PANTHEISM

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) In Metaphysical Theology, the theory which identifies nature, or the TO raiv, the universe in its totality, with God. This doctrine differs from atheism in the greater distinctne with which it a erts the unity and e ential vitality of nature; parts of which all animated beings are. The most ancient Greek philosophers were pantheists in this sense; Anaxagoras being the first who distinctly stated the coexistence with nature of a reasonable creator —," a mind, the principle of all things." In this sense, too, Spinoza may be called a pantheist. The pantheism of Schelling, and many modern German philosophers, is of a different stamp. According to these thinkers, God is conceived as the absolute and original Being, revealing himself variously in outward nature, and in human intelligence and freedom. It is not easy to see how pantheism in this sense differs from the Christian view of God, as expre ed in the sublime language of St. Paul, " In whom we live, and move, and have our being." The world is, indeed, conceived to be animated by the presence and agency of the Deity; but his distinctne and independent subsistence are definitely laid down as the condition and ground of all phenomenal existence, and of reason itself. God may exist without the world, but the world is inconceivable without God. ( See this article in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopcedia.) It must, however, be remarked, that many pseudo-philosophers of modem times a ume the name of Pantheists as a convenient medium for the di emination of atheistical opinions which they have not the courage boldly to avow. [s. 891]