World Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Theology === Different theological positions hold different conceptions of the world based on its relation to God. [[Classical theism]] states that God is wholly distinct from the world. But the world depends for its existence on God, both because God created the world and because He maintains or conserves it.<ref name="Leftow">{{cite web |last1=Leftow |first1=Brian |title=God, concepts of: Classical theism |url=https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/god-concepts-of/v-1/sections/classical-theism |website=www.rep.routledge.com |access-date=12 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |title=Theism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/theism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=12 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Culp">{{cite web |last1=Culp |first1=John |title=Panentheism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panentheism/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=12 April 2021 |date=2020}}</ref> This is sometimes understood in analogy to how humans create and conserve ideas in their imagination, with the difference being that the divine mind is vastly more powerful.<ref name="Leftow"/> On such a view, God has absolute, ultimate reality in contrast to the lower ontological status ascribed to the world.<ref name="Culp"/> God's involvement in the world is often understood along the lines of a personal, benevolent God who looks after and guides His creation.<ref name="Britannica"/> [[Deism|Deists]] agree with theists that God created the world but deny any subsequent, personal involvement in it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Deism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Deism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=12 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref> [[Pantheism|Pantheists]] reject the separation between God and world. Instead, they claim that the two are identical. This means that there is nothing to the world that does not belong to God and that there is nothing to God beyond what is found in the world.<ref name="Culp"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Leftow |first1=Brian |title=God, concepts of: Pantheism |url=https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/god-concepts-of/v-1/sections/pantheism |website=www.rep.routledge.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Panentheism]] constitutes a middle ground between theism and pantheism. Against theism, it holds that God and the world are interrelated and depend on each other. Against pantheism, it holds that there is no outright identity between the two.<ref name="Culp"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Leftow |first1=Brian |title=God, concepts of: Panentheism |url=https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/god-concepts-of/v-1/sections/panentheism |website=www.rep.routledge.com |language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page