ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at two important figures who both contributed to the view of the self as evolving and dependent upon concrete historical processes. The postmodern movements in philosophy and the philosophy of religion have brought the self into focus. The chapter develops an understanding of the relationship between God and the self that takes fully into account the historical conditioning of all of the elements that contribute to the development of the self. A first model for understanding the self (as the soul) and the thereby implicit relationship between the self and God can be found in Plato's thinking. In Plato, we can therefore see the emerging patterns of a way of thinking about the self that presents itself as a challenge to any type of theology or philosophy of religion that sees God as linked to, contributing to an opening up to concrete human experience of flux, change, development, growth and creativity.
