Introducing PanenDeism
Larry Copling
www.PanenDeism.com
�2004, Larry Copling
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Continuing with Part 3...
3. Classical Deism
From the Latin word, Deus, for God, Classical Deism sprang up during one of the most intellectually disruptive periods in all of human history. The period known as the Renaissance, with the rediscovery of the ancient writings of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and others, began the process of sweeping away the fear-based mythology of the Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation caused a general revolt against the power and control of the Catholic Church at that time. The birth of the empirical sciences; which brought in the Age of Reason with major discoveries in mathematics, astronomy and geography, along with the rationalistic approach and philosophical critique of Descartes, Bacon and Locke- this was the world that existed when the ideas of Deism first took hold.
The first use of the word Deist can be traced to a dedication found in the preface to the second volume of Viret's "Instruction Chr�tienne" in the year 1563[ii]. In the dedication, the writer refers to a group of people who were calling themselves by a new name--deists. It is important to note, however, that there has never been one group of Deists with a single body of teachings that has united all Deists of that particular time behind them. The specific teachings of classical Deism were diverse, and varied greatly; depending on the time and place in which it was found.
Although some Deists were naturalists, atheists, Christian, or even Muslim, there was at least one unifying characteristic of Deistic thought- the rejection of �revealed religion� in favor of a more rationalistic and reasoned approach to understanding the Divine. Deists self-assigned the Latin version of the Greek word theist in order to distinguish themselves from their �revealed religion� opponents. The idea of a natural theology, with Reason as one�s guide, was wildly successful for a time, and caused quite a stir among all classes of English, French and Italian societies.
In the United States, Deism was also a prominent religious approach during the early period of American history. In fact, many of the founders of our nation were not Christian at all- they were Deists! Names like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin are only a small representation of the impact that the Deism movement had on early American religious thought.
There are several available theories that attempt to explain why such a successful conception of Deity died out so completely, and I�m sure that the complete answer involves more than one, but I personally believe that the primary reason for its demise was that the Deists of the 18th and 19th Centuries failed to allow for the basic human need to experience the Divine. Following a religion that almost worships rationality and reason can surely satisfy an intellectual hunger, but can also become sterile and emotionally unfulfilling if all attempts at finding an emotional connection are suppressed. There was no �room at the top� in Classical Deism for any kind of mysticism or philosophical idealism, so the movement eventually lost its appeal to the masses.
As the Deism movement ran its course, another important tenet developed among its followers that significantly distinguished Deistic thought from that of traditional Christianity. Most Deists of that time came to believe that God created the universe, set all natural laws and processes of nature in motion, and then �stepped back�, or removed Himself, from human affairs in order to allow His creation to self-evolve without any Divine intervention. While this idea, as stated here, might seem strange to traditional Christians of today, there is a very tantalizing aspect to this belief that would seem to explain one the most heart-wrenching inconsistencies of modern Christian belief- the appearance of an apparently random crisis in a world allegedly controlled by a personal, loving God.
At the core of our being, there is an internal alignment with some part of the belief that God is NOT controlling every single aspect of nature and human life. We have all been perplexed by horrible stories like the one my wife and I heard about on our local television news while living in Nashville, TN. According to the televised newscast, a small religious congregation gathered in their church auditorium to pray for the town�s Divine protection from an approaching, and deadly, F5 tornado; the most powerful rating a tornado can have. Unfortunately for the churchgoers, the powerful tornado made a direct hit on the church building and killed almost all believers inside. The unmistakable irony is that, had the praying Christians stayed at home, like the rest of the townspeople did, they would have been spared also.
How do we explain such a devastating contradiction? How do we, as a surviving family member or friend of the dead Christian, not loose faith in a loving, personal God as we try to reconcile our belief with God�s apparent lack of control, or lack of desire to control, the direction of such a powerful tornado? This terrible disaster, along with any other disaster like this, is almost impossible to explain when we define God in a Classical Theistic manner. But I have good news. Tragedies such as this, while devastating and earth-shattering by anyone�s account, are much easier to process intellectually when we embrace a more Deistic understanding of God (albeit, a revamped one), as we shall see in a moment.
Classical Deism was originally developed as a way to save Christianity from the onslaught of the scientific advances of that era. The Deistic movement, in its original form, may have passed, but the idea of a natural, rationally-based understanding of Deity that is grounded in scientific reason is still alive and well.
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