panentheism, and naturalism. I think by doing this we allow for a more open conclusion based on all that was said above.

ChatGPT

Excellent. Let’s now redescribe a processual faith—not as a fixed creed, but as an evolving vision—one that reorients “supernaturalism” through panpsychism, panentheism, and naturalism in a unified metaphysical and theological frame.

This approach moves beyond negation (what God is not) and into a positive reconstruction of divine presence and action within a dynamic cosmos.

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🔁 A Redescribed Processual Faith: Reorienting the Supernatural

“The supernatural is not elsewhere—it is the depth of every here.”

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I. Foundational Vision

A processual faith is not a faith in a world disrupted by divine exceptions, but a faith in a world saturated with divine relationality, where every moment is open to transformation through the living presence of God.

This faith does not reject the supernatural. It reimagines it—not above nature, but within its very flow.

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II. Three Anchoring Metaphysical Principles

1. Panpsychism: The Inner Aliveness of All Things

Every actual entity, from quarks to consciousness, bears interiority—a degree of experience, memory, and becoming.

• Supernaturalism, then, is not the descent of divine force upon inert matter.

• It is the depth-potential within each event of existence—a call toward feeling, response, novelty.

• This allows for “divine encounter” to be possible at every scale—not only in prophets or miracles, but in stones and cells, in rivers and songs.

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2. Panentheism: God In All, Yet Beyond All

God is in the world and the world is in God, but God is not exhausted by the world.

• The supernatural is thus not spatially above creation, but intimately woven into its becoming.

• God is both the source of all potential and the companion of all actuality.

• The supernatural becomes a name for that within God which lures the world toward greater value, and that within the world which opens up towards God’s lure.

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3. Naturalism: Reality as an Open, Living Process

Nature is not a closed system, but an unfinished, relational becoming.

• Divine action is not a disruption of natural law, but the poetic intensification of possibility within the laws of process.

• The natural is always more-than-itself: embedded with novelty, creativity, emergence.

• Thus, supernaturalism is redefined as the sacred potential immanent in the natural world—a participatory cosmos filled with divine invitation.

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III. Reoriented Supernaturalism: Key Themes

Old View of Supernaturalism	Processual Reorientation
Intervention by divine force	Invitation through divine lure and internal persuasion
God as wholly Other	God as relationally transcendent and immanently near
Suspension of natural order	Emergence from within nature’s openness
Power over nature	Power through relational resonance
Rare, miraculous events	Ongoing divine participation in all becoming

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IV. Faith as Participation in the Process

A processual faith is lived not in certainties but in covenantal participation:

• Trusting that each moment contains the lure of the Divine.

• Listening for the voice of the Spirit not in thunder, but in process—in possibility, in pain, in persistence.

• Acting in harmony with divine aims: justice, compassion, and beauty.

This faith feels the sacred in the ordinary, hears the eternal in temporal things, and walks with God not above the world, but within its unfolding path.

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V. Conclusion: Theopoetics of the Supernatural in Process

What once was called “supernatural” is not abandoned.

It is redeemed—

No longer an alien force,

But a sacred depth in every flame, every form, every face.

Supernaturalism, panpsychism, panentheism, and naturalism are no longer opposites—but converging expressions of a single truth:

• That God is not outside reality.

• God is the sacred pulse of reality—always luring, always feeling, always becoming.

Matthew’s Mosaic Motifs

Titian's "Transfiguration," c.1560, San Salvador

Matthew’s Mosaic Motifs

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT

Jesus as the New Moses in the Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus not simply as a moral teacher, but as the culmination and fulfillment of Israel’s sacred history (otherwise expressed as “the continuity and fulfillment of the Old Testament Covenant”).

One of the most profound thematic motifs in Matthew is his presentation of Jesus as the 'New Moses.' This typological parallel runs through the structure, content, and symbolism of the Gospel, creating a powerful narrative bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

Just as Moses delivered Israel from Egypt and mediated the covenant at Mount Sinai, Jesus inaugurates a new covenant and delivers a sermon on a mountain—hence the title 'Sermon on the Mount'—which echoes and reinterprets the giving of the Torah. In Matthew 5–7, Jesus teaches with divine authority ('But I say to you...'), positioning himself not as a mere interpreter of the Law but as one who fulfills and transcends it (Matt 5:17).

Matthew’s Gospel is also structured around five major teaching discourses (Matt 5–7; 10; 13; 18; 24–25), which many scholars interpret as a deliberate parallel to the *five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). This literary structure further reinforces the Mosaic framework, suggesting that Jesus offers a new 'Torah' for the people of God. The infancy narrative (Matt 2) includes the flight to Egypt, Herod’s slaughter of the innocents, and the call out of Egypt (Matt 2:15)—all recalling the early life of Moses. Moreover, both Moses and Jesus fast for forty days, and both perform miracles that establish divine legitimacy.

This Mosaic typology emphasizes Jesus as the authoritative revealer of God's will, but in a more intimate and incarnational way than Moses. Whereas Moses ascended a mountain to receive the Law, Jesus ascends the mountain to give the Law. In Matthew’s theological imagination, Jesus is not just a prophet like Moses—he is the Incarnate embodiment of divine wisdom, the one through whom God's ultimate will is expressed. This typology sets the stage for understanding the Sermon on the Mount not only as a set of ethical teachings but as the charter of the Kingdom of Heaven, echoing and surpassing Sinai in scope and significance.

In summary, Jesus fulfills the Law of Moses; is a type of Mosaic figure in leadership and authority; delivers His people Israel from their bondage of sin as Atoning Sacrifice; inaugurates and establishes a New Covenant that undergirds / grounds Israel’s former (old) covenant with God; is transfigured in parallel to Moses’ transfiguration on Mt. Sinai; is God’s New Discipler / Prophet to His people; and comes as One who will write God’s love upon the living hearts of mortal men rather than on the cold, stony tablets of Moses.

Thus and thus, Jesus is the New Moses who highlights the continuity between the Old and New Testamental eras marked by the Old Covenant of Moses and the New Covenant in Jesus each emphasizing the fulfillment that Jesus has brought to the prophecies and promises of God in securing not only a new heart, soul, or work but ultimately a new way of living out God’s love to family, friends, neighbors, stranger, foreigner, alien, and enemy.

 

The Five Books of Moses

1 - *Bereishit “In the beginning” (Genesis): The creation of the world and the early history of the Jewish nation, including the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, and Joseph. 

2 - Shemot “names” (Exodus): The slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, the Giving of the Torah, and the building of the Tabernacle.

3 - Vayikra “And He Called” (Leviticus): Deals with the Temple sacrifices, kosher, and other aspects of Jewish ritual life.

4 - Bamidbar “In the wilderness / desert” (Numbers): Many events that happened to the Israelites on their way to the promised land, including G‑d counting the people, the Spies debacle, the Korach uprising.

5 - Devarim “Words or Things”(Deuteronomy): Nearing the end of his 40 years of leadership, Moses speaks to the people, preparing them for life in the Promised Land.

 

Typological Comparison: Moses and Jesus

The following table compares major events in the life of Moses with those in the Gospel of Matthew that reflect Jesus as the 'New Moses'.

Moses (OT)	Jesus (Matthew)
Pharaoh orders infant deaths	Herod orders infant deaths (Matt 2)
Moses escapes death as infant	Jesus escapes to Egypt (Matt 2)
Leads Israel out of Egypt	Returns from Egypt (Matt 2:15)
Receives Law on Mount Sinai	Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5)
Fasts 40 days on mountain	Fasts 40 days in wilderness (Matt 4)
Gives covenant to Israel	Inaugurates Kingdom ethics (Matt 5–7)

Visual Timeline and Mosaic Typology
Below is a visual timeline of key events in Matthew's Gospel that reflect Mosaic themes:

Conclusion

The Gospel of Matthew intricately weaves the motif of Jesus as the 'New Moses,' presenting him as the fulfillment of Israel’s sacred history. This typological parallel is evident in the structure, content, and symbolism of the Gospel, creating a powerful narrative bridge between the Old and New Testaments. Jesus, like Moses, delivers a new covenant and teaches with divine authority, positioning himself as the embodiment of divine wisdom and the ultimate revealer of God's will.

The comparison between Matthew’s 'Sermon on the Mount' and Luke’s 'Sermon on the Plain' highlights the differences in location, tone, theological framing, and intended audience. While Matthew’s sermon emphasizes spiritual blessings and the fulfillment of the Torah, Luke’s sermon focuses on social and economic blessings, with a universal tone and social focus.

The visual timeline and typological comparison further reinforce the Mosaic themes, illustrating key events in the life of Moses and their parallels in the Gospel of Matthew. The insights from Church Fathers on the Sermon on the Mount provide additional theological depth, emphasizing the foundational virtues, spiritual fullness, and ethical teachings of Jesus.

Overall, Matthew’s Gospel presents Jesus as the authoritative revealer of God's will, surpassing Moses in scope and significance, and offering a new 'Torah' for the people of God.