many cases either entirely replaced or profoundly modified the theistic
strain in Christianity. In current philosophy pantheism appears in the
epistemological argument which identifies God with being; while the
chief bulwark of theism is the ethical argument, with its provision for
a distinction between the actual world and ideal principle of evolution.
[Sidenote: Deism.]
§ 92. While theism and pantheism appear to be permanent phases in the
philosophy of religion, _deism_ is the peculiar product of the
eighteenth century. It is based upon a repudiation of supernaturalism
and "enthusiasm," on the one hand, and a literal acceptance of the
cosmological and teleological proofs on the other. Religions, like all
else, were required, in this epoch of clear thinking, to submit to the
canons of experimental observation and practical common sense. These
authorize only a _natural religion_, the acknowledgment in pious living
of a God who, having contrived this natural world, has given it over to
the rule, not of priests and prophets, but of natural law. The
artificiality of its conception of God, and the calculating spirit of
its piety, make deism a much less genuine expression of the religious
experience than either the moral chivalry of theism or the intellectual
and mystical exaltation of pantheism.
[Sidenote: Metaphysics and Theology.]
§ 93. The systematic development of philosophy leads to the inclusion of
conceptions of God within the problem of metaphysics, and the
subordination of the proof of God to the determination of the
fundamental principle of reality. There will always remain, however, an
outstanding theological discipline, whose function it is to interpret
worship, or the living religious attitude, in terms of the theoretical
principles of philosophy.
[Sidenote: Psychology is the Theory of the Soul.]
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