Pantheism is the philosophical belief that the natural universe is identical to the deity. The term derives from the Greek terms padella meaning all and theos which means god. In its basic translation, pantheism results in “everything is God” in the sense that every single thing is part of the immanent god. Pantheists reject the idea of an anthropomorphic or personal god, and observe a wide range of doctrines that differ from the relationships between the different forms of divinity and reality. This belief system exists in different religions including Buddhism and Hinduism. The phrase pantheism was coined in 1697 by Joseph Raphson.
Origin and history
The pantheistic elements are present in some ancient Gnostic communities and pantheistic thought existed throughout the Middle Ages. The Roman Church has for centuries considered pantheistic concepts such as heresy. The Roman Inquisition burned Giordano Bruno at the stake in the 1600s to preach an infinite and immanent God. This Italian monk is announced as an important pantheist and martyr of science.
Pantheism in the West developed as a separate philosophy and theology thanks to the work of Baruch Spinoza, a Dutch philosopher of the 17th century who published his highly controversial ideas about the nature of the Divine and the Hebrew Bible. Spinoza was excluded from the Jewish community in the 23rd century, but his work would have been the basis on which to found modern biblical criticism and the 18th century Enlightenment. A controversy over Spinoza’s publications produced between the German philosophers Moses Mendelssohn and Friedrich Jacobi that facilitated the spread of philosophy to numerous German thinkers.
The concept of pantheism was later meditated by Joseph Raphson, published in 1697 De Spatio Reali seu Ente Infinito . Raphson borrowed from the pantheism of the Greeks, the ancient Egyptians, the Indians, the Persians, the Jewish kabbalists, the Assyrians and the Syrians. The term pantheism appears in a translation of Raphson’s publication and later in John Toland’s work.
Many famous philosophers and thinkers have adopted the point of view of pantheism in the 19th century, fueling the growth of philosophy. Among these thinkers were Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman in the United States and the British Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth. The pantheists resorted to the creation of organizations in the 20th century that treated Pantheism as a separate religion.
Western pantheism and monotheism
Western religion preaches a God who is transcendent, overwhelming, powerful, mysterious, beyond the human understanding and creator of the universe. Some of these features are also possessed by the divine universe while adapting to others if the terms are interpreted flexibly. For example, it is mysterious and although humans have better understood the universe to some extent, there are still endless questions about the universe, even if scientific research has not been able to respond satisfactorily. The universe is also powerful in that it creates and devastates on an extreme scale. The universe is also a creator. Pantheism makes many distinctions with the traditional definition of God.
The Old Testament attributes these characteristics to the ability to become angry with God. Pantheists resist the notion of a personal God and the pantheistic God does not have a will to exercise over the universe. The Pantheistic God is a non-personal divinity that pervades all existence. Pantheists further reject the thought that God is transcendent. Western religion states that God is beyond and above the universe and although it is completely present in it, it also exists outside of it.
Pantheists say that God is everything to illustrate the idea that the divine being is not transcendent. Western religion states that God is beyond and above the universe and although it is completely present in it, it also exists outside of it. Pantheists say that God is everything to illustrate the idea that the divine being is not transcendent. Western religion states that God is beyond and above the universe and although it is completely present in it, it also exists outside of it. Pantheists say that God is everything to illustrate the idea that the divine being is not transcendent.
Types of pantheism
Pantheism is practiced in different forms. Classical pantheism emphasizes the equality of God and existence, and does not attempt to minimize or redefine the definition of either entity. Classical pantheism has similarities with monism in that they consider all things to be elements of an all-encompassing personal god. This form of pantheism is recognized for its simplicity and is represented by religious traditions such as Kabbalistic Judaism and Hinduism. Biblical pantheism indicates various pantheistic elements in the Bible, and most traditional Christians condemn it. Adherents of naturalistic pantheism consider God as the sum of all unified natural phenomena. It is based on the ideas of Baruch Spinoza and those of John Toland and other contemporary thinkers. Cosmothism emerged as a controversial philosophy at the end of the 18th century, and endorses the idea that God is a man-made entity and is perhaps also a final state of human evolution achieved through forms of genetic engineering. Pandeism holds that God was initially a sentient and conscious entity that became unconscious and non-sentient through the creation of the universe. The belief of Panentheism brings many similar elements with Pantheism, although the first asserts that God is greater than the physical universe and therefore the physical universe is a part of the nature of God. human evolution achieved through forms of genetic engineering. Pandeism holds that God was initially a sentient and conscious entity that became unconscious and non-sentient through the creation of the universe. The belief of Panentheism brings many similar elements with Pantheism, although the first asserts that God is greater than the physical universe and therefore the physical universe is a part of the nature of God. human evolution achieved through forms of genetic engineering. Pandeism holds that God was initially a sentient and conscious entity that became unconscious and non-sentient through the creation of the universe. The belief of Panentheism brings many similar elements with Pantheism, although the first asserts that God is greater than the physical universe and therefore the physical universe is a part of the nature of God.
Meaning of Pantheism
Pantheist thinkers are present in many religious systems even though Orthodox members reject them. Pantheism is therefore mostly discussed in environmental, philosophical and scientific communities and not in traditional religions. Pantheism poses some difficult philosophical questions that even some of the greatest thinkers have not answered. This complexity is amplified when Pantheism is compared to such religious categorizations as polytheism and monotheism. Pantheists believe that their philosophies are necessary as a correction to the common way in which people see God and that these ideas have the potential to create a more conscious conception of the existence of God and humans.
