Teens and Christ
← Christianity and the World's Faiths

Lesson 1 of 5 · 9 min

Six Ways People Answer 'What Is God?'

Monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, panentheism, deism and atheism — mapped.

The map

Monotheism: one personal God distinct from the world (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). Polytheism: many limited gods inside the world. Pantheism: God is the universe. Panentheism: the universe is inside God. Deism: a Creator who does not intervene. Atheism: no God at all.

Knowing the map matters because most disagreements about religion are really disagreements at this level, and people talk past each other without noticing.

Where Christianity stands

Christianity is monotheistic, and adds two claims that no other monotheism makes: that the one God is eternally three persons, and that he took on human nature in Jesus of Nazareth. Everything distinctive follows from those two.

Why the differences matter

If God is impersonal, prayer is meditation. If God is distant, revelation is impossible. If God is many, morality fragments. The doctrine of God is not abstract — it determines whether forgiveness, relationship and hope are even coherent ideas.

Key passages

  • Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

    Deuteronomy 6:4

  • The God who made the world and everything in it... is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything.

    Acts 17:24-25

  • No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

    John 1:18

Reflect

Which of these views is the quiet assumption of the people around you?

Sign in to save private reflections and track your progress.

Next: Judaism, Islam and Christianity

Where this came from

We're not experts — these are the sources we used while researching this page. Read them yourself, keep digging, and hold us to them.

  1. [1]The Holy Bible — Blue Letter Bible interlinear and lexicons

    Primary source for every lesson; Strong's and BDB/Thayer entries for word studies.

  2. [2]The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) — full text and history, Britannica

    The doctrinal frame for the lessons on God, Christ and the Spirit.

  3. [3]N. T. Wright, lectures and articles archive (NTWrightPage)

    New Testament scholarship drawn on for the gospel, kingdom and resurrection lessons.

  4. [4]Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican) and the Westminster Confession of Faith

    Consulted side by side wherever a lesson describes how different traditions teach a doctrine.