pantheism

Introduction
Nature and significance
- Immanence or transcendence
- Monism, dualism, or pluralism
- Time or eternity
- The world as sentient or insentient
- God as absolute or relative
- The world as real or illusory
- Freedom or determinism
- Sacramentalism or secularism
Diverse views of the relation of God to the world
- Hylozoistic pantheism
- Immanentistic pantheism
- Absolutistic monistic pantheism
- Relativistic monistic pantheism
- Acosmic pantheism
- Identity of opposites pantheism
- Classical theism
- Neoplatonic or emanationistic pantheism
- Panentheism
Pantheism and panentheism in non-Western cultures
- Hindu doctrines
- Buddhist doctrines
- Ancient Middle Eastern doctrines
Pantheism and panentheism in ancient and medieval philosophy
- Greco-Roman doctrines
- Medieval doctrines
Pantheism and panentheism in modern philosophy
- Renaissance and post-Renaissance doctrines
- Nineteenth-century doctrines
  - German idealism
  - Monism and panpsychism
- Versions since the early 20th century
Criticism and evaluation of pantheism and panentheism

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

relief of the Buddha preaching

Portrait of Benedict de Spinoza, 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, with shoulder-length dark hair, white collar, and black robe, set against a dark background.

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling

At a Glance

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pantheism summary

Ralph Waldo Emerson — Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson, lithograph by Leopold Grozelier, 1859

pantheism

doctrine

Written by

William L. Reese

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 8, 2026 •History

pantheism, the doctrine that the universe conceived of as a whole is God and, conversely, that there is no God but the combined substance, forces, and laws that are manifested in the existing universe. The cognate doctrine of panentheism asserts that God includes the universe as a part though not the whole of his being. Both “pantheism” and “panentheism” are terms of recent origin, coined to describe certain views of the relationship between God and...

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