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Coined, theo- + -ism. ultimately from Ancient Greekθεός(theós, “god”). Attested in English from 1678, theist being attested 16 years earlier in 1662. Cognate Frenchthéisme, as in Diderot Principes de la philosophie morale (1745), which was probably borrowed from English.
(strictly) Belief in the existence of a personal creatorgod, goddess, gods and/or goddesses present and active in the governance and organization of the world and the universe. The God may be known by or through revelation.
1999, Jeaneane D. Fowler, Humanism: Beliefs & Practices, page 66
The term stands in contradistinction to theism which, in its widest sense, means belief in a personal god, goddess, gods and/or goddesses.
1888, John C. Cutter, “Narcotics, stimulants, and depressants”, in Comprehensive anatomy, physiology, and hygiene : adapted for schools, academies, colleges, and families : with instruction on the effects of stimulants and narcotics, and brief directions for illustrative dissections of mammals, for elementary work with the microscope, for physiological demonstrations on the human body, and for the management of emergent cases, 3rd edition, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, →OCLC, page 350:
^ George M. Gould with R. J. E. Scott (1919) “theism”, in The Practitioner's Medical Dictionary, 3rd rev. and enl. edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: P. Blakiston's Son, →OCLC, page 883.