different answers to this ultimate, or “prime-reality,” question. “Naturalism” (or materialism) views matter and energy and the laws of nature as the prime realities. “Pantheism” asserts an impersonal deity present in matter and energy as the prime reality. “Theism” affirms a personal, intelligent, transcendent God who also acts within the creation. And “deism” affirms a personal, transcendent, intelligent God who does not act within the created order after its initial origin (Fig. 11.3). These four worldviews represent four possible ways of answering three basic questions about ultimate
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