Two technical theological terms are crucial here: immanence and transcendence. Immanence carries the idea of God’s presence in the world and working through nature. An extreme version of immanence is found in pantheism, which claims that God and the world are identical. Transcendence implies the reality of God apart from the world. An extreme version of transcendence is found among the deists, for whom God is as separate from the world as a watchmaker from his watch.
