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Pantheism links and resources

Lux et Umbra

Lux et Umbra

Member
First, does pantheism belong under theism? From what I know it's more associated with agnosticism and atheism. The "-theism" in the name is misleading. Reading from the various sites listed paint a more detailed picture.

Pantheism is the view that Nature and God are one, that the world is divine.
Pantheism is considered to be atheism by those who posit a transcendent and separate source of the world. Thus, many Christian theologians and philosophers consider Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as the philosophy of Spinoza, to be atheistic. (here)
 
Lux et Umbra

Lux et Umbra

Member
MaddLlama said:
I don't think the Catholic Encyclopedia link belongs on that list.
....just sayin.
Click to expand...

Why not?
It's just showing another view and it's only one doing such out of a 17 links. Plus regardless of it being from a Catholic view, it does have infomation about pantheism, which is why I added it. If someone really wants to learn about pantheism there are plenty of links there, I'd recommend the World Pantheist Movement's site.

And besides I don't think it belongs under the "Theism" subforum as it's not a theistic belief (panentheism is though), agnosticism and atheism are more associated with pantheism than anything else.
 
Z

Ziapet

New Member
Sounds like you guys are quibbling about words - a good source for that is General Semantics, which goes into the question of why words affect us the way they do.
 
EverChanging

EverChanging

Well-Known Member
I have a lot of problems with labels. None of them are perfect. But they do serve a purpose. For instance, I am an atheist in that I don't believe in any supernatural gods, but sometimes I use prayers, even those that include God-language, in a type of meditation ritual. Most people wouldn't expect atheists to do that, but I do. No labels are perfect.

The evolution of language, like the evolution of species, can make some words awkward, and pantheism is one of them. One can never gain a full understanding of or appreciation for pantheism without reading more than a simple definition. It's not a perfect word, but if it works for some people, that's fine with me....
 
brbubba

brbubba

Underling
More Links
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Pay attention to this section Is Pantheism Atheistic?

John Toland's Pantheisticon (The man who coined the term Pantheist)
PDF Copy
Audio Book

Spinoza's Ethics (The man who originally laid the groundwork for the ideas encompassing Pantheism)
HTML Edition of the book
PDF Edition, not a direct link

These are a very good starting point. Read everything you can, as Pantheists can sway very far from the center on either side, i.e., the WPM or Christian Pantheists.
 
Twig pentagram

Twig pentagram

High Priest
I agree, I think pantheism is in a class all by itself. Most of the other theisms seperate god or gods from the universe. In pantheism everything is it's own god.
 
Rhizomatic

Rhizomatic

Vaguely (Post)Postmodern
Being that atheism is a lack of belief in gods (or, even more literally and more usefully for illustrating my point, a lack of theism), I have a hard time calling belief in any kind of god, including a pantheist one, atheism. Agnosticism is a completely separate issue from (a)theism that doesn't carry any connections to or connotations for pantheism so far as I can see. It seems to me that to associating pantheism with atheism is more a product of Western bias than anything else. Our culturally-dominant religions tend to espouse belief in a person-like god, and so we assume that believing in a different conception of god is really not believing in any god at all.
 
brbubba

brbubba

Underling
Rhizomatic said:
Being that atheism is a lack of belief in gods (or, even more literally and more usefully for illustrating my point, a lack of theism), I have a hard time calling belief in any kind of god, including a pantheist one, atheism. Agnosticism is a completely separate issue from (a)theism that doesn't carry any connections to or connotations for pantheism so far as I can see. It seems to me that to associating pantheism with atheism is more a product of Western bias than anything else. Our culturally-dominant religions tend to espouse belief in a person-like god, and so we assume that believing in a different conception of god is really not believing in any god at all.
Click to expand...

You are correct. By definition you cannot ascribe to Pantheism and Atheism simultaneously, but many many people continue to abuse this privilege due to the fact that their conception of God is so very different from a Judeo Christian conception. However, this debate is probably best left to another thread.

EDIT: Wish granted, here;s a thread for everyone to discuss it. http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/pantheism/101108-can-you-pantheist-atheist.html
 
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