Catherine Keller

1. Introduction

Catherine Keller (b. 1953) is an American constructive and process theologian whose work has become a major reference point in contemporary theology, philosophy of religion, and political theory of religion. Working from within Christian traditions yet in sustained dialogue with continental philosophy, feminist theory, and the natural sciences, she develops a relational ontology in which all beings—including God—are understood as dynamically interdependent.

Keller’s thought is framed by process theology (especially Alfred North Whitehead), but is marked equally by ecofeminism, apophatic (negative) theology, and engagement with questions of power and sovereignty in political life. She is widely cited for reimagining classical doctrines—creation, omnipotence, eschatology—through metaphors of the web, the deep, and entanglement, arguing that images of separation and domination have both metaphysical and political consequences.

Her writings—including From a Broken Web, Face of the Deep, Cloud of the Impossible, and Political Theology of the Earth—are noted for their hybrid style: at once exegetical, speculative, and politically attuned. Within philosophy of religion, she is often read alongside process thinkers, poststructuralists, new materialists, and political theologians concerned with the Anthropocene and planetary crisis.

The sections that follow situate Keller’s work in its biographical and historical context, trace her intellectual development, examine her principal writings and core concepts, and survey the debates her proposals have generated across theology, philosophy, and political theory.

2. Life and Historical Context

Catherine Keller was born on 21 February 1953 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, into a postwar U.S. milieu marked by Cold War tensions, the civil rights movement, second-wave feminism, and rising environmental consciousness. These larger dynamics would later inform her preoccupation with power, gender, and planetary precarity.

Academic Trajectory and Institutional Setting

Keller pursued higher education during the 1970s, a period in which liberation theology and emerging feminist theologies were reshaping theological discourse in North America and Europe. Her doctoral studies at the Claremont Graduate School, completed in 1984 under process theologian John B. Cobb Jr., placed her at a major hub of Whiteheadian process thought. In 1986 she joined Drew University Theological School, where she has taught for decades and helped develop its program in constructive and political theology.

Historical-Theological Context

Keller’s work emerges within several overlapping shifts:

Situated at the intersection of these developments, Keller writes as a U.S.-based theologian engaging transatlantic debates, frequently interacting with German and British scholarship and with global ecojustice and decolonial concerns.

3. Intellectual Development

Keller’s intellectual trajectory is often described in phases that reflect both shifting historical conversations and evolving preoccupations in her work.

From Feminist Awakening to Process Foundations

In the 1970s, she encountered second-wave feminism and liberation theology, which prompted sustained suspicion of hierarchical and androcentric patterns in Christian doctrine. This early stage oriented her toward issues of embodiment, sexuality, and social justice. Her subsequent immersion in Whiteheadian process philosophy at Claremont added a systematic metaphysical framework emphasizing becoming, relation, and non-coercive power. Proponents see this combination as giving her a distinctive capacity to link metaphysical speculation with concrete political and gender analysis.

Relational Self and Scriptural Deepening

By the late 1980s and 1990s, Keller’s work on the relational self—developed in From a Broken Web—integrated psychoanalytic theory and feminist critique with process categories. She argued that the modern, autonomous subject is a “broken” product of separation. During this period she also turned to biblical interpretation, especially apocalyptic texts and Genesis, as sites for rethinking sovereignty, eschatology, and creation.

Entanglement, Apophasis, and Planetarity

From the 2000s onward, Keller’s thought increasingly foregrounds apophatic theology and the metaphor of entanglement, drawing analogies from quantum physics and complexity theory. Works such as Cloud of the Impossible and Political Theology of the Earth broaden her scope from ecclesial and gendered concerns to planetary ecology, global politics, and religious pluralism. Some interpreters describe this as a move from primarily feminist and ecclesial critique to a more explicitly planetary and interreligious philosophy of religion, while others emphasize the continuity of her relational, anti-sovereign concerns from the beginning.

4. Major Works

Keller’s major books trace the unfolding of her relational, processive theology across different themes and genres.

Overview of Principal Monographs

Thematic Groupings

Scholars sometimes group these works into:

• Self and Subjectivity: From a Broken Web.
• Eschatology and Apocalypse: Apocalypse Now and Then.
• Creation and Becoming: Face of the Deep.
• Systematic Exposition: On the Mystery.
• Apophaticism and Entanglement: Cloud of the Impossible.
• Political Theology and Planetarity: Political Theology of the Earth.

Edited volumes and co-edited collections (not detailed here) extend these themes into multi-author conversations on process thought, ecofeminism, and political theology, further embedding her work in collaborative scholarly networks.

5. Core Ideas and Conceptual Framework

Keller’s conceptual framework centers on a relational, process-based ontology and its implications for theology, ethics, and politics. Several interlocking ideas structure this framework.

Relational Ontology and the Web

Against substantialist and individualist metaphysics, Keller emphasizes that entities are nodes in a web of relations. She argues that notions of a self-enclosed subject—human or divine—underwrite patterns of domination. Relation, in her account, is not an add-on between pre-existing individuals but the very medium in which beings emerge and persist.

Process Theology and Non-Coercive Power

Drawing from Whitehead, she portrays God and world as mutually affecting processes. Divine power is characterized as persuasive, invitational, and vulnerable, not omnipotent in the classical sense. For Keller, such a model better reflects both creaturely freedom and the experience of suffering; critics, however, question whether it can sustain traditional affirmations of providence or sovereignty.

Tehom, Becoming, and Creation

In her reading of Genesis, Keller reinterprets tehom (“the deep”) as a primordial, generative matrix of becoming. Creation is not ex nihilo in the sense of absolute unilateral imposition, but an ongoing co-creative process in which divine creativity engages an indeterminate depth. This challenges hierarchical pictures of order imposed upon chaos and has implications for ecological and political thought.

Apophaticism and Entanglement

Keller retrieves negative theology to stress the irreducible otherness and unknowability at the heart of every relation. She links this to metaphors of entanglement, partly borrowed from quantum physics, to describe a reality in which beings are non-separably co-implicated. Proponents see this as fostering epistemic humility and ethical responsiveness; some critics worry about an overextension of scientific metaphors.

Together, these ideas support her broader critique of sovereign models of power and her call for more participatory, ecologically attuned forms of communal life.

6. Methodology and Use of Sources

Keller’s methodology is characteristically interdisciplinary and polyphonic, drawing on diverse sources that she places in dialogical tension rather than subsuming under a single system.

Scriptural and Theological Reading

She practices close, often literary readings of biblical texts, particularly Genesis and apocalyptic literature, informed by historical-critical scholarship but also by feminist, poststructuralist, and psychoanalytic lenses. Rather than extracting timeless doctrines, her exegesis reconstructs suppressed or marginal possibilities within the texts.

Within theology, she engages both classical Christian sources (Augustine, Aquinas, the mystics) and modern figures (Tillich, Moltmann, liberation and feminist theologians). Her retrieval of apophatic mysticism (e.g., Nicholas of Cusa, the “cloud” tradition) is central to her method of thinking through the limits of language.

Philosophical and Scientific Interlocutors

Keller explicitly combines Whiteheadian process metaphysics with continental philosophy (especially Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, and Irigaray). She frequently cites these figures alongside theologians, using them to question metaphysical binaries and to articulate concepts of difference and becoming.

She also mobilizes resources from quantum physics and complexity theory, especially the notion of entanglement, as heuristic metaphors. Supporters view this as a productive “transdisciplinary poetics,” whereas some scientifically trained critics warn against conflating metaphorical and technical uses of such terms.

Dialogical and Polyphonic Style

Her writing often stages a “conversation” among sources, refusing a single authoritative voice. She cultivates allusive, sometimes playful prose, mixing academic argumentation with rhetorical experimentation. Admirers see this as embodying her relational ontology at the level of style; detractors sometimes find it difficult to parse or insufficiently analytic.

Overall, Keller’s methodology seeks to hold together exegesis, metaphysics, political critique, and scientific imagination, while maintaining apophatic awareness of the partiality of any single perspective.

7. Contributions to Philosophy of Religion

Within philosophy of religion, Keller is often cited for offering a rigorously articulated alternative to classical theism and strict secularism, grounded in process and relational metaphysics.

Reconfiguring Divine Attributes and Power

Keller’s process-based account of God as co-creative, vulnerable, and relationally constituted contributes to ongoing debates over omnipotence, providence, and divine impassibility. Advocates argue that her model:

• Provides a coherent framework for making sense of genuine creaturely freedom.
• Offers a way to address the problem of evil without appealing to inscrutable omnipotence.
• Aligns better with contemporary experiences of fragility and interdependence.

Critics, especially from more classical theist or analytic perspectives, contend that such a God may lack the robustness needed for worship or fails to meet traditional criteria for deity.

Ontology, Relation, and the Self

Keller’s relational ontology and critique of the autonomous subject intersect with debates on personal identity, agency, and moral responsibility. Her work is engaged by philosophers interested in posthumanism and new materialism, who see in her account a theological parallel to broader rejections of atomistic individualism.

Negative Theology and Epistemic Limits

By extending apophatic theology beyond discourse about God to encompass all relations, Keller offers a model of epistemic humility relevant to discussions of language, reference, and the knowability of ultimate reality. Some philosophers of religion draw on her to complicate strong realist or strong non-realist positions, articulating “weak” or “humble” realisms.

Religion, Science, and Metaphor

Her use of quantum entanglement as a metaphor in theology contributes to conversations on science–religion relations. Supporters see this as demonstrating how scientific insights can shape metaphysical and ethical imagination without collapsing into scientism; skeptics question the philosophical legitimacy of analogies that may outstrip their empirical grounding.

Collectively, these contributions position Keller as a significant interlocutor in contemporary, especially continental, philosophy of religion.

8. Ecofeminism, Entanglement, and Political Theology

Keller is widely regarded as a key figure in ecofeminist theology, and her later work develops these concerns into a comprehensive political theology of entangled planetary life.

Ecofeminist Critique and Relational Ecology

In From a Broken Web and subsequent essays, Keller links gender oppression and the exploitation of nature to metaphysical patterns of separation and hierarchy. Ecofeminist interpreters highlight her insistence that:

• Dualisms (male/female, culture/nature, mind/body) are structurally connected.
• Theological images of a transcendent, controlling God legitimize domination of women and the Earth.
• Relational, processive images of God and self support more reciprocal ecological practices.

Some feminist critics, however, argue that ecofeminist frameworks risk romanticizing “nature” or reinscribing essentialist views of women’s closeness to the Earth, issues Keller herself tries to complicate through apophatic and poststructuralist moves.

Entanglement and Planetary Ethics

In Cloud of the Impossible, she employs entanglement as a metaphor for the non-separable co-implication of all beings, including human and nonhuman, local and global. This framing undergirds a planetary ethic in which climate crisis is understood as a shared, inescapable condition rather than an external problem. Supporters find this a powerful way to conceptualize ecological responsibility; detractors caution against overextending scientific language and question whether entanglement yields concrete normative guidance.

Political Theology of the Earth

Political Theology of the Earth explicitly connects metaphysical images of power with political forms such as sovereignty, empire, and democracy. Keller contrasts sovereign, exception-based power with distributed, participatory “publics” attuned to planetary limits. She engages and critiques strands of political theology influenced by Carl Schmitt, arguing that appeals to divine sovereignty mirror practices of emergency rule and exclusion.

Some political theologians welcome her proposal as a needed ecological and democratic corrective; others maintain that strong notions of sovereignty remain indispensable for addressing global crises, including ecological ones. The debate turns, in part, on whether Keller’s relational, non-sovereign vision can account for effective political agency and institutional decision-making.

9. Reception, Critiques, and Debates

Keller’s work has generated substantial discussion across theology, philosophy, and religious studies, with responses ranging from enthusiastic appropriation to pointed critique.

Positive Reception and Influence

Many scholars of process theology, feminist and ecofeminist theology, and continental philosophy of religion regard Keller as a leading constructive voice. They emphasize:

• Her innovative synthesis of Whitehead, feminist theory, and apophaticism.
• The depth of her biblical and historical engagements.
• The timeliness of her focus on climate crisis and planetary interdependence.

Her concepts of web, deep, and entanglement have been adopted by scholars in new materialism, posthumanism, and ecological ethics as resonant with wider efforts to move beyond substance ontology.

Theological and Philosophical Critiques

Critical responses cluster around several points:

Intra-Feminist and Decolonial Debates

Within feminist and decolonial discourse, Keller is both an important resource and a subject of critique. Some welcome her refusal of essentialist gender categories and her attention to race, class, and colonial histories; others argue that her work could more extensively center voices from the global South or non-Christian traditions. She has, however, increasingly engaged interreligious and postcolonial interlocutors in her later writings and collaborations.

Overall, while there is no consensus on the adequacy of her proposals, there is broad agreement that Keller’s work constitutes a significant and often provocative contribution to current debates.

10. Legacy and Historical Significance

Although still active, Keller has already secured a notable place in late-20th- and early-21st-century theology and philosophy of religion.

Institutional and Disciplinary Impact

At Drew University Theological School, she played a central role in shaping a program known for constructive theology, process thought, and political theology. Many of her doctoral students have become scholars who extend her interests in relational ontology, ecofeminism, and apophaticism, indicating a discernible “Kellerian” strand within contemporary theology.

In broader disciplinary terms, she has contributed to:

• Consolidating process theology as a sophisticated conversation partner for continental philosophy.
• Giving ecofeminist theology a more explicitly metaphysical and apophatic dimension.
• Advancing political theology of the Earth, in which ecological crisis is central rather than peripheral.

Place in Intellectual History

Historians of theology often situate Keller among a generation that includes liberation, feminist, and postmodern theologians, but note her distinctive integration of Whitehead, negative theology, and quantum metaphors. She is sometimes read as part of the wider turn toward relational ontologies across philosophy, religious studies, and the humanities.

Prospective Legacy

Assessments of her long-term significance vary. Some predict that her concepts of entanglement and planetary theology will remain influential in future reconfigurations of theology in the Anthropocene. Others suggest that her legacy may lie more in the questions she insists on keeping open—about power, relation, and epistemic limits—than in any settled doctrinal synthesis.

In any case, current scholarship largely treats Keller as a major figure whose work both crystallizes and advances key shifts in contemporary thinking about God, world, and planetary life.