Pantheism

Pantheism is the view that identifies God with the world. Or put another way—“God is everything and everything is God.” The term “Pantheism” comes from two Greek terms—pan which means “all” and theos which means “God.” Thus, pantheism literally means “all is God.” With pantheism there is a unity to all things, and any statement about any object is a statement about God. The term was first coined by John Toland in 1705 to identify philosophical systems that identify God with the world.

Important to pantheism is the view that there is no separation between God and the universe which is often asserted in the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Various religions and philosophers throughout history have held pantheistic beliefs. Native American religions and the Hindu religion have pantheistic elements in them. So also do pagan and nature religions such as Wicca. The most famous philosophical promoter of pantheism was Baruch Spinoza (1632–77). Spinoza asserted that there is only one substance in the universe and this substance is divine. He is famous for declaring—“Deus sive natura” which means “God or nature.”

Some evaluators of pantheism have identified it as a mediating position between traditional theism and atheism. Others have seen it as a form of atheism since it denies the presence of a personal God.