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Theism
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A common criticism of process theism is that it conceives God as “needing” the world. In one sense this is true, but in another sense it is false. It is true that, in process metaphysics, the structure of reality is social, and necessarily so. Thus, it promotes a social view of God — God as necessarily related to non-divine actualities. On the other hand, the process God does not require any particular universe in order to exist. Whitehead speaks of a succession of “cosmic epochs” which are, in effect, different universes where the very laws of nature are different. God presides over each universe as its eminent creative power, making possible all localized expressions of creativity, but no universe sustains God's existence.
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Physicalism is popular these days, and to a lesser extent so is classical theism. It should therefore come as no surprise that a number of theists are bent on combining theism with physicalism. But could a classical theist be a physicalist? Is this a coherent doctrinal combination? The classical theist affirms the metaphysically necessary existence of a concrete, purely spiritual, being upon which every other concrete being is ontologically dependent. The physicalist... is committed to the proposition that everything, or at least everything concrete, is either physical or determined by the physical.
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Although important Saivite sects such as Saiva Siddhantam6 are clearly theistic, Vaishnavite history provides more material for the study of Indian theism.7 Vishnu, like Siva. is an old Vedic god who came into prominence at about the same time as Siva but probably in a different part of India. In the Rig Veda he is a minor god, an ally of Indra, known for prowess as a fighter (Rv. IV. 55.4; VII. 99.5; VIII.
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Theism can be a difficult word to define because theists themselves have so many different ideas of what their theism entails. Not only are there three primary theist religions, there are a number of sub groups within each religion further diluting any notion of there being a clear and distinct definition.
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Indian theism is to be found among those sects which emphasize bhakti, or devotional faith. Vaishnavism and to a lesser degree Saivism are the most important among these sects. The word bhakti and the related words bhagavat and bhagavata are derived from the root bhaj. The oldest meaning of this word is to participate, but in this context it means "to adore." Grierson tells us that according to the Aphorisms of Sandilya (1.2), bhakti is defined as " ‘a[n] affection fixed upon the Lord’; but the word ‘affection’ (anurakti) itself is further defined as that particular affection (rak ti) which arises after (anu) a knowledge of the attributes of the Adorable One" (5:539)5 Rudolf Otto defined bhakti as "faith, filled with love, expressing itself in reverence" (11 :55).
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"Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Uses of Great Men, Representative Men (1850).
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