pantheism

[Pref pan-, and Greek theos = god; Fr. panthéis me; Ger. pantheism us.] Philos. The view that God and the universe are identical. It was taught in India in the Vedantic system of philosophy, one of the six leading schools of thought, and to this day it is widely accepted, both by the instructed Brahmins and by the common people. Pantheism is believed to have been the creed of various Greek philosophers, as of Anaximander of Miletus (B. C. 610-547), Pythagoras (B. C. 610-547), and Xenophanes (B. C. 540-500). It was held by John Scotus Erigena, A. D. 874. In the latter part of the twelfth century it was taught by Amalric of Chart res, a dialectician and theologian. Pope Innocent III. forced him to recant his views, notwithstanding which his bones were dug up and burnt in 1209. John, Bishop of Strasburg, in a rescript against the Brethren of the Free Spirit, published in 1317, attributed to them this, among other tenets, "God is formally what ever exists." By many Spinoza is considered to have revived Pantheism, but his teaching in this respect has been misunderstood. [SPINOZISM.] In the Pantheism of Schelling God is considered as the Absolute Being, revealing Himself in external nature and in human intelligence and freedom, thus closely approaching the dictum of St. Paul, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts xvii. 28; cf. Col. i. 17). It is noteworthy that the Greek poet Aratus, quoted by St. Paul, is distinctly pantheistic, and his lines might have served for the germ of the better known, but not le beautiful pa age in Virgil ( Georg . iv. 219-227). [See example under Pantheist.]