RE: Defending Pantheism
May 2, 2019 at 10:45 am
(This post was last modified: May 2, 2019 at 11:33 am by The Grand Nudger.)
You've left out the most important portion of pantheism in framing the discussion, why it's pan-theism- instead of pan-deism-, or just plain and simple atheism. The immanence of divinity.
I have a simpler and putatively more accurate term for all things, two of them, in fact. The cosmos, and the universe. Neither are an immanent manifestation of divinity. Perhaps you can explain why I should regard the universe as an immanent manifestation of divinity when there is no evidence whatsoever to that effect?
As a comment on the misplaced reverence and personification of the natural world, pantheism is fine enough..but it ultimately falls to that same old flaw of theism which it purportedly seeks to correct. That it's sold as somehow being without a god in the traditional sense is a testament to new age marketing, but that's no more accurate a description of pantheism than pantheism is of the universe or cosmos.
Spinoza, and I know we've had this convo before..was most likely a very clever atheist troll in a time when any divergence of belief was still a death sentence. More than anything, he used his rhetorical device to criticize the foundational conceit in theological power structures of the time within the context of accepted and sanitized beliefs. I do have alot of sympathy for the viewpoint, though.
I would recommend this book
https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Nature-D...0791454541
It's a bit more up to date than poor old Baruch could ever be.
I have a simpler and putatively more accurate term for all things, two of them, in fact. The cosmos, and the universe. Neither are an immanent manifestation of divinity. Perhaps you can explain why I should regard the universe as an immanent manifestation of divinity when there is no evidence whatsoever to that effect?
As a comment on the misplaced reverence and personification of the natural world, pantheism is fine enough..but it ultimately falls to that same old flaw of theism which it purportedly seeks to correct. That it's sold as somehow being without a god in the traditional sense is a testament to new age marketing, but that's no more accurate a description of pantheism than pantheism is of the universe or cosmos.
Spinoza, and I know we've had this convo before..was most likely a very clever atheist troll in a time when any divergence of belief was still a death sentence. More than anything, he used his rhetorical device to criticize the foundational conceit in theological power structures of the time within the context of accepted and sanitized beliefs. I do have alot of sympathy for the viewpoint, though.
https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Nature-D...0791454541
Quote:An eloquent case for regarding nature itself as the focus of religion―as the metaphysical ultimate deserving religious commitment.
The beauty, sublimity, and wonder of nature have been justly celebrated in all of the religious traditions of the world, but usually these traditions have focused on beings or powers presumed to lie behind nature, providing nature’s ultimate explanation and meaning.
It's a bit more up to date than poor old Baruch could ever be.
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