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>