This book explores the Confucian-Christian dialogue in Korea through a comparative study of the cosmologies of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), the founder of process philosophy, and Yi Yulgok (1536-1584), the great scholar of Korean Neo-Confucianism. Although their philosophical traditions are different, Yulgok and Whitehead's perspectives on the universe were very similar. This study argues that Whitehead's theory of eternal object-actual entity has affinities with Yulgok's theory of principle-material force. Their two theories, both based on reciprocal dialectical interrelationships, view the world as a cosmos characterized by the process of becoming. Accordingly, Whitehead's panentheistic interpretation of the God-world relationship correlates with Yulgok's Neo-Confucian notion of how the Great Ultimate relates to material force. These two concepts suggest a balanced structure of God and the world and offer insights into encouraging interreligious spirituality in Korea.

"Divided into five chapters, this splendid study pairs Whitehead's cosmology...with the theory of principle-material force credited to Y. Yulgok, the leading proponent of Korean Neo-Confucianism....Nicely structured, well-written, and timely, this is a book that should help explain the appeal and application of Whiteheadian process philosophy in non-Western contexts." - Religious Studies Review, September 2008