1 Beyond Theism and Atheism: Are there plausible alternatives to orthodox theism and materialist atheism? NOTE: This is the final pre-publication draft of Mulgan, T., 2019, ‘Alternatives to Benevolent Theism: Ananthropocentric Theism and Axiarchism’, in P. Draper (ed.), New Directions in Philosophy of Religion, New York: Routledge, pp. 129- 145. Please cite the published version. Tim Mulgan Edited 3 October 2016 [Please do not circulate or cite in this version] 7,465 words Paper for Paul Draper (ed.), Current Controversies in Philosophy of Religion Two familiar worldviews dominate Western philosophy: materialist atheism and Abrahamic theism. Drawing on my recent book, Purpose in the Universe, I explore two alternatives. Ananthropocentric theism (AT) posits a morally perfect creator God who has no interest in the fate of individual human beings. AT neatly solves the problem of evil, but also borrows the explanatory resources of traditional theism. I use the fine-tuning argument to illustrate how AT transforms traditional metaphysical arguments by incorporating its own non-human-centred non-natural values. Axiarchism offers an explanation that invokes impersonal goodness rather than a personal God. The universe exists simply because that is good. Ethical requirements constrain which possibilities can be actual. Drawing analogies with logical, scientific, and theist explanations, I argue that axiarchism is an intelligible and plausible rival to theism. Axiarchists are typically optimalists. This world exists because it is the best. But surely this is not the best possible world! Axiarchism’s strongest reply is ananthropocentric: This is the best possible world, but only according to values that make no reference to human beings. The space between theism and atheism. Two familiar worldviews dominate Western philosophy: materialist atheism and Abrahamic theism. One exciting development in recent philosophy of religion is the