Theopanism (Greek: Theos = God, pan = all) was first used as a technical term by the Jesuits in elucidating Hinduism^{[citation needed]}. "[O]ne may distinguish pantheism^{[citation needed]}, which imagines the world as an absolute being ("everything is God"), from theopanism, which conceives of God as the true spiritual reality from which everything emanates: "God becomes everything", necessarily, incessantly, without beginning and without end. Theopanism is (with only a few other dualistic systems) the most common way in which Hindu philosophy conceives God and the world."

Theopanism has also been more broadly stated as inclusive of any theological theory by which God is held equivalent to the Universe.^{[citation needed]} As one author puts it: "In theopanism the meaning given the word God is of an entity that is not separate from the universe. Theopanism includes among its major concepts pantheism and panentheism." This broader statement would also include Pandeism.^{[citation needed]}