Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-09-05T19:15:40Z

Created a new article

New page

{{Short description|Belief in the existence of at least one deity; the opposite of atheism}}
{{Expert needed|religion|reason=to prune redundant content and deal with large tracts of unsourced and [[WP:VERIFY|unverified]] text and in-text lists|date=September 2022}}
{{Religion sidebar|expanded = schools}}
[[File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_001.png|thumb|[[God the Father]] depicted by [[Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld]] in 1860]]
'''Theism''' is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one [[deity]].<ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/theism? "theism"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212143951/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/theism |date=2021-12-12 }} ''Dictionary.com''. Retrieved 2016-10-21.</ref><ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theism "theism,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514194441/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theism |date=2011-05-14 }} ''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary''. Retrieved 2011-03-18.</ref> In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''[[deism]]'', the term often describes the classical conception of [[God]] that is found in [[monotheism]] (also referred to as [[classical theism]]) — or [[gods]] found in [[Polytheism|polytheistic]] religions — a belief in God or in gods without the rejection of [[revelation]] as is characteristic of deism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/theism?s=t |title=Dictionary.com Online Dictionary |access-date=2016-10-21 |archive-date=2021-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216052754/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/theism?s=t |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/deism?s=t |title=Dictionary.com Online Dictionary |access-date=2016-11-23 |archive-date=2021-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216052745/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deism?s=t |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Gnosticism]] is the belief in personal spiritual knowledge.

[[Atheism]] is commonly understood as non-acceptance or rejection of theism in the broadest sense of theism, i.e. non-acceptance or rejection of belief in God or gods.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |first=Kai |last=Nielsen |author-link=Kai Nielsen (philosopher) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Atheism |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism |year=2010 |access-date=2011-01-26 |quote=Atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings.... Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God, a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons (which reason is stressed depends on how God is being conceived)...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Atheism |first=Paul |last=Edwards |author-link=Paul Edwards (philosopher) |publisher=MacMillan Reference USA (Gale)|editor=Donald M. Borchert |orig-year=1967 |year=2005 |edition=2nd |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Philosophy|The Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |volume=1 |page=359 |isbn=9780028657806 |quote=On our definition, an 'atheist' is a person who rejects belief in God, regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that 'God exists' expresses a false proposition. People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition. It is common among contemporary philosophers, and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries, to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless. Sometimes, too, a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious, and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion.}}(page 175 in 1967 edition)</ref> Related, but separate, is the claim that the existence of any deity is unknown or unknowable: [[agnosticism]].<ref name="Hepburn">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Agnosticism|first=Ronald W.|last=Hepburn|publisher=MacMillan Reference USA (Gale)|editor=Donald M. Borchert|orig-year=1967|year=2005|edition=2nd|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Philosophy|The Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|volume=1|page=92|isbn=9780028657806|quote=In the most general use of the term, agnosticism is the view that we do not know whether there is a God or not.}}(page 56 in 1967 edition)</ref><ref name="RoweRoutledge">{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ-GhVWTH84C&pg=PA122 |title=Agnosticism|first=William L.|last=Rowe|author-link=William L. Rowe|encyclopedia=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|isbn=978-0-415-07310-3|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1998|editor=Edward Craig|quote=In the popular sense, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in God, whereas an atheist disbelieves in God. In the strict sense, however, agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist. In so far as one holds that our beliefs are rational only if they are sufficiently supported by human reason, the person who accepts the philosophical position of agnosticism will hold that neither the belief that God exists nor the belief that God does not exist is rational.}}</ref> Combined with theism, it becomes [[agnostic theism]].

==Etymology==
The term ''theism'' derives from the Greek {{lang|grk|θεός}}<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Theism |volume=26 |page=744 |first=Robert |last=Mackintosh }}</ref> (''theós'') or ''theoi'' meaning "god" or "gods". The term ''theism'' was first used by [[Ralph Cudworth]] (1617–1688).<ref>
{{cite book|last=Halsey|first=William|author2=Robert H. Blackburn |author3=Sir Frank Francis | title =Collier's Encyclopedia|editor=Louis Shores|publisher=Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation|year=1969| edition =20|volume=22|pages=266–7|editor-link=Louis Shores}}
</ref> In Cudworth's definition, they are "strictly and properly called Theists, who affirm, that a perfectly conscious understanding being, or mind, existing of itself from eternity, was the cause of all other things".<ref>Cudworth, Ralph (1678). ''The True Intellectual System of the Universe, Vol. I''. New York: Gould & Newman, 1837, p. 267.</ref>

==Types of theism==
===Monotheism===
{{Main|Monotheism}}
Monotheism (from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:μόνος|μόνος]]}}) is the belief in [[theology]] that only one [[deity]] exists.<ref>"Monotheism", in Britannica, 15th ed. (1986), 8:266.</ref> Some modern day [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] religions include [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Baháʼí Faith]], [[Sikhism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], some Sects of [[Hinduism]], and [[Eckankar]].

===Polytheism===
'''[[Polytheism]]''' is the belief in multiple [[deity|deities]], which are usually assembled into a [[pantheon (religion)|pantheon]], along with their own [[religious sect]]s and [[ritual]]s. Polytheism was the typical form of religion before the development and spread of the [[Abrahamic religions]] of [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]], which enforce monotheism. It is well documented throughout history, from [[prehistory]] and the earliest records of [[ancient Egyptian religion]] and [[ancient Mesopotamian religion]] to the religions prevalent during [[Classical antiquity]], such as [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[ancient Roman religion]], and in [[ethnic religions]] such as [[Germanic paganism|Germanic]], [[Slavic paganism|Slavic]], and [[Baltic mythology|Baltic paganism]] and [[Native American religion]]s.

Notable polytheistic religions practiced today include [[Taoism]], [[Shenism]] or [[Chinese folk religion]], Japanese [[Shinto]], [[Santería]], most [[Traditional African religions]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kimmerle|first=Heinz|date=2006-04-11|title=The world of spirits and the respect for nature: towards a new appreciation of animism|journal=The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa|language=en-US|volume=2|issue=2|pages=15|doi=10.4102/td.v2i2.277|issn=2415-2005|doi-access=free}}</ref> various [[modern Paganism|neopagan]] faiths such as [[Wicca]]. [[Hinduism]], while popularly held as polytheistic, cannot be exclusively categorised as such as some Hindus consider themselves to be pantheists and others consider themselves to be monotheists. Both are compatible with Hindu texts, since there exists no consensus of standardisation in the faith. [[Vedanta]], the most dominant school of Hinduism, offers a combination of monotheism and polytheism, holding that [[Brahman]] is the sole ''ultimate reality'' of the universe, yet unity with it can be reached by worshipping multiple gods and goddesses.

A major division in modern polytheistic practices is between so-called soft polytheism and hard polytheism.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/handle/11222.digilib/138049|title=Modern Pagan religious conversion revisited|last=Galtsin|first=Dmitry|date=2018-06-21|journal=Sacra|volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=7–17 |access-date=2019-02-05|archive-date=2019-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015038/https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/handle/11222.digilib/138049|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Seeking the mystery : an introduction to Pagan theologies|last=Hoff|first=Kraemer, Christine|date=2012|publisher=Patheos Press|isbn=9781939221186|location=Englewood, CO|oclc=855412257}}</ref> "Soft" polytheism is the belief that different gods may either be psychological [[archetypes]], personifications of natural forces, or as being one essential god interpreted though the lenses of different cultures (e.x. [[Odin]], [[Zeus]], and [[Indra]] all being the same god as interpreted by Germanic, Greek, and Indic peoples respectively) – known as [[wiktionary:omnitheism|omnitheism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Negedu|first=I. A.|date=2014-01-01|title=The Igala traditional religious belief system: Between monotheism and polytheism|url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/og/article/view/109609|journal=OGIRISI: A New Journal of African Studies|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=116–129|issn=1597-474X|doi=10.4314/og.v10i1.7|doi-access=free|access-date=2023-02-24|archive-date=2023-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224223707/https://www.ajol.info/index.php/og/article/view/109609|url-status=live}}</ref> In this way, gods may be interchangeable for one another across cultures.<ref name=":0" /> "Hard" polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, rather than psychological archetypes or personifications of natural forces. Hard polytheists reject the idea that "all gods are one essential god" and may also [[Religious exclusivism|reject the existence of gods outside their own pantheon altogether]].<ref name=":0" />

Polytheism is further divided according to how the individual deities are regarded:

; [[Henotheism]]: [[Henotheism]] is the viewpoint / belief that there may be more than one deity, but that only one of them is to be worshiped. [[Zoroastrianism]] is an example.
; [[Kathenotheism]]: [[Kathenotheism]] is the viewpoint / belief that there is more than one deity, but only one deity is worshiped at a time or ever, and another may be worthy of worship at another time or place. If they are worshiped one at a time, then each is supreme in turn.
; [[Monolatrism]]: [[Monolatrism]] is the belief that there may be more than one deity, but that only one is worthy of being worshiped. Most of the modern [[monotheistic]] religions may have begun as monolatric ones, although this is disputed.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

[[File:Spinoza.jpg|thumb|160px|The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza is often regarded as pantheism.<ref name=Picton>{{cite book|last=Picton|first=James Allanson|title=Pantheism: its story and significance|year=1905|publisher=Archibald Constable & CO LTD.|location=Chicago|isbn=978-1419140082|url=https://archive.org/details/pantheismitsstor00pictrich}}</ref><ref>*Fraser, Alexander Campbell "Philosophy of Theism", William Blackwood and Sons, 1895, p 163.</ref>]]

===Pantheism===
'''[[Pantheism]]''' is the belief that [[reality]], the [[universe]] and the [[cosmos]] are identical to [[divinity]] and a [[Deity|supreme being]] or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent [[creator deity]] who is still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time,<ref>{{cite book |title=The New [[Oxford Dictionary of English]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-861263-6 |location=Oxford |page=1341}} "The term 'pantheist' designates one who holds both that everything constitutes a unity and that this unity is divine."</ref> or that [[Everything|all things]] compose an all-encompassing, [[Immanence|immanent]] god or goddess and regards the universe as a manifestation of a deity.<ref name="Edwards">{{Cite book|title = Encyclopedia of Philosophy ed. Paul Edwards |publisher=Macmillan and Free Press |year = 1967 |location = New York|page=34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Reid-Bowen|first=Paul|title=Goddess as Nature: Towards a Philosophical Thealogy|page=70|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|date=April 15, 2016|isbn=9781317126348}}</ref> This includes all [[Astronomical object|astronomical objects]] being viewed as part of a sole deity. The worship of all gods of every religion is another definition but it is more precisely termed [[Omnism]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pantheism| title=Definition of Pantheism| access-date=2023-02-24| archive-date=2022-11-03| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103001704/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pantheism| url-status=live}}</ref>
Pantheist [[Belief#Religious belief|belief]] does not recognize a distinct [[personal god]],<ref>{{cite book |title=A Companion to Philosophy of Religion |editor1=Charles Taliaferro |editor2=Paul Draper |editor3=Philip L. Quinn |page=340 |quote=They deny that God is "totally other" than the world or ontologically distinct from it.}}</ref> [[anthropomorphic]] or otherwise, but instead characterizes a broad range of doctrines differing in forms of relationships between reality and divinity.<ref name="LevineDetailed">{{citation |last=Levine |first=Michael |title=Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity |publisher=Psychology Press |date=1994 |isbn=9780415070645 |pages=44, 274–275}}:

* "The idea that Unity that is rooted in nature is what types of nature mysticism (e.g. Wordsworth, Robinson Jeffers, Gary Snyder) have in common with more philosophically robust versions of pantheism. It is why nature mysticism and philosophical pantheism are often conflated and confused for one another."
* "[Wood's] pantheism is distant from Spinoza's identification of God with nature, and much closer to nature mysticism. In fact it is nature mysticism."
* "Nature mysticism, however, is as compatible with theism as it is with pantheism."</ref> Pantheistic concepts date back thousands of years, and pantheistic elements have been identified in various religious traditions. The term ''pantheism'' was coined by mathematician [[Joseph Raphson]] in 1697<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book|last1=Taylor|first1=Bron|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature|date=2008|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1441122780|pages=1341–1342|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4mvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1342|access-date=27 July 2017}}</ref><ref name=Thomson>Ann Thomson; Bodies of Thought: Science, Religion, and the Soul in the Early Enlightenment, 2008, page 54.</ref> and since then, it has been used to describe the beliefs of a variety of people and organizations. Pantheism was popularized in [[Western culture]] as a [[theology]] and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher [[Baruch Spinoza]], in particular, his book ''[[Ethics (Spinoza book)|Ethics]]''.<ref name="Genevieve Lloyd 1996">{{cite book |first=Genevieve |last=Lloyd |title=Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Spinoza and The Ethics |series=Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |date=2 October 1996 |isbn=978-0-415-10782-2 |page=24}}</ref> A pantheistic stance was also taken in the 16th century by philosopher and cosmologist [[Giordano Bruno]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Birx |first=Jams H. |url=http://www.theharbinger.org/xvi/971111/birx.html |title=Giordano Bruno |publisher=The Harbinger |location=[[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile, AL]] |date=11 November 1997 |quote=Bruno was burned to death at the stake for his pantheistic stance and cosmic perspective. |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=27 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727101806/http://www.theharbinger.org/xvi/971111/birx.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Deism===
{{Main|Deism}}
; Classical Deism: Classical deism is the belief that one [[God]] exists and created the world, but that the Creator does not alter the original plan for the universe, but presides over it in the form of [[Divine providence|Providence]]; however, some classical Deists did believe in divine intervention.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20051120140834/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/deism AskOxford: deism]</ref>
Deism typically rejects supernatural events (such as prophecies, miracles, and divine revelations) prominent in organized religion. Instead, Deism holds that religious beliefs must be founded on human reason and observed features of the natural world, and that these sources reveal the existence of a supreme being as creator.<ref>{{cite book |title=Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=G.&C. Merriam |year=1924}}
:
defines deism as
: 'belief in the existence of a personal god, with disbelief in Christian teaching, or with a purely rationalistic interpretation of Scripture'.
:
Although Webster's lists '''deism''' as a type of ''theism'', deism is completely different from theism. If anything, theism would be an off-shoot of deism since it takes beliefs a step further to include miracles and divine revelation, with deism being the 'base' belief in (a) God.</ref>
; [[Pandeism]]: [[Pandeism]] is the belief that God preceded the universe and created it, but is now equivalent with it.
; [[Polydeism]]:[[Polydeism]] is the belief that multiple gods exist, but do not intervene in the universe.

===Autotheism===
{{Essay-like|section|date=September 2022}}
{{Main|Egotheism}}
;Autotheism: Autotheism is the viewpoint that [[divinity]], whether also external or not, is inherently within 'oneself' and that one has the ability to become godlike. Indian religions like [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]] are Autotheistic. This can be in a selfless way, a way following the implications of statements attributed to ethical, philosophical, and religious leaders (such as [[Mahavira]]).

Autotheism can also refer to the belief that one's self is a deity, within the context of [[subjectivism]]. [[Hindu]]s use the term, "''[[Aham Brahmasmi|aham Brahmāsmi]]''" which means, "I am [[Brahman]]".<ref>{{cite book |author=Gurumayum Ranjit Sharma |year=1987 |title=The Idealistic Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda |publisher=Atlantic |page=180 |id=GGKEY:PSWXE5NTFF4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORYOsJHi53sC&pg=PA180}}</ref>

[[Mormons]] teach a type of Autotheism called ''[[Exaltation (Mormonism)|Exaltation]]'', where humans can attain godhood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Douglas J. |date=23 October 2003 |title=An Introduction to Mormonism |isbn=9780521817387 |page=79 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fw8DIziwEDsC&dq=apotheosis+mormon&pg=PA79 |via=Google Books |access-date=2022-03-16}}</ref>

===Value-judgment theisms===
; Eutheism: Eutheism is the belief that a deity is wholly benevolent.
; [[Dystheism]]: [[Dystheism]] is the belief that a deity is not wholly good, and is possibly evil.
; [[Maltheism]]: [[Maltheism]] is the belief that a deity exists, but is wholly malicious.
; [[Misotheism]]: [[Misotheism]] is active hatred for God or gods.

===Non-theism and atheism ===
; [[Atheism]] : [[Atheism]] is the lack of belief in supernatural powers such as deities, gods / goddesses, or messiahs. Some atheists express an active disbelief or rejection of the existence of such entities.

; [[Non-theism]]: [[Non-theism]] is the belief in no gods or god.

; [[Agnosticism]] : [[Agnosticism]] is the belief that it is not possible for any person to genuinely know whether deities or the supernatural are actually true to their descriptions, or are mere fabrications, regardless of sincerity. [[Agnostics]] reject either theistic or deistic beliefs as established facts, and only accept such as unsubstantiated opinion, whether regarding their own beliefs or others'.

=== Alterity theism ===
[[Alterity]] theism is a belief that god is radically transcendent, radically other, to such an extent that god cannot be recognized with any [[Ontology|being]].

==See also==
*[[Antitheism]]
*[[Apeirotheism]]
*[[Āstika and nāstika]]
*[[Classical theism]]
*[[Deism]]
*[[Theistic evolution]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Theism}}
{{Theology|god}}
{{Religion topics}}
{{Philosophy of religion}}
{{Subject bar|portal1=Philosophy|portal2=Religion|wikt=yes|wikt-search=theism|q=yes|d=yes|d-search=Q620805}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Theism| ]]

Theism - Revision history

StaciWinslow: reworked section and improved wording

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article