Terminology Tuesday: Physicalism
The doctrine that only physical realities exist and hence that there are no such entities as God, angels or nonphysical souls. Physicalism is often used as a synonym for materialism, but the viewpoints are sometimes distinguished in the following way: materialists believe that only matter exists, while physicalists accept the existence of matter and energy. Some contemporary physicalists define their position in an open-ended way that refers to science. Namely, physicalism is the theory that the ultimate constituents of reality are whatever ultimate particles or entities are accepted by physics. See also materialism.
Evans, C. Stephen, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002).