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Creator deity

April 24, 2023

A creator deity or creator god is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a secondary creator from a primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator.[1]

Monotheism

Atenism

See also: Atenism

Initiated by Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti around 1330 BCE, during the New Kingdom period in ancient Egyptian history. They built an entirely new capital city (Akhetaten) for themselves and worshippers of their sole creator god on a wilderness. His father used to worship Aten alongside other gods of their polytheistic religion. Aten, for a long time before his father's time, was revered as a god among the many gods and goddesses in Egypt. Atenism faded away after the death of the pharaoh. Despite different views, Atenism is considered by some scholars to be one of the frontiers of monotheism in human history.

Abrahamic religions

Further information: Abrahamic religions

Judaism

The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth[a] of both Judaism and Christianity.[2] The narrative is made up of two stories, roughly equivalent to the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. In the first, Elohim (the Hebrew generic word for God) creates the heavens and the Earth, the animals, and mankind in six days, then rests on, blesses and sanctifies the seventh (i.e. the Biblical Sabbath). In the second story, God, now referred to by the personal name Yahweh, creates Adam, the first man, from dust and places him in the Garden of Eden, where he is given dominion over the animals. Eve, the first woman, is created from Adam and as his companion.

It expounds themes parallel to those in Mesopotamian mythology, emphasizing the Israelite people's belief in one God.[3] The first major comprehensive draft of the Pentateuch (the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy) was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE (the Jahwist source) and was later expanded by other authors (the Priestly source) into a work very similar to Genesis as known today.[4] The two sources can be identified in the creation narrative: Priestly and Jahwistic.[5] The combined narrative is a critique of the Mesopotamian theology of creation: Genesis affirms monotheism and denies polytheism.[6] Robert Alter described the combined narrative as "compelling in its archetypal character, its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends".[7]

Christianity

Further information: God in Christianity
See also: Ex nihilo and Logos (Christianity)

The Abrahamic creation narrative is made up of two stories, roughly equivalent to the two first chapters of the Book of Genesis.[8] The first account (1:1 through 2:3) employs a repetitious structure of divine fiat and fulfillment, then the statement "And there was evening and there was morning, the [xth] day," for each of the six days of creation. In each of the first three days there is an act of division: day one divides the darkness from light, day two the "waters above" from the "waters below", and day three the sea from the land. In each of the next three days these divisions are populated: day four populates the darkness and light with sun, moon, and stars; day five populates seas and skies with fish and fowl; and finally, land-based creatures and mankind populate the land.[9]

The first (the Priestly story) was concerned with the cosmic plan of creation, while the second (the Yahwist story) focuses on man as cultivator of his environment and as a moral agent.[8] The second account, in contrast to the regimented seven-day scheme of Genesis 1, uses a simple flowing narrative style that proceeds from God's forming the first man through the Garden of Eden to the creation of the first woman and the institution of marriage. In contrast to the omnipotent God of Genesis 1 creating a god-like humanity, the God of Genesis 2 can fail as well as succeed. The humanity he creates is not god-like, but is punished for acts which would lead to their becoming god-like (Genesis 3:1-24) and the order and method of creation itself differs.[10] "Together, this combination of parallel character and contrasting profile point to the different origin of materials in Genesis 1:1 and Gen 2:4, however elegantly they have now been combined."[11]

An early conflation of Greek philosophy with the narratives in the Hebrew Bible came from Philo of Alexandria (d. AD 50), writing in the context of Hellenistic Judaism. Philo equated the Hebrew creator-deity Yahweh with Aristotle's unmoved mover (First Cause)[12][13] in an attempt to prove that the Jews had held monotheistic views even before the Greeks.[citation needed]

A similar theoretical proposition was demonstrated by Thomas Aquinas, who linked Aristotelian philosophy with the Christian faith, followed by the statement that God is the First Being, the First Mover, and is Pure Act.[14]

The deuterocanonical 2 Maccabees has two relevant passages. At chapter 7, it narrows about the mother of a Jewish proto-martyr telling to her son: "I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind also";[15][16] at chapter 1, it refers a solemn prayer hymned by Jonathan, Nehemiah and the Priest of Israel, while making sacrifices in honour of God: "O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who art fearefull, and strong, and righteous, and mercifull, and the onely, and gracious king".[17] The Prologue to Gospel of John begins with: "In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, and the Word was God. / 2 The same was in the beginning with God. / 3 All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.".[18]

Christianity affirms the creation by God since its early time in the Apostles' Creed ("I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.", 1st century AD), that is symmetrical to the Nicene Creed (4th century AD).

Nowadays, theologians debate whether the Bible itself teaches if this creation by God is a creation ex nihilo. Traditional interpreters[19] argue on grammatical and syntactical grounds that this is the meaning of Genesis 1:1, which is commonly rendered: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." However, other interpreters[20] understand creation ex nihilo as a 2nd-century theological development. According to this view, church fathers opposed notions appearing in pre-Christian creation myths and in Gnosticism—notions of creation by a demiurge out of a primordial state of matter (known in religious studies as chaos after the Greek term used by Hesiod in his Theogony).[21] Jewish thinkers took up the idea,[22] which became important to Judaism.

Islam

Main article: God in Islam
Further information: Allah

According to Islam, the creator deity, God, known in Arabic as Allah, is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator, Sustainer, Ordainer, and Judge of the universe. Creation is seen as an act of divine choice and mercy, one with a grand purpose: "And We [note 1] did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play."[23] Rather, the purpose of humanity is to be tested: "Who has created death and life, that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving;"[24] Those who pass the test are rewarded with Paradise: "Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfilment of (the heart's) desires;"[25]

According to the Islamic teachings, God exists above the heavens and the creation itself. The Quran mentions, "He it is Who created for you all that is on earth. Then He Istawa (rose over) towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All-Knower of everything."[26] At the same time, God is unlike anything in creation: "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing."[27] and nobody can perceive God in totality: "Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted."[28] God in Islam is not only majestic and sovereign, but also a personal God: "And indeed We have created man, and We know what his ownself whispers to him. And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (by Our Knowledge)."[29] Allah commands the believers to constantly remember Him ("O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance"[30]) and to invoke Him alone ("And whoever invokes besides Allah another deity for which he has no proof—then his account is only with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed."[31]).

Islam teaches that God as referenced in the Quran is the only god and the same God worshipped by members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism.

Sikhism

Main article: Sikh beliefs

One of the biggest responsibilities in the faith of Sikhism is to worship God as "The Creator", termed Waheguru, who is shapeless, timeless, and sightless, i.e., Nirankar, Akal, and Alakh Niranjan. The religion only takes after the belief in "One God for All" or Ik Onkar.

Baháʼí Faith

Main article: Baha'i Faith

In the Baháʼí Faith God is the imperishable, uncreated being who is the source of all existence.[32] He is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty".[33][34] Although transcendent and inaccessible directly, his image is reflected in his creation. The purpose of creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator.[35]

Mandaeism

Main article: Hayyi Rabbi
Further information: Mandaeism

In Mandaeism, Hayyi Rabbi (lit=The Great Life), or 'The Great Living God',[36] is the supreme God from which all things emanate. He is also known as 'The First Life', since during the creation of the material world, Yushamin emanated from Hayyi Rabbi as the "Second Life."[37] "The principles of the Mandaean doctrine: the belief of the only one great God, Hayyi Rabbi, to whom all absolute properties belong; He created all the worlds, formed the soul through his power, and placed it by means of angels into the human body. So He created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman."[38] Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.[39]

Monolatrism

 
In Vaishnava Puranic scriptures, Brahma emerges on a lotus from Vishnu's navel as Vishnu creates the cosmic cycle, after being emerged by Shiva. Shaivite texts describe that Shiva told Vishnu to create, Shiva ordered Vishnu to make Brahma.
See also: Brahma

Monolatristic traditions would separate a secondary creator from the primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator.[1] According to Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Brahma is the secondary creator and not the supreme.[40] Vishnu is the primary creator. According to Vaishnava belief Vishnu creates the basic universal shell and provides all the raw materials and also places the living entities within the material world, fulfilling their own independent will. Brahma works with the materials provided by Vishnu to actually create what are believed to be planets in Puranic terminology, and he supervises the population of them.[41]

Monism

Main article: Monism

Monism is the philosophy that asserts oneness as its fundamental premise, and it contradicts the dualism-based theistic premise that there is a creator God that is eternal and separate from the rest of existence. There are two types of monism, namely spiritual monism which holds that all spiritual reality is one, and material monism which holds that everything including all material reality is one and the same thing.[42]

Non-creationism

Buddhism

See also: Creator in Buddhism

Buddhism denies a creator deity and posits that mundane deities such as Mahabrahma are misperceived to be a creator.[43]

Jainism

Main article: Jainism and non-creationism

Jainism does not support belief in a creator deity. According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents—soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion have always existed (a static universe similar to that of Epicureanism and steady state cosmological model). All the constituents and actions are governed by universal natural laws. It is not possible to create matter out of nothing and hence the sum total of matter in the universe remains the same (similar to law of conservation of mass). Similarly, the soul of each living being is unique and uncreated and has existed since beginningless time.[a][44]

The Jain theory of causation holds that a cause and its effect are always identical in nature and therefore a conscious and immaterial entity like God cannot create a material entity like the universe. Furthermore, according to the Jain concept of divinity, any soul who destroys its karmas and desires achieves liberation. A soul who destroys all its passions and desires has no desire to interfere in the working of the universe. Moral rewards and sufferings are not the work of a divine being, but a result of an innate moral order in the cosmos; a self-regulating mechanism whereby the individual reaps the fruits of his own actions through the workings of the karmas.

Through the ages, Jain philosophers have adamantly rejected and opposed the concept of creator and omnipotent God and this has resulted in Jainism being labeled as nāstika darsana or atheist philosophy by the rival religious philosophies. The theme of non-creationism and absence of omnipotent God and divine grace runs strongly in all the philosophical dimensions of Jainism, including its cosmology, karma, moksa and its moral code of conduct. Jainism asserts a religious and virtuous life is possible without the idea of a creator god.[45]

Polytheism

In polytheistic creation, the world often comes into being organically, e.g. sprouting from a primal seed, sexually, by miraculous birth (sometimes by parthenogenesis), by hieros gamos, violently, by the slaying of a primeval monster, or artificially, by a divine demiurge or "craftsman". Sometimes, a god is involved, wittingly or unwittingly, in bringing about creation. Examples include:

Platonic demiurge

Main article: Demiurge
Further information: Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and Great Architect of the Universe

Plato, in his dialogue Timaeus, describes a creation myth involving a being called the demiurge (δημιουργός "craftsman"). Neoplatonism and Gnosticism continued and developed this concept. In Neoplatonism, the demiurge represents the second cause or dyad, after the monad. In Gnostic dualism, the demiurge is an imperfect spirit and possibly an evil being, transcended by divine Fullness (Pleroma). Unlike the Abrahamic God, Plato's demiurge is unable to create ex-nihilo.

Hinduism

Main article: Hindu views on evolution
 
Brahma is often associated with Creation in Hinduism, however has been demoted to a secondary creator in post-Vedic period

Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, and atheism among others;[48][49][note 2] and its concept of creator deity is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed. Hinduism is sometimes referred to as henotheistic (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others), but any such term is an overgeneralization.[50]

The Nasadiya Sukta (Creation Hymn) of the Rig Veda is one of the earliest texts[51] which "demonstrates a sense of metaphysical speculation" about what created the universe, the concept of god(s) and The One, and whether even The One knows how the universe came into being.[52][53] The Rig Veda praises various deities, none superior nor inferior, in a henotheistic manner.[54] The hymns repeatedly refer to One Truth and Reality. The "One Truth" of Vedic literature, in modern era scholarship, has been interpreted as monotheism, monism, as well as a deified Hidden Principles behind the great happenings and processes of nature.[55]

The post-Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of cosmogony, many involving Brahma. These include Sarga (primary creation of universe) and Visarga (secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels of reality, one primary that is unchanging (metaphysical) and other secondary that is always changing (empirical), and that all observed reality of the latter is in an endless repeating cycle of existence, that cosmos and life we experience is continually created, evolved, dissolved and then re-created.[56] The primary creator is extensively discussed in Vedic cosmogonies with Brahman or Purusha or Devi among the terms used for the primary creator,[56][57] while the Vedic and post-Vedic texts name different gods and goddesses as secondary creators (often Brahma in post-Vedic texts), and in some cases a different god or goddess is the secondary creator at the start of each cosmic cycle (kalpa, aeon).[58][56]

Brahma is a "secondary creator" as described in the Mahabharata and Puranas, and among the most studied and described.[59][60][61] Born from a lotus emerging from the navel of Vishnu, Brahma creates all the forms in the universe, but not the primordial universe itself.[62] In contrast, the Shiva-focused Puranas describe Brahma and Vishnu to have been created by Ardhanarishvara, that is half Shiva and half Parvati; or alternatively, Brahma was born from Rudra, or Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma creating each other cyclically in different aeons (kalpa).[58] Thus in most Puranic texts, Brahma's creative activity depends on the presence and power of a higher god.[63]

In other versions of creation, the creator deity is the one who is equivalent to the Brahman, the metaphysical reality in Hinduism. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu creates Brahma and orders him to order the rest of universe. In Shaivism, Shiva may be treated as the creator. In Shaktism, the Great Goddess creates the Trimurti.[58][56][64]

Other

Kongo religion

The Bakongo people traditionally believe in Nzambi Mpungu the Creator God, who the Portuguese compared to the Christian God during colonization. They also believe his female counterpart called Nzambici, the ancestors (bakulu) as well as guardian spirits, such as Lemba, the basimbi, bakisi and bakita.[65] Oral tradition accounts that in the beginning, there was only a circular void (mbûngi) with no life.[66] Nzambi Mpungu summoned a spark of fire (Kalûnga) that grew until it filled the mbûngi. When it grew too large, Kalûnga became a great force of energy and unleashed heated elements across space, forming the universe with the sun, stars, planets, etc.[66] Because of this, Kalûnga is seen as the origin of life and a force of motion. The Bakongo believe that life requires constant change and perpetual motion. Nzambi Mpunga is also referred to as Kalûnga, the God of change.[66] Similarities between the Bakongo belief of Kalûnga and the Big Bang Theory have been studied.[67]

Nzambi is also said to have created two worlds. As Kalûnga filled mbûngi, it created an invisible line that divided the circle in half.[68] The top half represents the physical world (Ku Nseke or nsi a bamôyo), while the bottom half represents the spiritual world of the ancestors (Ku Mpèmba).[65] The Kalûnga line separates these two worlds, and all living things exists on one side or another.[68] After creation, the line and the mbûngi circle became a river, carrying people between the worlds at birth and death. Then the process repeats and a person is reborn.[68] A simbi (pl. bisimbi) is a water spirit that is believed to inhabit bodies of water and rocks, having the ability to guide bakulu, or the ancestors, along the Kalûnga line to the spiritual world after death. They are also present during the baptisms of African American Christians, according to Hoodoo tradition.[69][70]

Chinese traditional cosmology

Pangu can be interpreted as another creator deity. In the beginning there was nothing in the universe except a formless chaos. However this chaos began to coalesce into a cosmic egg for eighteen thousand years. Within it, the perfectly opposed principles of yin and yang became balanced and Pangu emerged (or woke up) from the egg. Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant with horns on his head and clad in furs. Pangu set about the task of creating the world: he separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin) and the Sky (clear Yang). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. This task took eighteen thousand years, with each day the sky grew ten feet higher, the Earth ten feet wider, and Pangu ten feet taller. In some versions of the story, Pangu is aided in this task by the four most prominent beasts, namely the Turtle, the Qilin, the Phoenix, and the Dragon.

After eighteen thousand years[71] had elapsed, Pangu was laid to rest. His breath became the wind; his voice the thunder; left eye the sun and right eye the moon; his body became the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood formed rivers; his muscles the fertile lands; his facial hair the stars and milky way; his fur the bushes and forests; his bones the valuable minerals; his bone marrows sacred diamonds; his sweat fell as rain; and the fleas on his fur carried by the wind became human beings all over the world.

The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms period.

Shangdi is another creator deity, possibly prior to Pangu; sharing concepts similar to Abrahamic faiths.

Kazakh

According to Kazakh folk tales, Jasagnan is the creator of the world.[72]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The term myth is used here in its academic sense, meaning "a traditional story consisting of events that are ostensibly historical, though often supernatural, explaining the origins of a cultural practice or natural phenomenon." It is not being used to mean "something that is false".
  1. ^ majestic plural
  2. ^ Ninian Smart (2007). "Polytheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 5 July 2007.

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    H Coward (1995), Book Review:" The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda's Reinterpretation of the Vedas", Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Volume 8, Issue 1, pages 45-47, Quote: "There is little doubt that the theo-monistic category is an appropriate one for viewing a wide variety of experiences in the Hindu tradition".
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  71. ^ (Note: In ancient China, 18,000 does not exactly mean eighteen thousand, it is meant to be "many", or "a number that could not be counted").
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Bibliography

  • Alter, Robert (1981). The Art of Biblical Narrative. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00427-0.
  • Alter, Robert (2004). The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-33393-0.
  • Bandstra, Barry L. (2 July 2008). Reading the Old Testament: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-39105-0.
  • Carr, David McLain (1 January 1996). Reading the Fractures of Genesis: Historical and Literary Approaches. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22071-6.
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  • Kramer, Kenneth (1986), World scriptures: an introduction to comparative religions, ISBN 978-0-8091-2781-8
  • Leeming, David Adams; Leeming, Margaret (2004). A Dictionary of Creation Myths. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510275-8.
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  • Sarna, Nahum M. (1997). "The Mists of Time: Genesis I–II". In Feyerick, Ada; Gordon, Cyrus H.; Sarna, Nahum M. (eds.). Genesis: World of Myths and Patriarchs. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-2668-6.
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External links

  •   Media related to Creator deities at Wikimedia Commons

April 24, 2023
creator, deity, creator, deity, creator, deity, responsible, creation, earth, world, universe, human, religion, mythology, monotheism, single, often, also, creator, number, monolatristic, traditions, separate, secondary, creator, from, primary, transcendent, b. A creator deity or creator god is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth world and universe in human religion and mythology In monotheism the single God is often also the creator A number of monolatristic traditions separate a secondary creator from a primary transcendent being identified as a primary creator 1 Contents 1 Monotheism 1 1 Atenism 1 2 Abrahamic religions 1 2 1 Judaism 1 2 2 Christianity 1 2 3 Islam 1 2 4 Sikhism 1 2 5 Bahaʼi Faith 1 2 6 Mandaeism 2 Monolatrism 3 Monism 4 Non creationism 4 1 Buddhism 4 2 Jainism 5 Polytheism 5 1 Platonic demiurge 5 2 Hinduism 6 Other 6 1 Kongo religion 6 2 Chinese traditional cosmology 6 3 Kazakh 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 9 1 Bibliography 10 External linksMonotheismAtenism See also Atenism Initiated by Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti around 1330 BCE during the New Kingdom period in ancient Egyptian history They built an entirely new capital city Akhetaten for themselves and worshippers of their sole creator god on a wilderness His father used to worship Aten alongside other gods of their polytheistic religion Aten for a long time before his father s time was revered as a god among the many gods and goddesses in Egypt Atenism faded away after the death of the pharaoh Despite different views Atenism is considered by some scholars to be one of the frontiers of monotheism in human history Abrahamic religions Further information Abrahamic religions Judaism The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth a of both Judaism and Christianity 2 The narrative is made up of two stories roughly equivalent to the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis In the first Elohim the Hebrew generic word for God creates the heavens and the Earth the animals and mankind in six days then rests on blesses and sanctifies the seventh i e the Biblical Sabbath In the second story God now referred to by the personal name Yahweh creates Adam the first man from dust and places him in the Garden of Eden where he is given dominion over the animals Eve the first woman is created from Adam and as his companion It expounds themes parallel to those in Mesopotamian mythology emphasizing the Israelite people s belief in one God 3 The first major comprehensive draft of the Pentateuch the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE the Jahwist source and was later expanded by other authors the Priestly source into a work very similar to Genesis as known today 4 The two sources can be identified in the creation narrative Priestly and Jahwistic 5 The combined narrative is a critique of the Mesopotamian theology of creation Genesis affirms monotheism and denies polytheism 6 Robert Alter described the combined narrative as compelling in its archetypal character its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends 7 Christianity Further information God in Christianity See also Ex nihilo and Logos Christianity The Abrahamic creation narrative is made up of two stories roughly equivalent to the two first chapters of the Book of Genesis 8 The first account 1 1 through 2 3 employs a repetitious structure of divine fiat and fulfillment then the statement And there was evening and there was morning the xth day for each of the six days of creation In each of the first three days there is an act of division day one divides the darkness from light day two the waters above from the waters below and day three the sea from the land In each of the next three days these divisions are populated day four populates the darkness and light with sun moon and stars day five populates seas and skies with fish and fowl and finally land based creatures and mankind populate the land 9 The first the Priestly story was concerned with the cosmic plan of creation while the second the Yahwist story focuses on man as cultivator of his environment and as a moral agent 8 The second account in contrast to the regimented seven day scheme of Genesis 1 uses a simple flowing narrative style that proceeds from God s forming the first man through the Garden of Eden to the creation of the first woman and the institution of marriage In contrast to the omnipotent God of Genesis 1 creating a god like humanity the God of Genesis 2 can fail as well as succeed The humanity he creates is not god like but is punished for acts which would lead to their becoming god like Genesis 3 1 24 and the order and method of creation itself differs 10 Together this combination of parallel character and contrasting profile point to the different origin of materials in Genesis 1 1 and Gen 2 4 however elegantly they have now been combined 11 An early conflation of Greek philosophy with the narratives in the Hebrew Bible came from Philo of Alexandria d AD 50 writing in the context of Hellenistic Judaism Philo equated the Hebrew creator deity Yahweh with Aristotle s unmoved mover First Cause 12 13 in an attempt to prove that the Jews had held monotheistic views even before the Greeks citation needed A similar theoretical proposition was demonstrated by Thomas Aquinas who linked Aristotelian philosophy with the Christian faith followed by the statement that God is the First Being the First Mover and is Pure Act 14 The deuterocanonical 2 Maccabees has two relevant passages At chapter 7 it narrows about the mother of a Jewish proto martyr telling to her son I beseech thee my son look upon heaven and earth and all that is in them and consider that God made them out of nothing and mankind also 15 16 at chapter 1 it refers a solemn prayer hymned by Jonathan Nehemiah and the Priest of Israel while making sacrifices in honour of God O Lord Lord God Creator of all things who art fearefull and strong and righteous and mercifull and the onely and gracious king 17 The Prologue to Gospel of John begins with In the beginning was the Word amp the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 The same was in the beginning with God 3 All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made 18 Christianity affirms the creation by God since its early time in the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth 1st century AD that is symmetrical to the Nicene Creed 4th century AD Nowadays theologians debate whether the Bible itself teaches if this creation by God is a creation ex nihilo Traditional interpreters 19 argue on grammatical and syntactical grounds that this is the meaning of Genesis 1 1 which is commonly rendered In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth However other interpreters 20 understand creation ex nihilo as a 2nd century theological development According to this view church fathers opposed notions appearing in pre Christian creation myths and in Gnosticism notions of creation by a demiurge out of a primordial state of matter known in religious studies as chaos after the Greek term used by Hesiod in his Theogony 21 Jewish thinkers took up the idea 22 which became important to Judaism Islam Main article God in Islam Further information Allah According to Islam the creator deity God known in Arabic as Allah is the all powerful and all knowing Creator Sustainer Ordainer and Judge of the universe Creation is seen as an act of divine choice and mercy one with a grand purpose And We note 1 did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play 23 Rather the purpose of humanity is to be tested Who has created death and life that He may test you which of you is best in deed And He is the All Mighty the Oft Forgiving 24 Those who pass the test are rewarded with Paradise Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfilment of the heart s desires 25 According to the Islamic teachings God exists above the heavens and the creation itself The Quran mentions He it is Who created for you all that is on earth Then He Istawa rose over towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All Knower of everything 26 At the same time God is unlike anything in creation There is nothing like unto Him and He is the Hearing the Seeing 27 and nobody can perceive God in totality Vision perceives Him not but He perceives all vision and He is the Subtle the Acquainted 28 God in Islam is not only majestic and sovereign but also a personal God And indeed We have created man and We know what his ownself whispers to him And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein by Our Knowledge 29 Allah commands the believers to constantly remember Him O you who have believed remember Allah with much remembrance 30 and to invoke Him alone And whoever invokes besides Allah another deity for which he has no proof then his account is only with his Lord Indeed the disbelievers will not succeed 31 Islam teaches that God as referenced in the Quran is the only god and the same God worshipped by members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism Sikhism Main article Sikh beliefs One of the biggest responsibilities in the faith of Sikhism is to worship God as The Creator termed Waheguru who is shapeless timeless and sightless i e Nirankar Akal and Alakh Niranjan The religion only takes after the belief in One God for All or Ik Onkar Bahaʼi Faith Main article Baha i Faith In the Bahaʼi Faith God is the imperishable uncreated being who is the source of all existence 32 He is described as a personal God unknowable inaccessible the source of all Revelation eternal omniscient omnipresent and almighty 33 34 Although transcendent and inaccessible directly his image is reflected in his creation The purpose of creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator 35 Mandaeism Main article Hayyi Rabbi Further information Mandaeism In Mandaeism Hayyi Rabbi lit The Great Life or The Great Living God 36 is the supreme God from which all things emanate He is also known as The First Life since during the creation of the material world Yushamin emanated from Hayyi Rabbi as the Second Life 37 The principles of the Mandaean doctrine the belief of the only one great God Hayyi Rabbi to whom all absolute properties belong He created all the worlds formed the soul through his power and placed it by means of angels into the human body So He created Adam and Eve the first man and woman 38 Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal creator of all the one and only in domination who has no partner 39 Monolatrism In Vaishnava Puranic scriptures Brahma emerges on a lotus from Vishnu s navel as Vishnu creates the cosmic cycle after being emerged by Shiva Shaivite texts describe that Shiva told Vishnu to create Shiva ordered Vishnu to make Brahma See also Brahma Monolatristic traditions would separate a secondary creator from the primary transcendent being identified as a primary creator 1 According to Gaudiya Vaishnavas Brahma is the secondary creator and not the supreme 40 Vishnu is the primary creator According to Vaishnava belief Vishnu creates the basic universal shell and provides all the raw materials and also places the living entities within the material world fulfilling their own independent will Brahma works with the materials provided by Vishnu to actually create what are believed to be planets in Puranic terminology and he supervises the population of them 41 MonismMain article Monism Monism is the philosophy that asserts oneness as its fundamental premise and it contradicts the dualism based theistic premise that there is a creator God that is eternal and separate from the rest of existence There are two types of monism namely spiritual monism which holds that all spiritual reality is one and material monism which holds that everything including all material reality is one and the same thing 42 Non creationismBuddhism See also Creator in Buddhism Buddhism denies a creator deity and posits that mundane deities such as Mahabrahma are misperceived to be a creator 43 Jainism Main article Jainism and non creationism Jainism does not support belief in a creator deity According to Jain doctrine the universe and its constituents soul matter space time and principles of motion have always existed a static universe similar to that of Epicureanism and steady state cosmological model All the constituents and actions are governed by universal natural laws It is not possible to create matter out of nothing and hence the sum total of matter in the universe remains the same similar to law of conservation of mass Similarly the soul of each living being is unique and uncreated and has existed since beginningless time a 44 The Jain theory of causation holds that a cause and its effect are always identical in nature and therefore a conscious and immaterial entity like God cannot create a material entity like the universe Furthermore according to the Jain concept of divinity any soul who destroys its karmas and desires achieves liberation A soul who destroys all its passions and desires has no desire to interfere in the working of the universe Moral rewards and sufferings are not the work of a divine being but a result of an innate moral order in the cosmos a self regulating mechanism whereby the individual reaps the fruits of his own actions through the workings of the karmas Through the ages Jain philosophers have adamantly rejected and opposed the concept of creator and omnipotent God and this has resulted in Jainism being labeled as nastika darsana or atheist philosophy by the rival religious philosophies The theme of non creationism and absence of omnipotent God and divine grace runs strongly in all the philosophical dimensions of Jainism including its cosmology karma moksa and its moral code of conduct Jainism asserts a religious and virtuous life is possible without the idea of a creator god 45 PolytheismIn polytheistic creation the world often comes into being organically e g sprouting from a primal seed sexually by miraculous birth sometimes by parthenogenesis by hieros gamos violently by the slaying of a primeval monster or artificially by a divine demiurge or craftsman Sometimes a god is involved wittingly or unwittingly in bringing about creation Examples include Sub Saharan African contexts Mbombo of Bakuba mythology who vomited out the world upon feeling a stomachache Unkulunkulu in Zulu mythology American contexts Nanabozho Great Rabbit Ojibwe deity a shape shifter and a cocreator of the world 46 47 Cōatlicue in Aztec mythology Chiminigagua and or Bague in Muisca mythology Viracocha in Inca mythology A trickster deity in the form of a Raven in Inuit mythology Near Eastern contexts Egyptian mythology Atum in Ennead whose semen becomes the primal component of the universe Ptah creating the universe by the Word Neith who wove all of the universe and existence into being on her loom El in Canaanite religion Marduk killing Tiamat in the Babylonian Enuma Elis Asian contexts Atingkok Maru Sidaba in Manipuri mythology the creator of the universe Esege Malan in Mongolian mythology king of the skies Kamuy in Ainu mythology who built the world on the back of a trout Izanagi and Izanami no Mikoto in Japanese mythology who churned the ocean with a spear creating the islands of Japan Pangu in Chinese mythology he is the one who separated heaven and earth and became geographic features such as mountains and rivers In Hinduism Lord Brahma is the creator of the universe Thần Trụ Trời the god who created the world in Vietnamese mythology European contexts The sons of Borr slaying the primeval giant Ymir in Norse mythology Rod in Slavic mythology Ipmil or Radien Ahci Radien Father in Sami mythology Oceanic contexts Makemake creator of humanity the god of fertility and the chief god of the Tangata manu or bird man cult of Rapa Nui mythology Ranginui the Sky Father and Papatuanuku the Earth Mother in Maori mythologyPlatonic demiurge Main article Demiurge Further information Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and Great Architect of the Universe Plato in his dialogue Timaeus describes a creation myth involving a being called the demiurge dhmioyrgos craftsman Neoplatonism and Gnosticism continued and developed this concept In Neoplatonism the demiurge represents the second cause or dyad after the monad In Gnostic dualism the demiurge is an imperfect spirit and possibly an evil being transcended by divine Fullness Pleroma Unlike the Abrahamic God Plato s demiurge is unable to create ex nihilo Hinduism Main article Hindu views on evolution Brahma is often associated with Creation in Hinduism however has been demoted to a secondary creator in post Vedic period Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism polytheism panentheism pantheism pandeism monism and atheism among others 48 49 note 2 and its concept of creator deity is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed Hinduism is sometimes referred to as henotheistic i e involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others but any such term is an overgeneralization 50 The Nasadiya Sukta Creation Hymn of the Rig Veda is one of the earliest texts 51 which demonstrates a sense of metaphysical speculation about what created the universe the concept of god s and The One and whether even The One knows how the universe came into being 52 53 The Rig Veda praises various deities none superior nor inferior in a henotheistic manner 54 The hymns repeatedly refer to One Truth and Reality The One Truth of Vedic literature in modern era scholarship has been interpreted as monotheism monism as well as a deified Hidden Principles behind the great happenings and processes of nature 55 The post Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of cosmogony many involving Brahma These include Sarga primary creation of universe and Visarga secondary creation ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels of reality one primary that is unchanging metaphysical and other secondary that is always changing empirical and that all observed reality of the latter is in an endless repeating cycle of existence that cosmos and life we experience is continually created evolved dissolved and then re created 56 The primary creator is extensively discussed in Vedic cosmogonies with Brahman or Purusha or Devi among the terms used for the primary creator 56 57 while the Vedic and post Vedic texts name different gods and goddesses as secondary creators often Brahma in post Vedic texts and in some cases a different god or goddess is the secondary creator at the start of each cosmic cycle kalpa aeon 58 56 Brahma is a secondary creator as described in the Mahabharata and Puranas and among the most studied and described 59 60 61 Born from a lotus emerging from the navel of Vishnu Brahma creates all the forms in the universe but not the primordial universe itself 62 In contrast the Shiva focused Puranas describe Brahma and Vishnu to have been created by Ardhanarishvara that is half Shiva and half Parvati or alternatively Brahma was born from Rudra or Vishnu Shiva and Brahma creating each other cyclically in different aeons kalpa 58 Thus in most Puranic texts Brahma s creative activity depends on the presence and power of a higher god 63 In other versions of creation the creator deity is the one who is equivalent to the Brahman the metaphysical reality in Hinduism In Vaishnavism Vishnu creates Brahma and orders him to order the rest of universe In Shaivism Shiva may be treated as the creator In Shaktism the Great Goddess creates the Trimurti 58 56 64 OtherKongo religion The Bakongo people traditionally believe in Nzambi Mpungu the Creator God who the Portuguese compared to the Christian God during colonization They also believe his female counterpart called Nzambici the ancestors bakulu as well as guardian spirits such as Lemba the basimbi bakisi and bakita 65 Oral tradition accounts that in the beginning there was only a circular void mbungi with no life 66 Nzambi Mpungu summoned a spark of fire Kalunga that grew until it filled the mbungi When it grew too large Kalunga became a great force of energy and unleashed heated elements across space forming the universe with the sun stars planets etc 66 Because of this Kalunga is seen as the origin of life and a force of motion The Bakongo believe that life requires constant change and perpetual motion Nzambi Mpunga is also referred to as Kalunga the God of change 66 Similarities between the Bakongo belief of Kalunga and the Big Bang Theory have been studied 67 Nzambi is also said to have created two worlds As Kalunga filled mbungi it created an invisible line that divided the circle in half 68 The top half represents the physical world Ku Nseke or nsi a bamoyo while the bottom half represents the spiritual world of the ancestors Ku Mpemba 65 The Kalunga line separates these two worlds and all living things exists on one side or another 68 After creation the line and the mbungi circle became a river carrying people between the worlds at birth and death Then the process repeats and a person is reborn 68 A simbi pl bisimbi is a water spirit that is believed to inhabit bodies of water and rocks having the ability to guide bakulu or the ancestors along the Kalunga line to the spiritual world after death They are also present during the baptisms of African American Christians according to Hoodoo tradition 69 70 Chinese traditional cosmology Pangu can be interpreted as another creator deity In the beginning there was nothing in the universe except a formless chaos However this chaos began to coalesce into a cosmic egg for eighteen thousand years Within it the perfectly opposed principles of yin and yang became balanced and Pangu emerged or woke up from the egg Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive hairy giant with horns on his head and clad in furs Pangu set about the task of creating the world he separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe creating the Earth murky Yin and the Sky clear Yang To keep them separated Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky This task took eighteen thousand years with each day the sky grew ten feet higher the Earth ten feet wider and Pangu ten feet taller In some versions of the story Pangu is aided in this task by the four most prominent beasts namely the Turtle the Qilin the Phoenix and the Dragon After eighteen thousand years 71 had elapsed Pangu was laid to rest His breath became the wind his voice the thunder left eye the sun and right eye the moon his body became the mountains and extremes of the world his blood formed rivers his muscles the fertile lands his facial hair the stars and milky way his fur the bushes and forests his bones the valuable minerals his bone marrows sacred diamonds his sweat fell as rain and the fleas on his fur carried by the wind became human beings all over the world The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms period Shangdi is another creator deity possibly prior to Pangu sharing concepts similar to Abrahamic faiths Kazakh According to Kazakh folk tales Jasagnan is the creator of the world 72 See alsoAboriginal Australian mythology Dreamtime Biblical cosmology Cosmological argument Creationism Dating creation Deism Existence Intelligent designer TzimtzumNotes The term myth is used here in its academic sense meaning a traditional story consisting of events that are ostensibly historical though often supernatural explaining the origins of a cultural practice or natural phenomenon It is not being used to mean something that is false majestic plural Ninian Smart 2007 Polytheism Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved 5 July 2007 References a b 2004 Sacred Books of the Hindus Volume 22 Part 2 Pt 2 p 67 R B Vidyarnava Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vidyarnava Leeming amp Leeming 2004 p 113 Sarna 1997 p 50 Davies 2007 p 37 Bandstra 2008 p 37 Wenham 2003b p 37 Alter 2004 p xii a b Alter 1981 p 141 Ruiten 2000 pp 9 10 Carr 1996 p 62 64 Carr 1996 p 64 Yonge Charles Duke 1854 Appendices A Treatise Concerning the World 1 But what can be worse than this or more calculated to display the want of true nobility existing in the soul than the notion of causes in general being secondary and created causes combined with an ignorance of the one first cause the uncreated God the Creator of the universe who for these and innumerable other reasons is most excellent reasons which because of their magnitude human intellect is unable to apprehend The Works of Philo Judaeus the contemporary of Josephus London H G Bohn Cornerstonepublications org Archived from the original on 28 September 2015 Plato Laws Book X Public Domain Project Gutenberg ATHENIAN Then I suppose that I must repeat the singular argument of those who manufacture the soul according to their own impious notions they affirm that which is the first cause of the generation and destruction of all things to be not first but last and that which is last to be first and hence they have fallen into error about the true nature of the Gods Then we must say that self motion being the origin of all motions and the first which arises among things at rest as well as among things in motion is the eldest and mightiest principle of change and that which is changed by another and yet moves other is second On the simplicity of God in Summa Theologiae Part I Question 3 Priory of Dominican Order in Latin and English Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Benziger Bros edition 1947 Archived from the original on 2 October 2011 Retrieved 6 October 2018 Ostensum est autem supra quod Deus est primum movens immobile Unde manifestum est quod Deus non est corpus Secundo quia necesse est id quod est primum ens esse in actu et nullo modo in potentia Licet enim in uno et eodem quod exit de potentia in actum prius sit potentia quam actus tempore simpliciter tamen actus prior est potentia quia quod est in potentia non reducitur in actum nisi per ens actu Ostensum est autem supra quod Deus est primum ens Impossibile est igitur quod in Deo sit aliquid in potential Now it has been already proved Question 2 Article 3 that God is the First Mover and is Himself unmoved Therefore it is clear that God is not a body Secondly because the first being must of necessity be in act and in no way in potentiality For although in any single thing that passes from potentiality to actuality the potentiality is prior in time to the actuality nevertheless absolutely speaking actuality is prior to potentiality for whatever is in potentiality can be reduced into actuality only by some being in actuality Now it has been already proved that God is the First Being It is therefore impossible that in God there should be any potentiality 1611 King James Bible Second book of Maccabees chapter 7 verse 8 kingjamesbibleonline org Archived from the original on 20 April 2017 Greek Septuagint and Wiki English Translation 2 Maccabees 7 58 in English and Greek Archived from the original on 14 September 2016 1611 King James Bible Second book of Maccabees chapter 1 verse 24 kingjamesbibleonline org Archived from the original on 24 December 2012 Greek New Testament and Wiki English Translation Gospel of John chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 in English and Greek Archived from the original on 21 August 2011 Collins C John Genesis 1 4 A Linguistic Literary and Theological Commentary Phillipsburg NJ P amp R Publishing 2006 50ff May Gerhard 2004 Creatio ex nihilo Creation from nothing Continuum International p xii ISBN 978 0 567 08356 2 Retrieved 23 November 2009 If we look into the early Christian sources it becomes apparent that the thesis of creatio ex nihilo in its full and proper sense as an ontological statement only appeared when it was intended in opposition to the idea of world formation from unoriginate matter to give expression to the omnipotence freedom and uniqueness of God May Gerhard 1978 Schopfung aus dem Nichts Die Entstehung der Lehre von der creatio ex nihilo Creation from Nothingness the origin of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo AKG 48 in German Berlin New York de Gruyter p 151f ISBN 3 11 007204 1 Siegfried Francis 1908 Creation The Catholic Encyclopedia volume 4 New York Robert Appleton Company Retrieved 30 September 2008 Probably the idea of creation never entered the human mind apart from Revelation Though some of the pagan philosophers attained to a relatively high conception of God as the supreme ruler of the world they seem never to have drawn the next logical inference of His being the absolute cause of all finite existence The descendants of Sem and Abraham of Isaac and Jacob preserved the idea of creation clear and pure and from the opening verse of Genesis to the closing book of the Old Testament the doctrine of creation runs unmistakably outlined and absolutely undefiled by any extraneous element In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth In this the first sentence of the Bible we see the fountain head of the stream which is carried over to the new order by the declaration of the mother of the Machabees Son look upon heaven and earth and all that is in them and consider that God made them out of nothing 2 Maccabees 7 28 One has only to compare the Mosaic account of the creative work with that recently discovered on the clay tablets unearthed from the ruins of Babylon to discern the immense difference between the unadulterated revealed tradition and the puerile story of the cosmogony corrupted by polytheistic myths Between the Hebrew and the Chaldean account there is just sufficient similarity to warrant the supposition that both are versions of some antecedent record or tradition but no one can avoid the conviction that the Biblical account represents the pure even if incomplete truth while the Babylonian story is both legendary and fragmentary Smith Chaldean Account of Genesis New York 1875 Qur an 21 16 Sahih International Translation Qur an 67 2 Muhsin Khan Translation Qur an 78 31 Yusuf Ali translation Qur an 2 29 Muhsin Khan translation Qur an 42 11 Sahih International Translation Qur an 6 103 Sahih International translation Qur an 50 16 Muhsin Khan Translation Qur an 33 41 Sahih International Translation Qur an 23 117 Sahih International Translation Hatcher amp Martin 1985 p 74 Smith 2008 p 106 Effendi 1944 p 139 Smith 2008 p 111 Nashmi Yuhana 24 April 2013 Contemporary Issues for the Mandaean Faith Mandaean Associations Union retrieved 8 October 2021 Buckley Jorunn Jacobsen 2002 The Mandaeans ancient texts and modern people New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 515385 5 OCLC 65198443 Al Saadi Qais 27 September 2014 Ginza Rabba The Great Treasure The Holy Book of the Mandaeans in English Mandaean Associations Union retrieved 8 October 2021 Hanish Shak 2019 The Mandaeans In Iraq In Rowe Paul S 2019 Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East London and New York Routledge p 163 ISBN 9781317233794 Nandalal Sinha 1934 The Vedanta sutras of Badarayaṇa with the Commentary of Baladeva p 413 Secondary Creation Krishna com Archived from the original on 26 November 2009 Retrieved 6 August 2009 Owen Anderson 2015 The Declaration of Independence and God Self Evident Truths in American Law Cambridge University Press p 234 ISBN 978 1 316 40464 5 Harvey Peter 2013 An Introduction to Buddhism Teachings History and Practices 2nd ed Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press pg 36 8 Nayanar 2005b p 190 Gatha 10 310 Soni Jayandra 1998 E Craig ed Jain Philosophy Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy London Routledge Archived from the original on 5 July 2008 Retrieved 27 June 2008 The Great Hare Community 2 webtv net Retrieved 29 June 2010 Nanabozho Access genealogy Accessgenealogy com Retrieved 29 June 2010 Julius J Lipner 2010 Hindus Their Religious Beliefs and Practices 2nd Edition Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 45677 7 page 8 Quote one need not be religious in the minimal sense described to be accepted as a Hindu by Hindus or describe oneself perfectly validly as Hindu One may be polytheistic or monotheistic monistic or pantheistic even an agnostic humanist or atheist and still be considered a Hindu Chakravarti Sitansu 1991 Hinduism a way of life Motilal Banarsidass Publ p 71 ISBN 978 81 208 0899 7 See Michaels 2004 p xiv and Gill N S Henotheism About Inc Archived from the original on 17 March 2007 Retrieved 5 July 2007 Flood 1996 p 226 Flood 1996 p 226 Kramer 1986 pp 20 21 Original Sanskrit Rigveda 10 129 Wikisource Translation 1 Max Muller 1859 A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature Williams and Norgate London pp 559 565 Translation 2 Kenneth Kramer 1986 World Scriptures An Introduction to Comparative Religions Paulist Press p 21 ISBN 0 8091 2781 4 Translation 3 David Christian 2011 Maps of Time An Introduction to Big History University of California Press pp 17 18 ISBN 978 0 520 95067 2 Max Muller 1878 Lectures on the Origins and Growth of Religions As Illustrated by the Religions of India Longmans Green amp Co pages 260 271 William Joseph Wilkins Hindu Mythology Vedic and Puranic p 8 at Google Books London Missionary Society Calcutta HN Raghavendrachar 1944 Monism in the Vedas Archived 6 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine The half yearly journal of the Mysore University Section A Arts Volume 4 Issue 2 pages 137 152 K Werner 1982 Men gods and powers in the Vedic outlook Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain amp Ireland Volume 114 Issue 01 pages 14 24 H Coward 1995 Book Review The Limits of Scripture Vivekananda s Reinterpretation of the Vedas Journal of Hindu Christian Studies Volume 8 Issue 1 pages 45 47 Quote There is little doubt that the theo monistic category is an appropriate one for viewing a wide variety of experiences in the Hindu tradition a b c d Tracy Pintchman 1994 The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition State University of New York Press ISBN 978 0791421123 pages 122 138 Jan Gonda 1969 The Hindu Trinity Anthropos Bd 63 64 H 1 2 pages 213 214 a b c Stella Kramrisch 1994 The Presence of Siva Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0691019307 pages 205 206 Bryant Edwin F ed 2007 Krishna a sourcebook New York Oxford University Press p 7 ISBN 978 0 19 514891 6 Sutton Nicholas 2000 Religious doctrines in the Mahabharata 1st ed Delhi Motilal Banarsidass Publishers p 182 ISBN 81 208 1700 1 Asian Mythologies by Yves Bonnefoy amp Wendy Doniger Page 46 Bryant Edwin F ed 2007 Krishna a sourcebook New York Oxford University Press p 18 ISBN 978 0 19 514891 6 Frazier Jessica 2011 The Continuum companion to Hindu studies London Continuum p 72 ISBN 978 0 8264 9966 0 Arvind Sharma 2000 Classical Hindu Thought An Introduction Oxford University Press pp 64 65 ISBN 978 0 19 564441 8 a b Brown Ras Michael 2012 African Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry 1st ed New York NY Cambridge pp 90 114 ISBN 9781107668829 a b c Asante Molefi Kete Mazama Ama 2009 Encyclopedia of African Religion SAGE Publications pp 120 124 165 166 361 ISBN 978 1412936361 Luyaluka Kiatezua Lubanzadio 2017 The Spiral as the Basic Semiotic of the Kongo Religion the Bukongo Journal of Black Studies 48 1 91 112 ISSN 0021 9347 a b c Asante Molefi Kete Mazama Ama 2009 Encyclopedia of African Religion SAGE Publications pp 120 124 165 166 361 ISBN 978 1412936361 Anderson Jeffrey E 2008 Hoodoo Voodoo and Conjure A Handbook Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press p 114 ISBN 9780313342226 Manigault Bryant LeRhonda S 2014 Talking to the Dead Religion Music and Lived Memory among Gullah Geechee Women Durham Duke University Press ISBN 9780822376705 Note In ancient China 18 000 does not exactly mean eighteen thousand it is meant to be many or a number that could not be counted 人类起源神话 西北地区民族 04 哈萨克族2 1 Bibliography Alter Robert 1981 The Art of Biblical Narrative Basic Books ISBN 978 0 465 00427 0 Alter Robert 2004 The Five Books of Moses A Translation with Commentary W W Norton amp Company ISBN 0 393 33393 0 Bandstra Barry L 2 July 2008 Reading the Old Testament Introduction to the Hebrew Bible Cengage Learning ISBN 978 0 495 39105 0 Carr David McLain 1 January 1996 Reading the Fractures of Genesis Historical and Literary Approaches Westminster John Knox Press ISBN 978 0 664 22071 6 Davies G I 2007 Introduction to the Pentateuch In Barton John Muddiman John eds Oxford Bible Commentary Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 927718 6 Effendi Shoghi 1944 God Passes By Wilmette Illinois Bahaʼi Publishing Trust ISBN 0 87743 020 9 Flood Gavin D 1996 An Introduction to Hinduism Cambridge University Press Hatcher William Martin Douglas 1985 The Bahaʼi Faith San Francisco Harper amp Row ISBN 1931847061 Kramer Kenneth 1986 World scriptures an introduction to comparative religions ISBN 978 0 8091 2781 8 Leeming David Adams Leeming Margaret 2004 A Dictionary of Creation Myths Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 510275 8 Michaels Axel 2004 Hinduism Past and present Princeton New Jersey Princeton University Press Ruiten Jacques T A G M 1 January 2000 Primaeval History Interpreted The Rewriting of Genesis 1 11 in the Book of Jubilees BRILL ISBN 978 90 04 11658 0 Sarna Nahum M 1997 The Mists of Time Genesis I II In Feyerick Ada Gordon Cyrus H Sarna Nahum M eds Genesis World of Myths and Patriarchs NYU Press ISBN 978 0 8147 2668 6 Smith Peter 2008 An Introduction to the Baha i Faith Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 86251 6 Wenham Gordon 2003b Genesis In Dunn James Douglas Grant Rogerson J John William eds Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible Eerdmans ISBN 978 0 8028 3711 0 External links Media related to Creator deities at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Creator deity amp oldid 1150522968, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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