Theism (from Greek θεoς theos god) is used in two meanings: It can be either the belief in God and/or Goddess as unitary being or specifically the belief in God as creator of the universe who is actively involved in maintaining and ruling it.
The first meaning sees four major views of the role of God/dess in the world in this context:
- proper theism (second definition), the view that God[dess] is immanent in the world, yet transcends it;
- deism, the view that God/dess created the world but does not interact with it;
- pantheism, the view that the world is identical to God/dess; and
- panentheism, the view that the world is entirely contained within God/dess, while at the same time God is something greater than just the world.
Within theism proper, it can be differentiated between
Finally, we can make the distinction between belief in God's existence and assertions about his benevolence:
- theophilia says that God is good and worthy of our worship and devotion
- maltheism says that the evidence contradicts the notion that God is good, and thus he is not worthy of our worship and devotion
Typical theistic religions are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Baha'i.
Compare: Deism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Aldeism, Pantheism, Panentheism, Maltheism
