What Is God? How to Think about the Divine

This monograph presents a systematic theological approach to understanding the divine that challenges both traditional theistic conceptions and modern reductionist dismissals of God. Haught develops a process-relational framework that reconceptualizes God not as a static, omnipotent being but as the ultimate source of novelty and possibility in an evolving universe. The work emerges from the intersection of process philosophy, particularly that of Alfred North Whitehead, and contemporary scientific understandings of cosmic and biological evolution.

Haught argues against two primary positions: classical theism's notion of an unchanging, all-controlling deity, and scientific materialism's rejection of any divine reality. He contends that both perspectives fail to account for the universe's inherent creativity and emergent complexity. Instead, he proposes understanding God as the "power of the future" who operates through persuasion rather than coercion, drawing creation toward ever-greater complexity, beauty, and consciousness. This conception preserves divine transcendence while affirming God's intimate involvement in temporal processes.

The work's methodology combines philosophical analysis with engagement of scientific discoveries, particularly in cosmology and evolutionary biology. Haught demonstrates how traditional theological categories must be revised in light of an evolutionary worldview, arguing that static metaphysical frameworks cannot adequately capture the dynamic character of reality. He develops key distinctions between God as "being" versus God as "becoming," and between divine power as domination versus divine power as empowerment of creaturely freedom.

Significantly, Haught addresses the problem of evil through his process framework, suggesting that genuine novelty and freedom necessarily entail risk and the possibility of suffering. This approach offers a theodicy that neither diminishes the reality of evil nor compromises divine goodness, instead locating both within the necessary conditions for an evolving universe capable of producing consciousness and love.

The monograph's contribution lies in its constructive mediation between religious and scientific worldviews, offering theologians a conceptual framework for engaging evolutionary science without abandoning core religious insights about ultimate reality. Haught's vision of God as the source of cosmic adventure and novelty provides resources for dialogue between theology and science while addressing perennial philosophical questions about divine action, temporality, and the relationship between necessity and contingency in the universe.