A Personal Note
I began as a Christian fundamentalist by birth. In my twenties I became affiliated with, and ministered within, a (conservative) evangelical setting due to my later marriage. After twenty years, in my forties, and at my pastor's urging, I became active in a progressive evangelical church within emergent Christianity. In my mid-fifties things changed yet again....
It might be easier to say I was entering into a kind of "mid-life crisis" but I rather think it was more correctly an "internal crisis of faith". It was intense. Deeply personal. And somewhat lengthy period of interior collapse. After a time I came to recognize it as a rejuvenating process for internal faith transformation. Still, it held all kinds of blackness and lostness and left me feeling God had abandoned me. More curiously, I felt God's abiding presence. I still can't explain it. But I have come to think the feeling of "divine abandonment" may have been that part of my faith that need to be let go.
It was also a very unwanted - and quite unexpected - period of life and not unlike a very dark pit with no way out. It became deeply interruptive, and a necessarily deconstructive. It was also crucial to my expanding faith-journey I was entering into - unbeknownst to me. I describe it as a kind of spiritual darkness with no bottom and no top. When done, I very clearly, almost intuitively, knew where I was going (I believe, by the Spirit of God) but had no way of knowing how to get there. So I began to write in order to work out the deep and unsettling revelation I had gained through this very hard, and extremely difficult, spiritual experience.
Essentially, the God of my youth had met me in my iterative evangelical faith expression. I had been sensing for some time the disruptively bad influences of a hyper-Calvinism (now known as Maga evangelicalism) growing in popularity to its Christian dogma and influences. It began years earlier in seminary but untimely crystallized at this time in my life. As a result, it caused me to cast a wide net and re-examine everything I thought I knew. My search eventually discovered the need, not for a new hermeneutic, but for an integral philosophy preaching value and a philosophic-theology preaching love.
Placed together, process-relational theology was born, and is what energizes my rebirthed Christian faith. Over the years I have testified to my rebirth and why it fills me with new hope. But it also demands an upgraded Christian faith stripped of folklore, poor doctrine, and boundaries markers. Some of those markers is how we read the bible. Here, through these several upcoming series, I will show what I mean. As I have come to understand process thought I am now able to take past essays and more ably rework them. Enjoy.
- R.E. Slater
Across the centuries these (theologizing) attempts took many forms. Ancient cultures at first imagined various gods and goddesses dwelling in mountains and rivers. As nations arose, they envisioned patron deities which guided their destinies. Early (religious) philosophers (later, "philosophic-theologians") began to describe the divine as the source of order, reason, and being itself. Each generation inherited the religious language of the past which reshaped, as well as challenged, it's (cultural) responses to the past and its (sociological) experience of the present.
The story of faith is therefore not the story of a single fixed idea of God but the story of an unfolding conversation. Communities have continually wrestled with suffering, justice, hope - including the mystery of existence - and through that (psychic) struggle have gradually expanded societal understanding of the sacred across a spectrum of religious-faith ideologies (sic, beliefs). Resulting "Sacred Texts" have preserved these earlier reflections, allowing us in our present generations (re ... Renaissance, Reformational, Enlightened, Modern, Post-modern, Meta-modern ... ) to glimpse the long process through which humanity has tried to name the divine, or sacred-divine.
This series explores that process....
Beginning in the ancient world of many gods and moving through the religious transformations of Israel, the rise of Jewish apocalyptic thought, the teachings of Jesus, and the theological developments of early Christianity, the essays that follow will trace the historical evolution of the Divine or Sacred-divine - both as an idea and as a belief. Along the way, we will see how changing cultural influences, historical experiences, philosophical insights, and spiritual reflections have continually reshaped the ways people-and-societies have imagined God.
To recognize this history is not to diminish religious faith. On the contrary, it reveals the depth of humanity’s spiritual journey to explain the unexplainable. Each generation stands within a long stream of meditative reflection stretching back thousands and thousands and thousands of years. The questions we ask today are part of that same unfolding search.
If the universe itself is dynamic and evolving, then it should not surprise us that humanity’s understanding of the divine evolves as well. The language of faith grows as the human horizon expands.The story of how God “became God” in human thought is therefore not a story of decline or invention. It is the story of a continuing discovery - an ever-widening attempt to understand the sacred presence encountered within the unfolding drama of the world.It is this story that is still being written today....
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| Illustration by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT |
Introduction
Many people assume that religion begins with a fixed understanding of God. In this view, divine truth descends from heaven complete and unchanged, and the task of religious communities is simply to preserve that truth intact through the centuries.
Yet the historical record tells a very different story.
Across civilizations and across time, ideas about God change. They expand, contract, and transform in response to new experiences, new crises, and new cultural environments. The gods of ancient Mesopotamia differ from those of Greece. The philosophical God of medieval Christianity differs from the personal deity of the Hebrew prophets. Even within the Bible itself, the character and role of God appear in multiple forms.
In some passages God is portrayed as a warrior leading Israel into battle. In others, God becomes the universal creator of all nations. In still others, God appears as the compassionate father welcoming prodigal children home.
These differences are not contradictions to be eliminated but clues pointing toward a deeper truth: religious traditions develop over time. They are shaped by the historical journeys of the communities who carry them.
This series explores that development.
The goal is not to diminish faith but to understand how the idea of God has grown through centuries of human reflection, struggle, and hope. By tracing this history, we can see how ancient religious experiences gradually evolved into the theological traditions that shape the modern world.
Religion as Historical Experience
Religious belief does not emerge in isolation. It is born within the lived experience of communities confronting the mysteries of existence.
War, exile, empire, and cultural encounter have repeatedly forced religious communities to rethink their understanding of the divine.
When Israel experienced liberation from Egypt, God was remembered as a deliverer who acts in history. When the kingdom of Israel faced corruption and injustice, the prophets proclaimed God as a moral judge demanding righteousness. When Jerusalem fell and the people were carried into exile, the question arose whether God had abandoned them or whether God ruled beyond any single land or temple.
Each of these crises pushed religious imagination in new directions.
In this way, theology often develops not during periods of stability but during moments of profound disruption. Crisis becomes a catalyst for reinterpretation.
Sacred Texts as Theological Archives
One of the remarkable features of the Bible is that it preserves these evolving interpretations rather than erasing them.
Instead of presenting a single uniform theology, the biblical tradition contains multiple voices reflecting different historical moments.
Early texts describe a world in which many nations worship many gods, while Israel follows its own covenant deity. Later texts proclaim that the God of Israel is the only true God and the creator of the universe. Still later writings explore themes of cosmic justice, resurrection, and the ultimate transformation of history.
These layers reveal that sacred texts function not merely as doctrinal statements but as archives of theological reflection. They record how generations of believers wrestled with the meaning of God in changing circumstances.
Recognizing this historical depth allows us to appreciate the Bible not as a static system of ideas but as a living conversation across centuries.
Why Theologies Develop
Several forces commonly drive religious development.
Historical crisis is one of the most powerful. When established beliefs can no longer explain lived experience, communities seek new interpretations that preserve faith while addressing new realities.
Cultural interaction also plays a role. When religious traditions encounter new civilizations and philosophical ideas, they often adapt their language and concepts to engage these influences.
Finally, internal reflection contributes to theological change. As communities meditate on their own sacred traditions, they reinterpret earlier teachings in light of new insights.
Over time these processes gradually reshape the understanding of God.
What begins as a tribal protector may become a universal creator. What begins as a distant ruler may be reimagined as a personal presence within the world.
The idea of God grows along with the human capacity to imagine the divine.
The Road Map of This Series
The essays that follow will trace several major stages in the historical development of the divine idea.
The journey begins in the ancient Near East, where Israel’s earliest religious traditions emerged within a world of many gods and competing mythologies. It continues through the prophetic revolution that reshaped Israel’s understanding of divine justice. It then moves through the crisis of exile, which produced a new vision of universal monotheism.
From there the story enters the vibrant theological landscape of the centuries before Jesus, when Jewish thought expanded dramatically through apocalyptic literature, messianic expectations, and philosophical reflection.
Only then do we arrive at the teachings of Jesus and the early Christian reinterpretation of God that would follow.
By tracing this history step by step, we can see how the concept of God was continually reimagined as communities sought to understand the divine presence within the unfolding drama of history.
A Living Idea
The story of religion is often told as if God remained the same while human understanding stayed fixed. Yet the historical record suggests something far more dynamic.
Across centuries, believers have continually revisited their understanding of God in light of new experiences, new knowledge, and new moral insights. Each generation inherits the theological reflections of the past while adding its own interpretations to the ongoing conversation.
The result is not a static portrait of God but a living tradition shaped by the struggles and aspirations of countless communities.
This series explores that unfolding story.
It is the story of how humanity’s understanding of the divine gradually evolved - and how, through that long historical process, the idea of God itself came to take the form we recognize today.
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| Illustration by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT |
Across the stages below the divine idea expands from
- a sacred cosmos filled with many divine powers,
- to a universal and morally concerned creator, and finally
- toward a relational understanding of God within an evolving universe.
MYTHIC COSMOS(Ancient Sacred World)Nature alive with divine forcesPantheons of godsLocal and national deitiesSacred geography↓ETHICAL & METAPHYSICAL GOD(Biblical and Classical Theology)Prophetic monotheismUniversal creatorDivine justiceClassical philosophical theology↓PROCESS-RELATIONAL GOD(Contemporary Theological Horizon)God in dynamic relation with creationProcess and relational theologyOpen and participatory universeDivine presence within cosmic evolutionA Whiteheadian Pattern of Religious DevelopmentThis historical arc also parallels a pattern described within process philosophy, particularly in the work of Alfred North Whitehead. Human understanding of reality tends to move through successive stages of awareness as consciousness expands.COSMIC PARTICIPATIONHumanity experiences the world as alive with sacred forces.↓MORAL CONSCIOUSNESSReligion becomes focused on justice, covenant, and ethical responsibility.↓METAPHYSICAL SYSTEMPhilosophical reflection seeks to define the nature of God and reality.↓RELATIONAL PROCESSReality is understood as dynamic, evolving, and relational.God participates in the ongoing creativity of the universe.Seen from this perspective, the development of theology reflects humanity’s deepening participation in the unfolding character of reality itself. The story of religion is therefore not simply a sequence of doctrines, but a long exploration of how the sacred may be present within an ever-changing world.Looking Ahead. The essays that follow begin this journey at its earliest stage. Before Israel’s prophets spoke of justice or philosophers described divine perfection, the ancient world experienced reality as alive with sacred power. Mountains, storms, rivers, and stars were all perceived as expressions of divine presence.To understand how the idea of God eventually evolved, we must first step back into that ancient world. The next essay explores that beginning.Essay 2 – The Ancient World of Many Gods
The Listening God
The Becoming of the Divine
humankind has spoken many names
into the dark.
Storm-gods,
river spirits,
keepers of mountains and stars.
Each name
a reaching.
Each prayer
a question.
And somewhere within the turning cosmos
the universe listened
through the minds and hearts
of those who asked.
The divine was not discovered
all at once.
It unfolded slowly
like dawn across a long horizon.
In desert exile
God grew larger than a temple.
In prophetic fire
God grew deeper than sacrifice.
In the quiet of conscience
God became justice.
And still the story continues.
For if the universe is alive with relation
and history itself is a living stream,
then every generation learns again
how to speak of the holy.
Not as something fixed beyond time
but as presence
moving through time,
inviting the world
toward greater beauty,
greater compassion,
greater truth.
The many voices of history
become one unfolding song.
And the song
is not yet finished.
March 12, 2026
@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ancient Near Eastern Religion
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Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion. Yale University Press, 1976.
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Smith, Mark S. The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel. Eerdmans, 2002.
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Smith, Mark S. The Origins of Biblical Monotheism. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Israelite Religion and the Hebrew Bible
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Kaufmann, Yehezkel. The Religion of Israel: From Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile. University of Chicago Press, 1960.
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Dever, William G. Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Eerdmans, 2005.
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Cross, Frank Moore. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. Harvard University Press, 1973.
Second Temple Judaism
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Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination. Eerdmans, 2016.
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Nickelsburg, George W. E., and James C. VanderKam. 1 Enoch: A New Translation. Fortress Press, 2012.
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Wright, N. T. The New Testament and the People of God. Fortress Press, 1992.
Early Christianity
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Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Eerdmans, 2003.
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Dunn, James D. G. Christology in the Making. Eerdmans, 1989.
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Ehrman, Bart D. How Jesus Became God. HarperOne, 2014.
Process Theology and Process Philosophy
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Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality. Free Press.
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Whitehead, Alfred North. Religion in the Making. Cambridge University Press.
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Cobb, John B., and David Ray Griffin. Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition. Westminster Press.
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Suchocki, Marjorie. God, Christ, Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology. Crossroad.
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Keller, Catherine. Face of the Deep. Routledge.
APPENDIX A
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| Illustration by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT |
↓
World of Many Gods
↓
Yahweh Among the Gods
↓
Prophetic Revolution
↓
Crisis of Exile
↓
Intertestamental Explosion
↓
Message of Jesus
↓
Rise of Christology / Philosophical God
↓
Modern Crisis of God
↓
Relational God
1. The Sacred Cosmos
c. 1500 BCE and earlier
- The world is experienced as alive with spiritual force.
- Mountains, rivers, storms, animals, and stars are all bound up with sacred presence.
- Religion begins as participation in a living cosmos.
Ancient Near Eastern Polytheism
c. 1500 - 1200 BCE
- Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan develop structured pantheons.
- Gods are linked to fertility, war, kingship, weather, and land.
- Divine order mirrors political and social order.
Early Israelite Religion
c. 1200 - 1000 BCE
- Early Israel emerges within the ancient Near Eastern world.
- Yahweh appears as the covenant God of Israel.
- Israelite religion is not yet fully philosophical monotheism.
Prophetic Ethical Monotheism
c. 800 - 600 BCE
- Prophets emphasize justice, righteousness, and covenant faithfulness.
- God becomes increasingly understood as morally concerned with all nations.
- Ritual is subordinated to ethics.
Exilic Transformation
c. 586 BCE and after
- Jerusalem falls and Solomon's temple is destroyed.
- Israel must rethink God beyond land, monarchy, and temple.
- Universal monotheism intensifies.
The Development of Intertestamental Theology
c. 200 BCE - 70 CE
- Jewish theology diversifies dramatically.
- Apocalypticism, resurrection belief, angelology, demonology, and messianic expectation expand.
- Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and other groups debate Israel’s future.
The Jesus Movement
c. 30 CE
- Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God.
- His teaching integrates prophetic ethics, apocalyptic hope, and radical mercy.
- God is announced as near, active, and relational.
Early Christian Christology
c. 30 - 500 CE
- Early Christians reinterpret Jesus in increasingly exalted theological terms.
- Greek philosophical ideas shape doctrines concerning God, Christ, and the Trinity.
- The divine idea becomes increasingly articulated through metaphysical language.
The Formation of Classical Christian Theology
c. 300 - 1500 CE
- Christian theology becomes systematized through the work of church councils and medieval scholars.
- Biblical thought is increasingly integrated with Greek philosophical frameworks, especially Platonism and Aristotelian metaphysics.
- The idea of God enters a period of reconstruction.
- Questions of transcendence, immanence, and divine action re-emerge.
- This synthesis forms the dominant theological structure of medieval Christianity.
Early Modern and Modern Transformations
1500 - 2000 CE
- The Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment philosophy, and modern historical criticism challenge the assumptions of classical theology.
- Science, historical criticism, and philosophy force theologians to reconsider traditional ideas about divine action, revelation, and authority.
- Questions of transcendence, immanence, and divine participation in the world become central to modern theological reflection.
Open-and-Relational Process Theology
1900 CE - Present
- Process, relational, open, and panentheistic theologies explore new ways of understanding the divine within an evolving universe.
- God is increasingly understood less as static omnipotence and more as dynamic relational presence.
- The divine is reimagined as participating in the unfolding creativity of the cosmos.
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