Two technical theological terms are crucial here—“immanence” and “transcendence.” Immanence carries the idea of God dwelling in the world and working through nature. Extreme immanence is pantheism, which says that God is the world and the world is God. Transcendence implies the reality of God apart from the world. Extreme transcendence is found in the faith of the deists, for whom God is as separate from the world as a watchmaker from his watch.
