Pandeism

Pandeism holds that a creator became the universe and does not intervene in its subsequent development, combining elements of pantheism and deism.

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Pantheism: The view that God and the universe are identical or that divinity pervades all reality. Pandeism shares pantheism’s identification of divinity with the universe.
Classical theism: A tradition holding that God is the necessary, eternal source of being and sustains creation. Unlike pandeism, classical theism generally treats God as distinct from the universe.
Pandeistic controversy: An early modern debate over whether creation implies that God becomes the world. The controversy exposes the theological problem later captured by pandeism.
Problem of evil: The challenge of reconciling the existence of suffering and evil with an all-good, all-powerful God. Pandeism can recast suffering as part of a universe whose creator no longer intervenes.
Cosmology: The scientific study of the universe’s origin, structure, evolution, and large-scale properties. Pandeism’s account of a creator becoming the universe meets scientific accounts of cosmic history.
Deism: The view that a creator originates the universe but does not intervene in its operation. Pandeism retains deism’s nonintervention while changing what happens to the creator.
Panentheism: The view that the universe exists within God while God also exceeds the universe. Panentheism preserves a divine reality beyond the universe that pandeism does not require.
John Toland: An Irish philosopher whose writings challenged orthodox Christianity and influenced deist thought. Toland’s 1705 work introduced the term “pantheist,” a precursor to pandeistic vocabulary.
Divine hiddenness: The apparent absence of clear, unmistakable evidence for God’s existence or activity. A nonintervening creator offers one explanation for divine silence after creation.
Conservation of energy: The physical principle that energy in an isolated system remains constant over time. The idea of a creator transforming into the universe raises questions about what “becoming” means physically.