1. Term

Basic to theism is the distinction between God and the world. According to the various ways of seeing the relation between transcendent primal being and the contingent universe, we find different forms of theism. In a narrower sense, theism is the view in which God is conceived of as a free personal being who is characterized by a creative relationship to creation (God 3.4–6). The express referring of this personal being to his world distinguishes theism from deism.

1.1. Deism, too, differentiates…