Do you have a favorite walk in the woods? Or a pond you love to sit by? Or maybe a cherished tree? (I do.) Many of us gravitate to natural wonders that nourish us and make us feel more alive. And for some people — especially those who’ve been turned off by organized religion — nature feels magical, even sacred.

 I’m one of those people, and I’m guessing a lot of us are closet pantheists, perhaps in more of an intuitive way rather than as a carefully thought-out philosophy. It turns out pantheism — the idea that God IS nature — has a fraught and even heretical history. I learned this from religion scholar Mary-Jane Rubenstein in last week’s Wonder Cabinet episode, which was full of surprises. She’s written about this history in her book “Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters.”

 The modern history of pantheism in the Western tradition goes back to the 17^th century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Here’s a brief excerpt from our conversation, which is worth quoting because it’s so revealing:

“Spinoza had this idea that nature and God are the same thing. It was entirely heretical. Even though he hadn't said it while he was alive, his Jewish community in Amsterdam knew that's what he was getting at. And they excommunicated him for it because of his having circulated the idea that God had a body. If there is one teaching you cannot profess in the Jewish tradition, it's that God is somehow material.”

 Pantheism wasn’t just shunned by Jewish thinkers. Rubenstein says that for a couple of centuries, German universities actually required professors to take an anti-pantheist test just to be able to teach there. Even today, hardly any philosophers or theologians regard pantheism as a coherent philosophy.

 So is it a serious philosophy? I don’t know; I have no philosophical training. But as an orientation to live by, with natural affinities that feed my soul, I’m perfectly happy to call the Earth — with all its wonders — my church.

If you haven’t yet, I hope you get a chance to listen to the episode!

— Steve