Pantheism
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [1]
A philosophical species of idolatry, leading to atheism, in which the universe was considered as the Supreme God. Who was the inventor of this absurd system, is, perhaps, not known, but it was of early origin, and differently modified by different philosophers. Some held the universe to be one immense animal, of which the incorporeal soul was properly their god, and the heavens and the earth the body of that god; whilst others held but one substance, partly active and partly passive, and therefore looked upon the visible universe as the only Numen. The earliest Grecian pantheist of whom we read was Orpheus, who called the world the body of God, and its several parts his members, making the whole universe one divine animal. According to Cudworth, Orpheus and his followers believed in the immaterial soul of the world: therein agreeing with Aristotle, who certainly held that God and matter are co-eternal; and that there is some such union between them, as subsists between the souls and bodies of men. An institution, imbibing sentiments nearly of this kind, was set on foot about eighty or ninety years ago, in this kingdom, by a society of philosophical idolaters, who called themselves Pantheists, because they professed the worship of All Nature as their deity. They had Mr. John Toland for their secretary and chaplain. Their liturgy was in Latin: an English translation was published in 1751, from which the following sentiments are extracted:
"The ethereal fire environs all things, and is therefore supreme. The aether is a reviving fire: it rules all things, it disposes all things. In it is soul, mind, prudence. This fire is Horace's particle of divine breath, and Virgil's inwardly nourishing spirit. All things are comprised in an intelligent nature." This force they call the soul of the world; as also, a mind of perfect wisdom, and, consequently, God. Vanini the Italian philosopher, was nearly of this opinion: his god was nature. Some very learned and excellent remarks are made on this error by Mr. Boyle, in his discourse on the vulgarly received notion of nature.
See Jones of Nayland's Works, vol. 9: p. 50. and article Spinosism
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary [2]
a doctrine into which some of the sages of antiquity fell by revolting at the monstrous absurdities of Polytheism. Not knowing the true God as an infinite and personal subsistence, a cause above and distinct from all effects, they believed that God was every thing, and every thing God. This monstrous, and in its effects immoral, notion, is still held by the Brahmins of India.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(n.) The doctrine that the universe, taken or conceived of as a whole, is God; the doctrine that there is no God but the combined force and laws which are manifested in the existing universe; cosmotheism.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
"Pantheism is on all hands acknowledged to be the theology of reason
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Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Pantheism'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/pantheism.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [5]
The doctrine or creed which affirms the immanency of God in nature, or that God is within nature, but ignores or denies His transcendency, or that He is above nature; distinguished from deism, which denies the former but affirms the latter, from theism, which affirms both, and from atheism, which denies both.
