Theism

[Heka]

There has been a few threads now about people asking to have their beliefs described simply, and it's something I've thought of at times too. Different -theism's have come up, even some I've never heard of before. Do you think it's possible to list a bunch of -theisms and describe them simply in a sentence? Grouping similar ones and highlighting the differences? I believe this could be a very useful resource for many people.

Cheers.

[Louisvillian]

Re: Theism

I'll take a whack at it.
The two main distinctions in Theism are as such:
Monotheism: the belief that deity exists and that there is only one god.
Polytheism: the belief that deity exists and that there is more than one god.
Theism normally holds that deity is purely transcendent from the natural world. That is to say, they are fully separate from the physical universe.

Within this, there are different approaches aside from simple transcendent theism:
Deism: the belief that deity exists but does not have an active role in sustaining the universe or in guiding human endeavours.
Pantheism: the belief that deity exists and is fully immanent in the natural world.
Hard Polytheism: the belief that deity exists, that there is more than one god, and that these beings are individuals that exist independent of human conceptions.
Soft Polytheism: the belief that deity exists, that there is more than one god, and these beings are part of an agglomerated whole or exist in part due to human conceptions.
Henothesm: the belief that deity exists, that there may be more than one god, but only one of them is worthy of the believer's attention or veneration.
Panentheism: the belief that deity exists, and is both transcendent of the natural world and immanent in it simultaneously.
Pandeism: the belief that deity existed, but became fully immanent in the natural world upon its creation.
Kathenotheism: the belief that deity exists, that there is more than one god, but one ought to focus on only one at any given time or situation.
Misotheism: the belief that deity may exist, that it is evil if it does exist, and that it is worthy only of scorn and disgust.

Atheism is a separate thing and manifests in two main poles:
Soft/Weak Atheism: the lack of belief in deity.
Hard/Strong Atheism: the belief that deity does not and never did exist.

[Heka]

Re: Theism

Awesome. Thanks Louis. By this list I'm more of a pantheist. Cool.

just thinking this list could be expanded out to -ism's if anyone cared to, eg animism.

[Louisvillian]

Re: Theism

Animism: a pantheistic variation in which the world's objects and phenomena are considered to have individual spirits. Traditionally, pantheism views the natural-world-as-god monotheistically. Animism is a pluralistic approach; though not necessarily theistic, as some would differentiate between nature spirits and gods.

Monism: a belief that the many disparate parts of deity are unified into a whole unit. This is an implicit part of panentheism, but is obviously present in monotheism as well.

Monolatrism: an approach to henotheism that is explicitly polytheistic.

Mysticism: an approach to practising religion, whether theistic or spiritualistic, in which the believer pursues the veneration of deity through direct experience of, or insight to, that deity or spirit.

Monasticism: an approach to practising religion wherein the believer or practitioners gives up worldly pursuits to devote themselves to a spiritual life. Many monks pursue a mystical path in the course of their monasticism.

Might add more later.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Theism

Both are a philosophy. Neither are a religion. But either can fit into almost any religious belief system.


There are two styles of belief in animism:
One) A belief that natural objects are inhabited by spirits.
Each rock, tree, and cloud may have its own unique spirit. Individuality in spirit as well as in the material world.


Two) All things in nature may be thought of as having the same spirit. The belief here is a ‘part of the whole’ ideals. All are a part of one divine entity. This version of animism was characteristic of many Native American cultures.


In both forms of animism, the spirits are thought of as having identifiable personalities and other characteristics such as gender. A belief in a powerful, mature, or protective, personality. The spirits may be benevolent, malevolent, or neutral. They can be lovable, terrifying, or even mischievous. They can interact with humans and can be pleased or irritated by human actions. As such, people must be concerned about them and will likely try to avoid displeasing them.
"Mother nature" is an example of giving a persona to the concept of nature spirit/s.




The second is Animatism:


It is a belief in a non physical essence or force or power or whatever you want to call it. For those who hold this belief, the power is usually impersonal, unseen, and potentially everywhere. It is neither good nor evil, but it is powerful and dangerous if misused. It is something like electricity or "the force" in the Star Wars movies. This Star wars analogy is commonly used to describe this force, so don’t laugh at me for using it because I already did that!!


Among the Polynesian cultures of the Southern Pacific Ocean, this power is called "mana". For them it is a force that is in all objects, plants, and animals (including people) . Some things or people have more of it than others and can be potentially dangerous. For example, a chief may have so much of it that he must be carried around all of the time. If he were to walk on the ground, some residual amounts of his mana may remain in his footprints to harm ordinary people if they later stepped on them. Volcanoes were thought to have varying amounts of mana and thus they had different levels of the threat as to their ability to destroy.

Not specifically what you asked but Animism was brought up alread

[Heka]

Re: Theism

Not specifically what you asked but Animism was brought up alread

That's all good! Thanks very much. It's all very interesting.

And thank you muchly for all still Louis.