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A WORKABLE IDEA OF GODHenry Nelson WiemanPublished online: 24 May 2006.

To cite this article: Henry Nelson Wieman (1928) A WORKABLE IDEA OF GOD, ReligiousEducation: The official journal of the Religious Education Association, 23:10, 960-966, DOI:10.1080/0034408280231004

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A WORKABLE IDEA OF GOD

HENRY NELSON WIEMAN

A WORKABLE IDEA of God is onewhich will guide us in making

those connections between men and be-tween man and other objects throughwhich the beneficent working of God canfulfill itself in the world. Many ideasof God which are fondly cherished donot do this. Many ideas which may betrue are not workable in this sense. Theyare not applicable to the urgent practicalproblems of human living. They do nothelp us in our endeavor to make thoseconnections which release into human lifethe cosmically mighty working whichmagnifies the values of existence.

One may have ideas about the sunshinewhich may be true enough but whichhave no practical value in that they donot help at all in so connecting with sun-shine as to release its beneficent workingin human life. One may have very trueideas about his neighbor or the othernation or the waterfall, which, however,do not serve to guide in making con-nections which will render actual thegoods which inhere as possibilities inthese objects. So also there are manyideas of God which do not direct ourobservations and experiments in such away as to bring the goodness of God intothe actualities of human existence.

The first prerequisite of a workableidea of God is that it be an idea whichcan be used* to guide us into connectionswith the value making process of the uni-verse so that the working of this process

*It should be noted, in light of our further dis-cussion, that using an idea of God is not the samething as using God.

can magnify the goods of human ex-istence.

GOD AND VALUE

In the very statement of the problemjust made we have indicated the firstpoint in such an idea of God. God mustbe conceived as the value making processof the universe. Is there a value makingprocess in the universe? We do not seehow anyone can doubt it since men actu-ally do experience values. Human hun-ger actually is sometimes satisfied, nomatter how often persons starve to death.Human friendships actually are occa-sionally consummated, no matter howfrequently hearts are broken. A fair de-gree of health does come within the scopeof human experience, no matter howwidespread disease may be. Beauty issometimes perceived in the sky and sea,woodland and meadow and human form,even though wide reaches of space andtime are dismal and disgusting. Sincevalues are experienced in the actual exist-ing world, we cannot escape the conclu-sion that there is a value making processat work in the universe, no matter whatother contrary processes may also be atwork.

But it does not help us to make benef-icent connections with that processmerely to know that there is one. Wemust know how it works, when andwhere and under what conditions.

GOD AND NATURE

Where shall we seek for this valuemaking process and where does it oper-

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A WORKABLE IDEA OF 961

ate, in nature or beyond nature? Ouranswer is emphatically, in nature. Godmust be a process of nature, not everyprocess of nature, but at least some pro-cess. The reason for this is plain. Itis because human personality is a processof nature. It is in nature that we sickenand die, live and breathe, make friendsand lose them, sorrow and rejoice, co-operate and fight. An idea of God whichprevents us from seeking and finding Godin nature is a non-workable idea whichcannot be used in dealing with the diffi-culties of everyday.

The great source of misunderstandingat this point lies in the diverse ideas con-cerning what is meant by nature. Somemay hold that nature does not include thethoughts and hopes and emotions of hu-man consciousness, or at any rate thatthere is some phase of human conscious-ness which lies outside of nature. Sucha dualism we do not think is tenable, butwe do not want to enter into such meta-physical problems just now.

Suppose we grant for the sake ofavoiding argument that man in somephase of his being does reach beyond na-ture. Then, perhaps, God must be foundin that supernatural realm; but also hemust certainly be found in that realmwhere the physical and chemical and bio-logical and psychological and sociologicalfactors of human life play such an im-portant part. An idea of God which ex-cludes him from the physical, chemical,and biological processes in which we live,is an idea which renders religion futilein the work of solving the practical prob-lems of human life. Such a religion be-comes increasingly a mere ornamentalluxury in the world we live in today.God, then, is at least one phase of theworking of nature, whatever else hemay also be.

GOD, VALUE AND HUMAN RELATIONS

What more specifically is this naturalprocess which we identify with God and

under what conditions does its beneficentworking appear? To answer such aquestion we must know first of all whatconstitutes value.

Value in human experience is alwayssome organic whole in which the experi-encing individual plays some part. Byorganic whole we mean one in which theparts sustain and enhance one another.When a human being plays such part insome organic whole that he sustains itand is sustained by it, he experiencesvalue. An apple, for example, is ofvalue in human experience when it en-ters with a human being into such or-ganic relations that the man's appetite issatisfied by the apple and the man seeks,preserves, cultivates, or otherwise be-haves toward the apple in such a way asto sustain it in the body-food relation.Of course, the organic whole into whichman and apple enter, and which consti-tutes the value of the apple, may not bemerely the one organized about bodilyappetite. It may be an organic wholeinvolving an entire economic system, ora family, a political organization, afriendship, a scientific theory which re-quires the apple as material of investiga-tion, or the aesthetic unity of a bit ofstill life.

The value of anything is measured bytwo yardsticks: first, the intimacy ofthe organic whole which constitutes thevalue, meaning by intimacy the degree ofmutual support and interdependenceamong the parts; second, the richness ofthe organic whole, meaning the numberof different parts which enter into therelation of mutual support and interde-pendence. Increase of intimacy or rich-ness or both means increase in value.Such increase we call progressive inte-gration.

Now we can answer the question:What is the value making process of na-ture which we identify with God andupon which we are dependent for the

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962 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

greatest goods of existence? It is theprogressive integration which spontane-ously springs up in nature whenever theright conditions are provided.

The conditions always involve two ormore objects brought into creative in-teraction with one another. For exam-ple, seed, soil, sunshine, moisture, andair may interact in such a way as to de-velop into a flower or an oak tree or agrain crop. The plant that thus devel-ops is a more richly integrated wholethan were the seed, soil, etc., when theseexisted as separate objects. In the flow-er they have merged into a new unity.They have become more intimately in-tegrated. By more intimately integratedwe mean they constitute a whole in whichthere is more subtle and complex inter-dependence and mutual support amongthe multiform activities which make itup.

So likewise two human individualsmay get into such relations with oneanother and interact in such a way thatthere springs up .quite spontaneously thatmutual understanding, sharing of experi-ence, cooperation and reciprocal enrich-ment which we call friendship. Such afriendship is just as truly a work of na-ture as the flower or oak tree. It is thework of that tendency toward pro-gressive integration which reveals itselfin nature whenever the required relationsbetween objects are established.

No man can make a friendship. Allthat a man can do is to put himself incertain relations with other men andthen the friendship springs into beinglike a flower because of the integrativeinteraction which arises between themwhen in this relationship and underthese conditions. This integrative inter-action which creates the beautiful andprecious value of friendship is partlyphysical, partly chemical, partly physio-logical and biological, partly psychologicaland sociological, but it is only in very

small part the work of deliberate, con-scious human construction. It is pre-eminently the work of the value making,integrating process of nature.

But, one may object, suppose the in-teraction between seed, soil, etc., developsinto a weed. Is that an increase of val-ue ? Yes. We call any plant a weed notbecause of what it is intrinsically, butbecause of the way it interacts with otherconcrete wholes and because of .what de-velops out of such interaction. The evil,then, lies not in the development of seedand soil into a flower or weed, but in thefurther event of interaction between theresulting plant and other things. Oneof the chief practical problems of humanlife is to discover what relations to es-tablish between plants and other objectsso that "weeds" can be transformed intouseful plants. That means we must learnto connect "weeds" with other objects,human beings, animals, other plants, insuch a way that the interaction betweenthem will generate richer organic unities.

Suppose the weed we have been con-sidering grew to maturity and enteredinto interaction with other plants, insects,and animals, together with climatic con-ditions, in such a way as to give rise toa tropical jungle which choked out thelife of man or threw him back into sav-agery. Would that be the work of thevalue making process ? It would be valuemaking in so far as ricRer integrationshad been achieved, but it would be avalue making in which man had failedto make right connections and missed hisown opportunity. But that is not all.The failure would be much more seriousthan that. So far as our evidence canguide us it would be a cosmic failure.To understand that is to understand theplace of human relations in the progress-ive integration of the universe.

No tropical jungle can even begin todisplay the richness of integration whichis found in human life. It is in the hu-

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A WORKABLE IDEA OF GOD 963

man mind and in that interaction of hu-man minds called human culture withall the arts and sciences that the mostintimate and subtle and complicated mu-tual support and enhancement of activi-ties arises. So far as we have exploredthis universe it nowhere displays suchgreat value as is found in human life,if we accept our definition of value asrichness of organic unity or integration.To be sure, the greatest evils are also tobe found in human life because evil isthe destruction of good and in humanlife we have the greatest goods to be de-stroyed. But that is only further supportto our claim that in human life the great-est actual achievement of value is to befound.

What we have said of the organicwhole called a flower is also true of thatricher unity called a friendship. Afriendship is good so far as it goes; buthow it interacts with other things andwhat arises out of that interaction is an-other matter. One of the great practicalproblems of human life is to discoverhow to establish such relations betweensmall groups of friends and larger socialgroups so that the interaction betweenthem will generate concrete wholes ofeven greater value. In other words, thegreat problem of human life is to providethose connections, social, psychological,zoological, physical, chemical, throughwhich the integrative process of naturecan fulfill itself most abundantly, for thisis the value making process called God.

Certain connections must be made,certain circuits closed, before the beauti-ful integrative working of God can fulfillitself. Seed and soil must be rightly con-nected, and plant with plant and animal,and all these with men; men must bebrought into certain relations with oneanother, and groups of men. Whenthese connections are made and the cir-cuit closed something begins to workwhich is far vaster than humanity but

which fulfills itself most abundantly inhuman life. It thrills through all theuniverse but comes to fullest flower inhuman friendliness and mutual under-standing, in the aesthetic and logical or-ganization of shared experience, in allthe arts and sciences and in a planettransfigured with creations of beauty.

It is conceivable that some otherricher integration than that of humanlife might develop, but that is merely amatter of speculation and we have noempirical evidence to support it. There-fore, so far as evidence goes, we musthold that the way of progressive inte-gration lies through the increase of hu-man good. The value making process ofthe universe must operate in human re-lationships if the greatest values are tobe achieved.

GOD AND VALUE ARE MORE THANHUMAN

We have tried to guard against theerror of separating God and value fromhuman relationships and the social prob-lems of the hour. God is inextricablyinvolved in these. But there is an oppo-site error equally prevalent and equallydangerous. It is the error of makingGod the creature of human life or, if notthat, a mere instrument for achievinghuman welfare. God is not created andsustained by man but rather creates andsustains human life as one of the high-est expressions of progressive integra-tion. God is not a mere human utilityfor promoting human welfare, but ratherhuman life is one of the media throughwhich operates this constitutional ten-dency of the universe toward increasingvalue. If we must degrade either Godor man to the level of a utility, it is manrather than God that comes closer to thisstatus. But we need not consider eitherone a utility. Rather man is organicallyinvolved in the working of God.

It is often held today that value is ere-

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ated and sustained by human personality.We can see no grounds for this view, al-though, of course, we must begin withthe experience of human satisfaction inorder to find values because we happento be human beings. The greatest values,measured in terms of human satisfaction,are the richest integrations; and this istrue whether one is considering aesthetic,moral, social, economic, or biological val-ues. But the most important point tonote is that the organic wholes of great-est value are not created by man but seemto spring quite spontaneously from thedepths of nature's working when certainconnections are made.

Let no man think he ever made a flow-er or tree to grow. Even those flowerswhich are the result of long centuries ofartificial cultivation are not the work ofman save to a very minor degree. Theyare the creations of nature. They showhow the integrative process of natureworks when certain conditions are pro-vided. All that man does is to stumbleonto the required conditions or connec-tions and lo! the miracle happens. Ourabject dependence on the method of ex-perimentation ought to make it inescap-ably plain to us that we can do nothingsave make a few connections and thenwait for the value making process ofnature to do its work. God is the cre-ator and sustainer of value; and God isto be sought in nature. God is not na-

"ture in its totality, but he is one of theconstitutional tendencies of nature.

Often we read and hear such expres-sions as these: "A Tokyo earthquakereminds us that Nature is not yet whollysubdued." "Inventions have enabledman to wield powers as destructive asthose formerly wielded by Nature" . . ."mastery over nature" . . . "machinerymakes man collectively more lordly inhis attitude toward nature."* But how

"These quotations are taken from the Chapter on"Science" written by Bertrand Russell in the bookedited by Chas. Beard: Whither Mankind.

can man wield power over nature whenhe is himself a part of nature.

These statements by Bertrand Russellshow that he has not yet clarified histhinking of the relics of an old super-naturalism which classified man with thesupernaturals. Man's thoughts, schemes,inventions, machines are just as much thework of nature as any primeval forestor glacier or rock. Does not a steam en-gine, aeroplane, or automobile reveal theworking of nature as truly as a volcano?The only difference is that in the formercertain activities of nature, man himselfbeing one of these activities, have enteredinto an unique organic whole in whichthere is more complicated and subtle in-terdependence and mutual support.

Whether the continued use of machin-ery will increase the values of existencedepends on whether they are made tofunction as sustaining factors in organicwholes of ever more intimate and far-reaching interdependence in which menare sustained and play an active part.Machines must be made to serve God, theprogressive integrating tendency of na-ture, if values are to be magnified. Eco-nomic wealth is one of the indispensablegoods. But it, like the flower and thefriendship, must be brought into sustain-ing and creative interaction with othergoods if progressive intergration is toproceed by way of human life.

Some may be able to see that flowersand trees and machines and economicwealth are the work of nature, man serv-ing only to help establish certain con-nections which are required to releasethis tendency of the universe. But somemay not be able to see that such is thecase also with respect to human works ofart. It has been said:

"Poems are made by fools like me,But only God can make a tree."

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This is a mistake. God also makes thepoem. How does a poem come into ex-istence? Or a musical composition at-tributed to Mozart or Beethoven or Men-delssohn? Or a work of architecture orany other beautiful creation? What doesthe artist do? He simply gets into rightrelations with other works of beauty,other artists, with nature and society andother conditions. Then, when the circuitis closed, the connections made, the workof beauty springs into being, it may besuddenly, it may be slowly, like a grow-ing tree. But however it comes it is duein part to organic chemistry, in part tophysiological and subconscious processes,in part to mere physical elements, in partto historical and social processes, overwhich the individual has no control. Itis, we say, the creation of the integrativeprocess of nature using the artists as one,but only one, of the many factors whichgo into the creation.

What we have said of artistic creationapplies also to industry and economicwealth, to goodwill and cooperationamong men, scientific invention and toscience itself. These and all other cre-ations of value arise out of the interac-tion of climate and soil, of diverse cul-tures and peoples, of individual andgroup, of innumerable factors too numer-ous to mention, many of which no doubthave never yet come within the boundsof human knowledge.

But God is not relegated to these lastmentioned unknown factors, supposingthere be such. God is known. God isthe integrating process that arises out ofthe interaction of all these factors whenthe right relations are established betweenthem. Man plays his puny part in thisgreat process by which values in the formof concrete wholes are created and mag-nified. It is a noble part but it is punycompared to that vast working which isGod.

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE

God is not the All. God is not identicalwith the universe. He is not the indis-criminate totality of everything. To re-fer to the universe is by no means thesame as to refer to God. But God is oneconstitutional tendency of the universe.To say that God is a constitutional ten-dency of the universe is to say that heis a part or phase of the nature of things.He enters into the constitution of theuniverse, and were it not for this ten-dency toward integration there could beno universe. In fact, if this were atreatise on metaphysics we would saythat the movement toward integration isthe ultimate factor in the universe, sofar as the empirical method reveals anultimate. Therefore the tendency towardprogressive integration is inescapable andindestructible in the universe.

That does not mean that the universewill inevitably develop richer integrationsand higher values, because there are othertendencies which work against it. But itdoes mean that that tendency, howeverobstructed, however its works may bedestroyed, will always operate. That isto say, it must continue to operate if theuniverse is to continue to be a universe.But this leads us into philosophical ques-tions which we cannot here consider.Only we must note that man can alienatehimself from this constitutional tendencyof the universe toward progressive in-tegration. He can work against it. Hecan become a promoter of disintegration.When he does this he sins and will surelysuffer the consequences.

GOD AND THE EMPIRICAL METHOD

Just what relations must be establishedbetween concrete objects, human andsub-human, in order to release this con-stitutional tendency of the universetowards progressive integration, is a mat-ter which in each case must be discoveredby observation and experimentation. But

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in order to make such observations andexperiments we must have certain guid-ing ideas. It is these guiding ideas whichwe have been trying to formulate. Themost important of them, because it isthe most inclusive and fundamental, isthe idea of God. We claim that anyidea of God which is to have practicalvalue in guiding human conduct in con-structive and masterful enterprise mustbe formulated along some such lines aswe have tried to indicate.

Throughout this discussion we havenot referred to God in personal terms.We have no objection to the attributionof personality to God providing it is notdone in such a way as to impair the prac-tical workability of the idea of God. Oursole concern here has been to outline thebare essentials of such a workable ideabecause we believe that is the crying needof religion today. What the world de-mands and sorely needs of the religiousman and the religious group today is notthat they shall find emotional satisfactionin a fatherly idea of God nor provide anintellectually satisfying concept in thelight of modern science and philosophy,but it is that they shall reach out in themight of God to save the world from itsdeadly ills and bring to high fulfillmentits vast possibilities for good. It is solelyto this practical end that we have triedto formulate the idea of God.

U S E F U L BOOKS

The following books are not designed to givean idea of God suitable for teaching a child,because we do not think that is the primaryproblem in religious education just now. If wetry to formulate an idea of God and methodof teaching it suitable for children before wehave cleared up our own thinking on this mat-ter we not only make confusion worse con-founded, but incur the deadly malady of insin-cerity.

SMUTS, J. C, Holism and Evolution. (Mac-millan, 1926, 362 pages, $3.00.)This is not professedly religious, but is

widely recognized by scientific and philosophicthinkers and points directly to the idea of Godsketched above, showing how all modern sci-ence supports such a view.

HOBHOUSE, L. T., Development and Purpose.{Macmxllan, revised and rewritten 1927, 494pages, $5.00.)First written several years ago, but now

brought up to date, it has never been given therecognition among students of religion that itdeserves. It is the mature work of a greatman who has given his life to the study ofpsychology and sociology and has acquired anunusual mastery of modern scientific views.

HOCKING, W. E., The Meaning of God in Hu-man Experience. (Yale University Press,1912, $4.50.)Parts II and III should be skipped by people

not interested in philosophical technicalities.The greatness of this book lies in the profoundinsight into the life and intuitions of religiouspersons.

WIEMAN, H. N., Methods of Private ReligiousLiving. (Macmillan, 1928, $1.75.)A further treatment of the_ idea of God by

the writer of the above article, with specialemphasis upon its practical bearings in theconduct of life.

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