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God

April 27, 2024

This article is about the belief in a supreme being in monotheistic belief systems. For powerful supernatural beings considered divine or sacred, see Deity. For God in specific religions, see Conceptions of God. For other uses, see God (disambiguation).

In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith.[1] In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the universe or life, for which such a deity is often worshipped".[2][3] Belief in the existence of at least one god is called theism.[4][5]

Representation (for the purpose of art or worship) of God in (left to right from top) Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, and the Baháʼí Faith

Conceptions of God vary considerably. Many notable theologians and philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.[6] Atheism rejects the belief in any deity. Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable. Some theists view knowledge concerning God as derived from faith. God is often conceived as the greatest entity in existence.[1] God is often believed to be the cause of all things and so is seen as the creator, sustainer, and ruler of the universe. God is often thought of as incorporeal and independent of the material creation,[1][7][8] while pantheism holds that God is the universe itself. God is sometimes seen as omnibenevolent, while deism holds that God is not involved with humanity apart from creation.

Some traditions attach spiritual significance to maintaining some form of relationship with God, often involving acts such as worship and prayer, and see God as the source of all moral obligation.[1] God is sometimes described without reference to gender, while others use terminology that is gender-specific. God is referred to by different names depending on the language and cultural tradition, sometimes with different titles of God used in reference to God's various attributes.

Etymology and usage

Main article: God (word)
 
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite God Yahweh.

The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form *ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root *ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".[9] The Germanic words for God were originally neuter, but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the words became a masculine syntactic form.[10] In the English language, capitalization is used when the word is used as a proper noun, as well as for other names by which a god is known.[11] Consequently, the capitalized form of god is not used for multiple gods or when used to refer to the generic idea of a deity.[12][13]

The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all.

El means God in Hebrew, but in Judaism and in Christianity, God is also given a personal name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh.[14] In many English translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.[15] Jah or Yah is an abbreviation of Jahweh/Yahweh, and often sees usage by Jews and Christians in the interjection "Hallelujah", meaning "Praise Jah", which is used to give God glory.[16] In Judaism some of the Hebrew titles of God are considered holy names.

Allāh (Arabic: الله) is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews meaning "The God", while ʾilāh (Arabic: إِلَٰه plural `āliha آلِهَة) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.[17][18][19] Muslims also use a multitude of other titles for God.

In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a monistic concept of God.[20] God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.[21] Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa is the term used in Balinese Hinduism.[22]

In Chinese religion, Shangdi is conceived as the progenitor (first ancestor) of the universe, intrinsic to it and constantly bringing order to it.

Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. "Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå, reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means "intelligence" or "wisdom". Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning "placing (dʰeh1) one's mind (*mn̩-s)", hence "wise".[23] Meanwhile 101 other names are also in use.[24]

Waheguru (Punjabi: vāhigurū) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God.[25] It means "Wonderful Teacher" in the Punjabi language. Vāhi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means "wonderful" and guru (Sanskrit: guru) is a term denoting "teacher". Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all description. The most common usage of the word "Waheguru" is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other – Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh "Wonderful Lord's Khalsa, Victory is to the Wonderful Lord."

Baha, the "greatest" name for God in the Baháʼí Faith, is Arabic for "All-Glorious".[26]

Other names for God include Aten[27] in ancient Egyptian Atenism where Aten was proclaimed to be the one "true" supreme being and creator of the universe,[28] Chukwu in Igbo,[29] and Hayyi Rabbi in Mandaeism.[30][31]

General conceptions

Existence

Main article: Existence of God
See also: Theism, Atheism, and Agnosticism
 
Thomas Aquinas summed up five main arguments as proofs for God's existence (painting by Carlo Crivelli, 1476).
 
Isaac Newton saw the existence of a Creator necessary in the movement of astronomical objects (painting by Godfrey Kneller, 1689).

The existence of God is a subject of debate in theology, philosophy of religion and popular culture.[32] In philosophical terms, the question of the existence of God involves the disciplines of epistemology (the nature and scope of knowledge) and ontology (study of the nature of being or existence) and the theory of value (since some definitions of God include "perfection").

Ontological arguments refer to any argument for the existence of God that is based on a priori reasoning.[33] Notable ontological arguments were formulated by Anselm and René Descartes.[34] Cosmological arguments, such as those described below, use concepts around the origin of the universe to argue for the existence of God.

The Teleological argument, also called the ‘’argument from design’’, uses the complexity within the universe as a proof of the existence of God.[35] It is countered that the fine tuning required for a stable universe with life on earth is illusionary, as humans are only able to observe the small part of this universe that succeeded in making such observation possible, called the anthropic principle, and so would not learn of, for example, life on other planets or of universes that did not occur because of different laws of physics.[36] Non-theists have argued that complex processes that have natural explanations yet to be discovered are referred to the supernatural, called god of the gaps. Other theists, such as John Henry Newman who believed theistic evolution was acceptable, have also argued against versions of the teleological argument and held that it is limiting of God to view him having to only intervene specially in some instances rather than having complex processes designed to create order.[37]

The Argument from beauty states that this universe happens to contain special beauty in it and that there would be no particular reason for this over aesthetic neutrality other than God.[38] This has been countered by pointing to the existence of ugliness in the universe.[39] This has also been countered by arguing that beauty has no objective reality and so the universe could be seen as ugly or that humans have made what is more beautiful than nature.[40]

The Argument from morality argues for the existence of God given the assumption of the objective existence of morals.[41] While prominent non-theistic philosophers such as the atheist J. L. Mackie agreed that the argument is valid, they disagreed with its premises. David Hume argued that there is no basis to believe in objective moral truths while biologist E. O. Wilson theorized that the feelings of morality are a by-product of natural selection in humans and would not exist independent of the mind.[42] Philosopher Michael Lou Martin argued that a subjective account for morality can be acceptable. Similar to the argument from morality is the argument from conscience which argues for the existence of God given the existence of a conscience that informs of right and wrong, even against prevailing moral codes. Philosopher John Locke instead argued that conscience is a social construct and thus could lead to contradicting morals.[43]

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[44][45] Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist—are unknown and perhaps unknowable.[46][47][48][49] Theism generally holds that God exists objectively and independently of human thought and is sometimes used to refer to any belief in God or gods.[50][51]

Some view the existence of God as an empirical question. Richard Dawkins states that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."[52] Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old.[53] Some theologians, such as Alister McGrath, argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method.[54][55]

Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argued that science and religion are not in conflict and proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA).[56] In this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.[57] Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their 2010 book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim, however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science and without invoking divine beings.[58][59]

Oneness

Main articles: Deity, Monotheism, and Henotheism
 
Trinitarians believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons sharing a single nature or essence.

A deity, or "god" (with lowercase g), refers to a supernatural being.[60] Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, referred to as ‘’God’’ (with uppercase g). Comparing or equating other entities to God is viewed as idolatry in monotheism, and is often strongly condemned. Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic traditions in the world.[61] Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness".[62] The first pillar of Islam is an oath that forms the basis of the religion and which non-Muslims wishing to convert must recite, declaring that "I testify that there is no deity except God."[63]

In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit.[64] In past centuries, this fundamental mystery of the Christian faith was also summarized by the Latin formula Sancta Trinitas, Unus Deus (Holy Trinity, Unique God), reported in the Litanias Lauretanas.

God in Hinduism is viewed differently by diverse strands of the religion, with most Hindus having faith in a supreme reality (Brahman) who can be manifested in numerous chosen deities. Thus, the religion is sometimes characterized as Polymorphic Monotheism.[65] Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god at a time while accepting the validity of worshiping other deities.[66] Monolatry is the belief in a single deity worthy of worship while accepting the existence of other deities.[67]

Transcendence

See also: Pantheism and Panentheism

Transcendence is the aspect of God's nature that is completely independent of the material universe and its physical laws. Many supposed characteristics of God are described in human terms. Anselm thought that God did not feel emotions such as anger or love, but appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding. The incongruity of judging "being" against something that might not exist, led many medieval philosophers approach to knowledge of God through negative attributes, called Negative theology. For example, one should not say that God is wise, but can say that God is not ignorant (i.e. in some way God has some properties of knowledge). Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that one has to understand a "personal god" as an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe."[68]

Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God and denies that God transcends the Universe.[69] For pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature.[70][71] Pantheism is sometimes objected to as not providing any meaningful explanation of God with the German philosopher Schopenhauer stating “Pantheism is only a euphemism for atheism”.[72] Pandeism holds that God was a separate entity but then became the Universe.[73][74] Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe.[75][76]

Creator

See also: Creator deity
 
God Blessing the Seventh Day, 1805 watercolor painting by William Blake

God is often viewed as the cause of all that exists. For Pythagoreans, Monad variously referred to divinity, the first being or an indivisible origin.[77] The philosophy of Plato and Plotinus refers to “The One” which is the first principle of reality that is ‘’beyond’’ being[78] and is both the source of the Universe and the teleological purpose of all things.[79] Aristotle theorized a first uncaused cause for all motion in the universe and viewed it as perfectly beautiful, immaterial, unchanging and indivisible. Aseity is the property of not depending on any cause other than itself for its existence. Avicenna held that there must be a necessarily existent guaranteed to exist by its essence – it cannot ‘’not’’ exist – and that humans identify this as God.[80] Secondary causation refers to God creating the laws of the Universe which then can change themselves within the framework of those laws. In addition to the initial creation, occasionalism refers to the idea that the Universe would not by default continue to exist from one instant to the next and so would need to rely on God as a sustainer. While divine providence refers to any intervention by God, it is usually used to refer to "special providence" where there is an extraordinary intervention by God, such as miracles.[81][82]

Benevolence

See also: Deism and Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

Deism holds that God exists but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it,[83] such as answering prayers or producing miracles. Deists sometimes attribute this to God having no interest in or not being aware of humanity. Pandeists would hold that God does not intervene because God is the Universe.[84]

Of those theists who hold that God has an interest in humanity, most hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent. This belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Dystheism, which is related to theodicy, is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil.

Omniscience and omnipotence

Omnipotence (all-powerful) is an attribute often ascribed to God. The omnipotence paradox is most often framed with the example "Could God create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it?" as God could either be unable to create that stone or lift that stone and so could not be omnipotent. This is often countered with variations of the argument that omnipotence, like any other attribute ascribed to God, only applies as far as it is noble enough to befit God and thus God cannot lie, or do what is contradictory as that would entail opposing himself.[85]

Omniscience (all-knowing) is an attribute often ascribed to God. This implies that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, either their free will might be illusory or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient.[86] Open Theism limits God's omniscience by contending that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future and process theology holds that God does not have immutability, so is affected by his creation.

Other concepts

Theologians of theistic personalism (the view held by Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, William Lane Craig, and most modern evangelicals) argue that God is most generally the ground of all being, immanent in and transcendent over the whole world of reality, with immanence and transcendence being the contrapletes of personality.[87]

God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[1] These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Maimonides,[88] Augustine of Hippo,[88] and Al-Ghazali,[6] respectively.

Non-theistic views

Religious traditions

Jainism has generally rejected creationism, holding that soul substances (Jīva) are uncreated and that time is beginningless.[89]

Some interpretations and traditions of Buddhism can be conceived as being non-theistic. Buddhism has generally rejected the specific monotheistic view of a Creator God. The Buddha criticizes the theory of creationism in the early Buddhist texts.[90][91] Also, major Indian Buddhist philosophers, such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Dharmakirti and Buddhaghosa, consistently critiqued Creator God views put forth by Hindu thinkers.[92][93][94] However, as a non-theistic religion, Buddhism leaves the existence of a supreme deity ambiguous. There are significant numbers of Buddhists who believe in God, and there are equally large numbers who deny God's existence or are unsure.[95][96]

Taoic religions such as Confucianism and Taoism are silent on the existence of creator gods. However, keeping with the tradition of ancestor veneration in China, adherents worship the spirits of people such as Confucius and Lao Tzu in a similar manner to God.[97][98]

Anthropology

See also: Evolutionary origin of religions, Evolutionary psychology of religion, and Anthropomorphism

Some atheists have argued that a single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined and embellished over generations.[99]

Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems.[100]

Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries.[101]

Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father.[102]

Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.[103]

Neuroscience and psychology

See also: Jungian interpretation of religion

Sam Harris has interpreted some findings in neuroscience to argue that God is an imaginary entity only, with no basis in reality.[104]

Johns Hopkins researchers studying the effects of the “spirit molecule” DMT, which is both an endogenous molecule in the human brain and the active molecule in the psychedelic ayahuasca, found that a large majority of respondents said DMT brought them into contact with a "conscious, intelligent, benevolent, and sacred entity," and describe interactions that oozed joy, trust, love, and kindness. More than half of those who had previously self-identified as atheists described some type of belief in a higher power or God after the experience.[105]

About a quarter of those afflicted by temporal lobe seizures experience what is described as a religious experience[106] and may become preoccupied by thoughts of God even if they were not previously. Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran hypothesizes that seizures in the temporal lobe, which is closely connected to the emotional center of the brain, the limbic system, may lead to those afflicted to view even banal objects with heightened meaning.[107]

Psychologists studying feelings of awe found that participants feeling awe after watching scenes of natural wonders become more likely to believe in a supernatural being and to see events as the result of design, even when given randomly generated numbers.[108]

Relationship with humanity

 
Praying Hands by Albrecht Dürer

Worship

See also: Worship, Prayer, and Supplication

Theistic religious traditions often require worship of God and sometimes hold that the purpose of existence is to worship God.[109][110] To address the issue of an all-powerful being demanding to be worshipped, it is held that God does not need or benefit from worship but that worship is for the benefit of the worshipper.[111] Gandhi expressed the view that God does not need his supplication and that "Prayer is not an asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is a daily admission of one's weakness".[112] Invoking God in prayer plays a significant role among many believers. Depending on the tradition, God can be viewed as a personal God who is only to be invoked directly while other traditions allow praying to intermediaries, such as saints, to intercede on their behalf. Prayer often also includes supplication such as asking forgiveness. God is often believed to be forgiving. For example, a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.[113] Sacrifice for the sake of God is another act of devotion that includes fasting and almsgiving. Remembrance of God in daily life include mentioning interjections thanking God when feeling gratitude or phrases of adoration, such as repeating chants while performing other activities.

Salvation

Main article: Salvation

Transtheistic religious traditions may believe in the existence of deities but deny any spiritual significance to them. The term has been used to describe certain strands of Buddhism,[114] Jainism and Stoicism.[115]

Among religions that do attach spirituality to the relationship with God disagree as how to best worship God and what is God's plan for mankind. There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One view is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism. A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not deny the partial truth of other religions. The view that all theists actually worship the same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in the Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism[116] and Sikhism.[117] The Baháʼí Faith preaches that divine manifestations include great prophets and teachers of many of the major religious traditions such as Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Zoroaster, Muhammad, Bahá'ú'lláh and also preaches the unity of all religions and focuses on these multiple epiphanies as necessary for meeting the needs of humanity at different points in history and for different cultures, and as part of a scheme of progressive revelation and education of humanity. An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism, i.e., the belief that one's religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is relativistic inclusivism, where everybody is seen as equally right; an example being universalism: the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism, mixing different elements from different religions. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement.

Epistemology

Faith

Main article: Faith

Fideism is the position that in certain topics, notably theology such as in reformed epistemology, faith is superior than reason in arriving at truths. Some theists argue that there is value to the risk in having faith and that if the arguments for God's existence were as rational as the laws of physics then there would be no risk. Such theists often argue that the heart is attracted to beauty, truth and goodness and so would be best for dictating about God, as illustrated through Blaise Pascal who said, “The heart has its reasons that reason does not know.”[118] A hadith attributes a quote to God as “I am what my slave thinks of me”.[119] Inherent intuition about God is referred to in Islam as fitra, or “innate nature”.[120] In Confucian tradition, Confucius and Mencius promoted that the only justification for right conduct, called the Way, is what is dictated by Heaven, a more or less anthropomorphic higher power, and is implanted in humans and thus there is only one universal foundation for the Way.[121]

Revelation

Main article: Revelation
See also: Prophet

Revelation refers to some form of message communicated by God. This is usually proposed to occur through the use of prophets or angels. Al-Maturidi argued for the need for revelation because even though humans are intellectually capable of realizing God, human desire can divert the intellect and because certain knowledge cannot be known except when specially given to prophets, such as the specifications of acts of worship.[122] It is argued that there is also that which overlaps between what is revealed and what can be derived. According to Islam, one of the earliest revelations to ever be revealed was “If you feel no shame, then do as you wish.”[123] The term General revelation is used to refer to knowledge revealed about God outside of direct or special revelation such as scriptures. Notably, this includes studying nature, sometimes seen as the Book of Nature.[124] An idiom in Arabic states, "The Qur’an is a Universe that speaks. The Universe is a silent Qur’an".[125]

Reason

On matters of theology, some such as Richard Swinburne, take an evidentialist position, where a belief is only justified if it has a reason behind it, as opposed to holding it as a foundational belief.[126] Traditionalist theology holds that one should not opinionate beyond revelation to understand God's nature and frown upon rationalizations such as speculative theology.[127] Notably, for anthropomorphic descriptions such as the “Hand of God” and attributes of God, they neither nullify such texts nor accept a literal hand but leave any ambiguity to God, called tafwid, without asking how.[128][129] Physico-theology provides arguments for theological topics based on reason.[130]

Specific characteristics

See also: Attributes of God (disambiguation)

Titles

 
99 names of Allah, in Chinese Sini
Main article: Names of God
See also: Names of God in Islam

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, "the Bible has been the principal source of the conceptions of God". That the Bible "includes many different images, concepts, and ways of thinking about" God has resulted in perpetual "disagreements about how God is to be conceived and understood".[131] Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles there are titles for God, who revealed his personal name as YHWH (often vocalized as Yahweh or Jehovah).[14] One of them is Elohim. Another one is El Shaddai, translated "God Almighty".[132] A third notable title is El Elyon, which means "The High God".[133] Also noted in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles is the name "I Am that I Am".[134][14]

God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful".[135] Many of these names are also used in the scriptures of the Baháʼí Faith.

Vaishnavism, a tradition in Hinduism, has a list of titles and names of Krishna.

Gender

Main article: Gender of God

The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who, in classical western philosophy, transcends bodily form.[136][137] Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender, allowing each to interact with any of the others, and perhaps with humans, sexually. In most monotheistic religions, God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually. Thus, in classical western philosophy the gender of this one-and-only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address, and relate to, each other. Namely, God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active (as opposed to the receptive) role in sexual intercourse.[138]

Biblical sources usually refer to God using male or paternal words and symbolism, except Genesis 1:26–27,[139][140] Psalm 123:2–3, and Luke 15:8–10 (female); Hosea 11:3–4, Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2 (a mother); Deuteronomy 32:11–12 (a mother eagle); and Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 (a mother hen).

In Sikhism, God is "Ajuni" (Without Incarnations), which means that God is not bound to any physical forms. This concludes that the All-pervading Lord is Gender-less.[141] However, the Guru Granth Sahib constantly refers to God as 'He' and 'Father' (with some exceptions), typically because the Guru Granth Sahib was written in north Indian Indo-Aryan languages (mixture of Punjabi and Sant Bhasha, Sanskrit with influences of Persian) which have no neutral gender. From further insights into the Sikh philosophy, it can be deduced that God is, sometimes, referred to as the Husband to the Soul-brides, in order to make a patriarchal society understand what the relationship with God is like. Also, God is considered to be the Father, Mother, and Companion.[142]

Depiction

See also: Incorporeality and God the Father in Western art
 
Ahura Mazda (depiction is on the right, with high crown) presents Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Relief at Naqsh-e Rustam, 3rd century CE)

In Zoroastrianism, during the early Parthian Empire, Ahura Mazda was visually represented for worship. This practice ended during the beginning of the Sasanian Empire. Zoroastrian iconoclasm, which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid, eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship. However, Ahura Mazda continued to be symbolized by a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback, which is found in Sassanian investiture.[143]

Deities from Near Eastern cultures are often thought of as anthropomorphic entities who have a human like body which is, however, not equal to a human body. Such bodies were often thought to be radiant or fiery, of superhuman size or extreme beauty. The ancient deity of the Israelites (Yahweh) too was imagined as a transcendent but still anthropomorphic deity.[144] Humans could not see him, because of their impurity in contrast to Yahweh's holiness, Yahweh being described as radiating fire and light which could kill a human if looking at him. Further, more religious or spiritual people tend to have less anthropomorphic depictions of God.[145] In Judaism, the Torah often ascribes human features to God, however, many other passages describe God as formless and otherworldly. Judaism is aniconic, meaning it overly lacks material, physical representations of both the natural and supernatural worlds. Furthermore, the worship of idols is strictly forbidden. The traditional view, elaborated by figures such as Maimonides, reckons that God is wholly incomprehensible and therefore impossible to envision, resulting in a historical tradition of "divine incorporeality". As such, attempting to describe God's "appearance" in practical terms is considered disrespectful to the deity and thus is taboo, and arguably heretical.[citation needed]

Gnostic cosmogony often depicts the creator god of the Old Testament as an evil lesser deity or Demiurge, while the higher benevolent god or Monad is thought of as something beyond comprehension having immeasurable light and not in time or among things that exist, but rather is greater than them in a sense. All people are said to have a piece of God or divine spark within them which has fallen from the immaterial world into the corrupt material world and is trapped unless gnosis is attained.[146][147][148]

 
Use of the symbolic Hand of God in the Ascension from the Drogo Sacramentary, c. 850

Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God.[149] However, later depictions of God are found. Some, like the Hand of God, are depiction borrowed from Jewish art. Prior to the 10th century no attempt was made to use a human to symbolize God the Father in Western art.[149] Yet, Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father, so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century AD. A rationale for the use of a human is the belief that God created the soul of man in the image of his own (thus allowing humans to transcend the other animals). It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father, fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure. Typically only a small part would be used as the image, usually the hand, or sometimes the face, but rarely a whole human. In many images, the figure of the Son supplants the Father, so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted.[150] By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts, which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography, and in stained glass church windows in England. Initially the head or bust was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space, where the Hand of God had formerly appeared; the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liège of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 (a Hand of God is used in another scene). Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half-length figure, then a full-length, usually enthroned, as in Giotto's fresco of c. 1305 in Padua.[151] In the 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush. By the early 15th century, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry had a considerable number of symbols, including an elderly but tall and elegant full-length figure walking in the Garden of Eden, which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress. The "Gates of Paradise" of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti, begun in 1425 use a similar tall full-length symbol for the Father. The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half-length human form, which were now becoming standard, and the Hand of God becoming rarer. At the same period other works, like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram, continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes. In the 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ. In a Trinitarian Pietà, God the Father is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown, supporting the dead Christ in his arms.[152] In 1667 the 43rd chapter of the Great Moscow Council specifically included a ban on a number of symbolic depictions of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which then also resulted in a range of other icons being placed on the forbidden list,[153][154] mostly affecting Western-style depictions which had been gaining ground in Orthodox icons. The council also declared that the person of the Trinity who was the "Ancient of Days" was Christ, as Logos, not God the Father. However some icons continued to be produced in Russia, as well as Greece, Romania, and other Orthodox countries.

 
The Arabic script of "Allah" in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

In Islam, Muslims believe that God (Allah) is beyond all comprehension, and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Muslims tend to use the least anthropomorphism among monotheists.[145] They are not iconodules and have religious calligraphy of titles of God instead of pictures.[155]

See also

By religion
Other

References

Footnotes

Citations

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  12. ^ Webster's New World Dictionary; "God n. ME [Middle English] < OE [Old English], akin to Ger gott, Goth guth, prob. < IE base *ĝhau-, to call out to, invoke > Sans havaté, (he) calls upon; 1. any of various beings conceived of as supernatural, immortal, and having special powers over the lives and affairs of people and the course of nature; deity, esp. a male deity: typically considered objects of worship; 2. an image that is worshiped; idol 3. a person or thing deified or excessively honored and admired; 4. [G-] in monotheistic religions, the creator and ruler of the universe, regarded as eternal, infinite, all-powerful, and all-knowing; Supreme Being; the Almighty"
  13. ^ Dictionary.com 19 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine; "God /gɒd/ noun: 1. the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe. 2. the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute. 3. (lowercase) one of several deities, esp. a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs. 4. (often lowercase) a supreme being according to some particular conception: the God of mercy. 5. Christian Science. the Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle. 6. (lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol. 7. (lowercase) any deified person or object. 8. (often lowercase) Gods, Theater. 8a. the upper balcony in a theater. 8b. the spectators in this part of the balcony."
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Bibliography

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  • Bunnin, Nicholas; Yu, Jiyuan (2008). The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. Blackwells. ISBN 978-0470997215.
  • Pickover, Cliff, The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience, Palgrave/St Martin's Press, 2001. ISBN 1403964572
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this, article, about, belief, supreme, being, monotheistic, belief, systems, powerful, supernatural, beings, considered, divine, sacred, deity, specific, religions, conceptions, other, uses, disambiguation, monotheistic, belief, systems, usually, viewed, supre. This article is about the belief in a supreme being in monotheistic belief systems For powerful supernatural beings considered divine or sacred see Deity For God in specific religions see Conceptions of God For other uses see God disambiguation In monotheistic belief systems God is usually viewed as the supreme being creator and principal object of faith 1 In polytheistic belief systems a god is a spirit or being believed to have created or for controlling some part of the universe or life for which such a deity is often worshipped 2 3 Belief in the existence of at least one god is called theism 4 5 Representation for the purpose of art or worship of God in left to right from top Christianity Islam Hinduism Sikhism Judaism and the Bahaʼi Faith Conceptions of God vary considerably Many notable theologians and philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God 6 Atheism rejects the belief in any deity Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable Some theists view knowledge concerning God as derived from faith God is often conceived as the greatest entity in existence 1 God is often believed to be the cause of all things and so is seen as the creator sustainer and ruler of the universe God is often thought of as incorporeal and independent of the material creation 1 7 8 while pantheism holds that God is the universe itself God is sometimes seen as omnibenevolent while deism holds that God is not involved with humanity apart from creation Some traditions attach spiritual significance to maintaining some form of relationship with God often involving acts such as worship and prayer and see God as the source of all moral obligation 1 God is sometimes described without reference to gender while others use terminology that is gender specific God is referred to by different names depending on the language and cultural tradition sometimes with different titles of God used in reference to God s various attributes Contents 1 Etymology and usage 2 General conceptions 2 1 Existence 2 2 Oneness 2 3 Transcendence 2 4 Creator 2 5 Benevolence 2 6 Omniscience and omnipotence 2 7 Other concepts 3 Non theistic views 3 1 Religious traditions 3 2 Anthropology 3 3 Neuroscience and psychology 4 Relationship with humanity 4 1 Worship 4 2 Salvation 5 Epistemology 5 1 Faith 5 2 Revelation 5 3 Reason 6 Specific characteristics 6 1 Titles 6 2 Gender 6 3 Depiction 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External linksEtymology and usageMain article God word nbsp The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference 840 BCE to the Israelite God Yahweh The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th century Christian Codex Argenteus The English word itself is derived from the Proto Germanic ǥuđan The reconstructed Proto Indo European form ǵhu to m was likely based on the root ǵhau e which meant either to call or to invoke 9 The Germanic words for God were originally neuter but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism the words became a masculine syntactic form 10 In the English language capitalization is used when the word is used as a proper noun as well as for other names by which a god is known 11 Consequently the capitalized form of god is not used for multiple gods or when used to refer to the generic idea of a deity 12 13 The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and in spite of significant differences between religions the term remains an English translation common to all El means God in Hebrew but in Judaism and in Christianity God is also given a personal name the tetragrammaton YHWH in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity Yahweh 14 In many English translations of the Bible when the word LORD is in all capitals it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton 15 Jah or Yah is an abbreviation of Jahweh Yahweh and often sees usage by Jews and Christians in the interjection Hallelujah meaning Praise Jah which is used to give God glory 16 In Judaism some of the Hebrew titles of God are considered holy names Allah Arabic الله is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God while ʾilah Arabic إ ل ه plural aliha آل ه ة is the term used for a deity or a god in general 17 18 19 Muslims also use a multitude of other titles for God In Hinduism Brahman is often considered a monistic concept of God 20 God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God with early references to his name as Krishna Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari 21 Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa is the term used in Balinese Hinduism 22 In Chinese religion Shangdi is conceived as the progenitor first ancestor of the universe intrinsic to it and constantly bringing order to it Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism Mazda or rather the Avestan stem form Mazda nominative Mazda reflects Proto Iranian Mazdah female It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit and like its Sanskrit cognate medha means intelligence or wisdom Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto Indo Iranian mazdha from Proto Indo European mn sdʰeh1 literally meaning placing dʰeh1 one s mind mn s hence wise 23 Meanwhile 101 other names are also in use 24 Waheguru Punjabi vahiguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God 25 It means Wonderful Teacher in the Punjabi language Vahi a Middle Persian borrowing means wonderful and guru Sanskrit guru is a term denoting teacher Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all description The most common usage of the word Waheguru is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh Wonderful Lord s Khalsa Victory is to the Wonderful Lord Baha the greatest name for God in the Bahaʼi Faith is Arabic for All Glorious 26 Other names for God include Aten 27 in ancient Egyptian Atenism where Aten was proclaimed to be the one true supreme being and creator of the universe 28 Chukwu in Igbo 29 and Hayyi Rabbi in Mandaeism 30 31 General conceptionsExistence Main article Existence of God See also Theism Atheism and Agnosticism nbsp Thomas Aquinas summed up five main arguments as proofs for God s existence painting by Carlo Crivelli 1476 nbsp Isaac Newton saw the existence of a Creator necessary in the movement of astronomical objects painting by Godfrey Kneller 1689 The existence of God is a subject of debate in theology philosophy of religion and popular culture 32 In philosophical terms the question of the existence of God involves the disciplines of epistemology the nature and scope of knowledge and ontology study of the nature of being or existence and the theory of value since some definitions of God include perfection Ontological arguments refer to any argument for the existence of God that is based on a priori reasoning 33 Notable ontological arguments were formulated by Anselm and Rene Descartes 34 Cosmological arguments such as those described below use concepts around the origin of the universe to argue for the existence of God The Teleological argument also called the argument from design uses the complexity within the universe as a proof of the existence of God 35 It is countered that the fine tuning required for a stable universe with life on earth is illusionary as humans are only able to observe the small part of this universe that succeeded in making such observation possible called the anthropic principle and so would not learn of for example life on other planets or of universes that did not occur because of different laws of physics 36 Non theists have argued that complex processes that have natural explanations yet to be discovered are referred to the supernatural called god of the gaps Other theists such as John Henry Newman who believed theistic evolution was acceptable have also argued against versions of the teleological argument and held that it is limiting of God to view him having to only intervene specially in some instances rather than having complex processes designed to create order 37 The Argument from beauty states that this universe happens to contain special beauty in it and that there would be no particular reason for this over aesthetic neutrality other than God 38 This has been countered by pointing to the existence of ugliness in the universe 39 This has also been countered by arguing that beauty has no objective reality and so the universe could be seen as ugly or that humans have made what is more beautiful than nature 40 The Argument from morality argues for the existence of God given the assumption of the objective existence of morals 41 While prominent non theistic philosophers such as the atheist J L Mackie agreed that the argument is valid they disagreed with its premises David Hume argued that there is no basis to believe in objective moral truths while biologist E O Wilson theorized that the feelings of morality are a by product of natural selection in humans and would not exist independent of the mind 42 Philosopher Michael Lou Martin argued that a subjective account for morality can be acceptable Similar to the argument from morality is the argument from conscience which argues for the existence of God given the existence of a conscience that informs of right and wrong even against prevailing moral codes Philosopher John Locke instead argued that conscience is a social construct and thus could lead to contradicting morals 43 Atheism is in a broad sense the rejection of belief in the existence of deities 44 45 Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God the divine or the supernatural exist are unknown and perhaps unknowable 46 47 48 49 Theism generally holds that God exists objectively and independently of human thought and is sometimes used to refer to any belief in God or gods 50 51 Some view the existence of God as an empirical question Richard Dawkins states that a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without and it would be a scientific difference 52 Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator not necessarily a God would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old 53 Some theologians such as Alister McGrath argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method 54 55 Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argued that science and religion are not in conflict and proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called non overlapping magisteria NOMA 56 In this view questions of the supernatural such as those relating to the existence and nature of God are non empirical and are the proper domain of theology The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value In this view the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world 57 Stephen Hawking and co author Leonard Mlodinow state in their 2010 book The Grand Design that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe but if the answer is God then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God Both authors claim however that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science and without invoking divine beings 58 59 Oneness Main articles Deity Monotheism and Henotheism nbsp Trinitarians believe that the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons sharing a single nature or essence A deity or god with lowercase g refers to a supernatural being 60 Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity referred to as God with uppercase g Comparing or equating other entities to God is viewed as idolatry in monotheism and is often strongly condemned Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic traditions in the world 61 Islam s most fundamental concept is tawhid meaning oneness or uniqueness 62 The first pillar of Islam is an oath that forms the basis of the religion and which non Muslims wishing to convert must recite declaring that I testify that there is no deity except God 63 In Christianity the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in Father Son Jesus and Holy Spirit 64 In past centuries this fundamental mystery of the Christian faith was also summarized by the Latin formula Sancta Trinitas Unus Deus Holy Trinity Unique God reported in the Litanias Lauretanas God in Hinduism is viewed differently by diverse strands of the religion with most Hindus having faith in a supreme reality Brahman who can be manifested in numerous chosen deities Thus the religion is sometimes characterized as Polymorphic Monotheism 65 Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god at a time while accepting the validity of worshiping other deities 66 Monolatry is the belief in a single deity worthy of worship while accepting the existence of other deities 67 Transcendence See also Pantheism and Panentheism Transcendence is the aspect of God s nature that is completely independent of the material universe and its physical laws Many supposed characteristics of God are described in human terms Anselm thought that God did not feel emotions such as anger or love but appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding The incongruity of judging being against something that might not exist led many medieval philosophers approach to knowledge of God through negative attributes called Negative theology For example one should not say that God is wise but can say that God is not ignorant i e in some way God has some properties of knowledge Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that one has to understand a personal god as an analogy To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others This does not imply that God is human or located at a specific point in the universe 68 Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God and denies that God transcends the Universe 69 For pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance God or its equivalent Nature 70 71 Pantheism is sometimes objected to as not providing any meaningful explanation of God with the German philosopher Schopenhauer stating Pantheism is only a euphemism for atheism 72 Pandeism holds that God was a separate entity but then became the Universe 73 74 Panentheism holds that God contains but is not identical to the Universe 75 76 Creator See also Creator deity nbsp God Blessing the Seventh Day 1805 watercolor painting by William Blake God is often viewed as the cause of all that exists For Pythagoreans Monad variously referred to divinity the first being or an indivisible origin 77 The philosophy of Plato and Plotinus refers to The One which is the first principle of reality that is beyond being 78 and is both the source of the Universe and the teleological purpose of all things 79 Aristotle theorized a first uncaused cause for all motion in the universe and viewed it as perfectly beautiful immaterial unchanging and indivisible Aseity is the property of not depending on any cause other than itself for its existence Avicenna held that there must be a necessarily existent guaranteed to exist by its essence it cannot not exist and that humans identify this as God 80 Secondary causation refers to God creating the laws of the Universe which then can change themselves within the framework of those laws In addition to the initial creation occasionalism refers to the idea that the Universe would not by default continue to exist from one instant to the next and so would need to rely on God as a sustainer While divine providence refers to any intervention by God it is usually used to refer to special providence where there is an extraordinary intervention by God such as miracles 81 82 Benevolence See also Deism and Thirteen Attributes of Mercy Deism holds that God exists but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it 83 such as answering prayers or producing miracles Deists sometimes attribute this to God having no interest in or not being aware of humanity Pandeists would hold that God does not intervene because God is the Universe 84 Of those theists who hold that God has an interest in humanity most hold that God is omnipotent omniscient and benevolent This belief raises questions about God s responsibility for evil and suffering in the world Dystheism which is related to theodicy is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil Omniscience and omnipotence Omnipotence all powerful is an attribute often ascribed to God The omnipotence paradox is most often framed with the example Could God create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it as God could either be unable to create that stone or lift that stone and so could not be omnipotent This is often countered with variations of the argument that omnipotence like any other attribute ascribed to God only applies as far as it is noble enough to befit God and thus God cannot lie or do what is contradictory as that would entail opposing himself 85 Omniscience all knowing is an attribute often ascribed to God This implies that God knows how free agents will choose to act If God does know this either their free will might be illusory or foreknowledge does not imply predestination and if God does not know it God may not be omniscient 86 Open Theism limits God s omniscience by contending that due to the nature of time God s omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future and process theology holds that God does not have immutability so is affected by his creation Other concepts Theologians of theistic personalism the view held by Rene Descartes Isaac Newton Alvin Plantinga Richard Swinburne William Lane Craig and most modern evangelicals argue that God is most generally the ground of all being immanent in and transcendent over the whole world of reality with immanence and transcendence being the contrapletes of personality 87 God has also been conceived as being incorporeal immaterial a personal being the source of all moral obligation and the greatest conceivable existent 1 These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers including Maimonides 88 Augustine of Hippo 88 and Al Ghazali 6 respectively Non theistic viewsReligious traditions Jainism has generally rejected creationism holding that soul substances Jiva are uncreated and that time is beginningless 89 Some interpretations and traditions of Buddhism can be conceived as being non theistic Buddhism has generally rejected the specific monotheistic view of a Creator God The Buddha criticizes the theory of creationism in the early Buddhist texts 90 91 Also major Indian Buddhist philosophers such as Nagarjuna Vasubandhu Dharmakirti and Buddhaghosa consistently critiqued Creator God views put forth by Hindu thinkers 92 93 94 However as a non theistic religion Buddhism leaves the existence of a supreme deity ambiguous There are significant numbers of Buddhists who believe in God and there are equally large numbers who deny God s existence or are unsure 95 96 Taoic religions such as Confucianism and Taoism are silent on the existence of creator gods However keeping with the tradition of ancestor veneration in China adherents worship the spirits of people such as Confucius and Lao Tzu in a similar manner to God 97 98 Anthropology See also Evolutionary origin of religions Evolutionary psychology of religion and Anthropomorphism Some atheists have argued that a single omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined and embellished over generations 99 Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world in general supernatural beings tend to behave much like people The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion He cites examples from Greek mythology which is in his opinion more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems 100 Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer s explanatory model matches physics epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries 101 Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one s father 102 Likewise Emile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings In line with this reasoning psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality In small groups morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation However it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups Rossano indicates that by including ever watchful gods and spirits humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups 103 Neuroscience and psychology See also Jungian interpretation of religion Sam Harris has interpreted some findings in neuroscience to argue that God is an imaginary entity only with no basis in reality 104 Johns Hopkins researchers studying the effects of the spirit molecule DMT which is both an endogenous molecule in the human brain and the active molecule in the psychedelic ayahuasca found that a large majority of respondents said DMT brought them into contact with a conscious intelligent benevolent and sacred entity and describe interactions that oozed joy trust love and kindness More than half of those who had previously self identified as atheists described some type of belief in a higher power or God after the experience 105 About a quarter of those afflicted by temporal lobe seizures experience what is described as a religious experience 106 and may become preoccupied by thoughts of God even if they were not previously Neuroscientist V S Ramachandran hypothesizes that seizures in the temporal lobe which is closely connected to the emotional center of the brain the limbic system may lead to those afflicted to view even banal objects with heightened meaning 107 Psychologists studying feelings of awe found that participants feeling awe after watching scenes of natural wonders become more likely to believe in a supernatural being and to see events as the result of design even when given randomly generated numbers 108 Relationship with humanity nbsp Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer Worship See also Worship Prayer and Supplication Theistic religious traditions often require worship of God and sometimes hold that the purpose of existence is to worship God 109 110 To address the issue of an all powerful being demanding to be worshipped it is held that God does not need or benefit from worship but that worship is for the benefit of the worshipper 111 Gandhi expressed the view that God does not need his supplication and that Prayer is not an asking It is a longing of the soul It is a daily admission of one s weakness 112 Invoking God in prayer plays a significant role among many believers Depending on the tradition God can be viewed as a personal God who is only to be invoked directly while other traditions allow praying to intermediaries such as saints to intercede on their behalf Prayer often also includes supplication such as asking forgiveness God is often believed to be forgiving For example a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance 113 Sacrifice for the sake of God is another act of devotion that includes fasting and almsgiving Remembrance of God in daily life include mentioning interjections thanking God when feeling gratitude or phrases of adoration such as repeating chants while performing other activities Salvation Main article Salvation Transtheistic religious traditions may believe in the existence of deities but deny any spiritual significance to them The term has been used to describe certain strands of Buddhism 114 Jainism and Stoicism 115 Among religions that do attach spirituality to the relationship with God disagree as how to best worship God and what is God s plan for mankind There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions One view is taken by exclusivists who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine which adherents of other religions do not Another view is religious pluralism A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one but does not deny the partial truth of other religions The view that all theists actually worship the same god whether they know it or not is especially emphasized in the Bahaʼi Faith Hinduism 116 and Sikhism 117 The Bahaʼi Faith preaches that divine manifestations include great prophets and teachers of many of the major religious traditions such as Krishna Buddha Jesus Zoroaster Muhammad Baha u llah and also preaches the unity of all religions and focuses on these multiple epiphanies as necessary for meeting the needs of humanity at different points in history and for different cultures and as part of a scheme of progressive revelation and education of humanity An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism i e the belief that one s religion is the fulfillment of previous religions A third approach is relativistic inclusivism where everybody is seen as equally right an example being universalism the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone A fourth approach is syncretism mixing different elements from different religions An example of syncretism is the New Age movement EpistemologyFaith Main article Faith Fideism is the position that in certain topics notably theology such as in reformed epistemology faith is superior than reason in arriving at truths Some theists argue that there is value to the risk in having faith and that if the arguments for God s existence were as rational as the laws of physics then there would be no risk Such theists often argue that the heart is attracted to beauty truth and goodness and so would be best for dictating about God as illustrated through Blaise Pascal who said The heart has its reasons that reason does not know 118 A hadith attributes a quote to God as I am what my slave thinks of me 119 Inherent intuition about God is referred to in Islam as fitra or innate nature 120 In Confucian tradition Confucius and Mencius promoted that the only justification for right conduct called the Way is what is dictated by Heaven a more or less anthropomorphic higher power and is implanted in humans and thus there is only one universal foundation for the Way 121 Revelation Main article Revelation See also Prophet Revelation refers to some form of message communicated by God This is usually proposed to occur through the use of prophets or angels Al Maturidi argued for the need for revelation because even though humans are intellectually capable of realizing God human desire can divert the intellect and because certain knowledge cannot be known except when specially given to prophets such as the specifications of acts of worship 122 It is argued that there is also that which overlaps between what is revealed and what can be derived According to Islam one of the earliest revelations to ever be revealed was If you feel no shame then do as you wish 123 The term General revelation is used to refer to knowledge revealed about God outside of direct or special revelation such as scriptures Notably this includes studying nature sometimes seen as the Book of Nature 124 An idiom in Arabic states The Qur an is a Universe that speaks The Universe is a silent Qur an 125 Reason On matters of theology some such as Richard Swinburne take an evidentialist position where a belief is only justified if it has a reason behind it as opposed to holding it as a foundational belief 126 Traditionalist theology holds that one should not opinionate beyond revelation to understand God s nature and frown upon rationalizations such as speculative theology 127 Notably for anthropomorphic descriptions such as the Hand of God and attributes of God they neither nullify such texts nor accept a literal hand but leave any ambiguity to God called tafwid without asking how 128 129 Physico theology provides arguments for theological topics based on reason 130 Specific characteristicsSee also Attributes of God disambiguation Titles nbsp 99 names of Allah in Chinese Sini Main article Names of God See also Names of God in Islam In the Judeo Christian tradition the Bible has been the principal source of the conceptions of God That the Bible includes many different images concepts and ways of thinking about God has resulted in perpetual disagreements about how God is to be conceived and understood 131 Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles there are titles for God who revealed his personal name as YHWH often vocalized as Yahweh or Jehovah 14 One of them is Elohim Another one is El Shaddai translated God Almighty 132 A third notable title is El Elyon which means The High God 133 Also noted in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles is the name I Am that I Am 134 14 God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes the most common being Al Rahman meaning Most Compassionate and Al Rahim meaning Most Merciful 135 Many of these names are also used in the scriptures of the Bahaʼi Faith Vaishnavism a tradition in Hinduism has a list of titles and names of Krishna Gender Main article Gender of God The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who in classical western philosophy transcends bodily form 136 137 Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender allowing each to interact with any of the others and perhaps with humans sexually In most monotheistic religions God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually Thus in classical western philosophy the gender of this one and only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address and relate to each other Namely God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active as opposed to the receptive role in sexual intercourse 138 Biblical sources usually refer to God using male or paternal words and symbolism except Genesis 1 26 27 139 140 Psalm 123 2 3 and Luke 15 8 10 female Hosea 11 3 4 Deuteronomy 32 18 Isaiah 66 13 Isaiah 49 15 Isaiah 42 14 Psalm 131 2 a mother Deuteronomy 32 11 12 a mother eagle and Matthew 23 37 and Luke 13 34 a mother hen In Sikhism God is Ajuni Without Incarnations which means that God is not bound to any physical forms This concludes that the All pervading Lord is Gender less 141 However the Guru Granth Sahib constantly refers to God as He and Father with some exceptions typically because the Guru Granth Sahib was written in north Indian Indo Aryan languages mixture of Punjabi and Sant Bhasha Sanskrit with influences of Persian which have no neutral gender From further insights into the Sikh philosophy it can be deduced that God is sometimes referred to as the Husband to the Soul brides in order to make a patriarchal society understand what the relationship with God is like Also God is considered to be the Father Mother and Companion 142 Depiction See also Incorporeality and God the Father in Western art nbsp Ahura Mazda depiction is on the right with high crown presents Ardashir I left with the ring of kingship Relief at Naqsh e Rustam 3rd century CE In Zoroastrianism during the early Parthian Empire Ahura Mazda was visually represented for worship This practice ended during the beginning of the Sasanian Empire Zoroastrian iconoclasm which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship However Ahura Mazda continued to be symbolized by a dignified male figure standing or on horseback which is found in Sassanian investiture 143 Deities from Near Eastern cultures are often thought of as anthropomorphic entities who have a human like body which is however not equal to a human body Such bodies were often thought to be radiant or fiery of superhuman size or extreme beauty The ancient deity of the Israelites Yahweh too was imagined as a transcendent but still anthropomorphic deity 144 Humans could not see him because of their impurity in contrast to Yahweh s holiness Yahweh being described as radiating fire and light which could kill a human if looking at him Further more religious or spiritual people tend to have less anthropomorphic depictions of God 145 In Judaism the Torah often ascribes human features to God however many other passages describe God as formless and otherworldly Judaism is aniconic meaning it overly lacks material physical representations of both the natural and supernatural worlds Furthermore the worship of idols is strictly forbidden The traditional view elaborated by figures such as Maimonides reckons that God is wholly incomprehensible and therefore impossible to envision resulting in a historical tradition of divine incorporeality As such attempting to describe God s appearance in practical terms is considered disrespectful to the deity and thus is taboo and arguably heretical citation needed Gnostic cosmogony often depicts the creator god of the Old Testament as an evil lesser deity or Demiurge while the higher benevolent god or Monad is thought of as something beyond comprehension having immeasurable light and not in time or among things that exist but rather is greater than them in a sense All people are said to have a piece of God or divine spark within them which has fallen from the immaterial world into the corrupt material world and is trapped unless gnosis is attained 146 147 148 nbsp Use of the symbolic Hand of God in the Ascension from the Drogo Sacramentary c 850 Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1 18 No man has seen God at any time and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God but to all attempts at the depiction of God 149 However later depictions of God are found Some like the Hand of God are depiction borrowed from Jewish art Prior to the 10th century no attempt was made to use a human to symbolize God the Father in Western art 149 Yet Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century AD A rationale for the use of a human is the belief that God created the soul of man in the image of his own thus allowing humans to transcend the other animals It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure Typically only a small part would be used as the image usually the hand or sometimes the face but rarely a whole human In many images the figure of the Son supplants the Father so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted 150 By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography and in stained glass church windows in England Initially the head or bust was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space where the Hand of God had formerly appeared the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liege of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 a Hand of God is used in another scene Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half length figure then a full length usually enthroned as in Giotto s fresco of c 1305 in Padua 151 In the 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush By the early 15th century the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry had a considerable number of symbols including an elderly but tall and elegant full length figure walking in the Garden of Eden which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress The Gates of Paradise of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti begun in 1425 use a similar tall full length symbol for the Father The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half length human form which were now becoming standard and the Hand of God becoming rarer At the same period other works like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes In the 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ In a Trinitarian Pieta God the Father is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown supporting the dead Christ in his arms 152 In 1667 the 43rd chapter of the Great Moscow Council specifically included a ban on a number of symbolic depictions of God the Father and the Holy Spirit which then also resulted in a range of other icons being placed on the forbidden list 153 154 mostly affecting Western style depictions which had been gaining ground in Orthodox icons The council also declared that the person of the Trinity who was the Ancient of Days was Christ as Logos not God the Father However some icons continued to be produced in Russia as well as Greece Romania and other Orthodox countries nbsp The Arabic script of Allah in Hagia Sophia Istanbul In Islam Muslims believe that God Allah is beyond all comprehension and does not resemble any of his creations in any way Muslims tend to use the least anthropomorphism among monotheists 145 They are not iconodules and have religious calligraphy of titles of God instead of pictures 155 See also nbsp Mythology portal nbsp Philosophy portal nbsp Religion portal All pages with titles beginning with God By religion God in Abrahamic religions God in Judaism and God of Israel disambiguation God in Christianity God in Islam God in Sikhism God in Hinduism Other Absolute philosophy Apatheism Apeiron cosmology Deity Demigod Existence of God God complex God disambiguation God word Relationship between religion and scienceReferencesFootnotes Citations a b c d e Swinburne R G 1995 God In Honderich Ted ed The Oxford Companion to Philosophy Oxford University Press god Cambridge Dictionary Definition of GOD www merriam webster com Retrieved 27 February 2023 THEISM Definition amp Usage Examples Dictionary com Retrieved 13 November 2023 Definition of THEISM www merriam webster com Retrieved 13 November 2023 a b Plantinga Alvin God Arguments for the Existence of Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Routledge 2000 Bordwell David 2002 Catechism of the Catholic Church Continuum p 84 ISBN 978 0 860 12324 8 Catechism of the Catholic Church Archived from the original on 3 March 2013 Retrieved 30 December 2016 via IntraText The ulterior etymology is disputed Apart from the unlikely hypothesis of adoption from a foreign tongue the OTeut ghuba implies as its preTeut type either ghodho m or ghodto m The former does not appear to admit of explanation but the latter would represent the neut pple of a root gheu There are two Aryan roots of the required form g heu with palatal aspirate one with meaning to invoke Skr hu the other to pour to offer sacrifice Skr hu Gr xehi n OE geotan Yete v Oxford English Dictionary Compact Edition G p 267 Barnhart Robert K 1995 The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology the Origins of American English Words p 323 HarperCollins ISBN 0062700847 God in Merriam Webster online Merriam Webster Inc Retrieved 19 July 2012 Webster s New World Dictionary God n ME Middle English lt OE Old English akin to Ger gott Goth guth prob lt IE base ĝhau to call out to invoke gt Sans havate he calls upon 1 any of various beings conceived of as supernatural immortal and having special powers over the lives and affairs of people and the course of nature deity esp a male deity typically considered objects of worship 2 an image that is worshiped idol 3 a person or thing deified or excessively honored and admired 4 G in monotheistic religions the creator and ruler of the universe regarded as eternal infinite all powerful and all knowing Supreme Being the Almighty Dictionary com Archived 19 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine God gɒd noun 1 the one Supreme Being the creator and ruler of the universe 2 the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute 3 lowercase one of several deities esp a male deity presiding over some portion of worldly affairs 4 often lowercase a supreme being according to some particular conception the God of mercy 5 Christian Science the Supreme Being understood as Life Truth Love Mind Soul Spirit Principle 6 lowercase an image of a deity an idol 7 lowercase any deified person or object 8 often lowercase Gods Theater 8a the upper balcony in a theater 8b the spectators in this part of the balcony a b c Parke Taylor G H 1 January 2006 Yahweh The Divine Name in the Bible Wilfrid Laurier University Press p 4 ISBN 978 0889206526 The Old Testament contains various titles and surrogates for God such as El Shaddai El Elyon Haqqadosh The Holy One and Adonai In chapter three consideration will be given to names ascribed to God in the patriarchal period Gerhard von Rad reminds us that these names became secondary after the name YHWH had been known to Israel for these rudimentary names which derive from old traditions and from the oldest of them never had the function of extending the name so as to stand alongside the name Jahweh to serve as fuller forms of address rather they were occasionally made use of in place of the name Jahweh In this respect YHWH stands in contrast to the principal deities of the Babylonians and the Egyptians Jahweh had only one name Marduk had fifty with which his praises as victor over Tiamat were sung in hymns Similarly the Egyptian god Re is the god with many names Barton G A 2006 A Sketch of Semitic Origins Social and Religious Kessinger Publishing ISBN 978 1428615755 Loewen Jacob A 1 June 2020 The Bible in Cross Cultural Perspective Revised ed William Carey Publishing p 182 ISBN 978 1645083047 Shorter forms of Yahweh The name Yahweh also appears in a shortened form transliterated Jah pronounced Yah in the Revised Version and the American Standard Version either in the text or footnote my song is Jah Ex 15 2 by Jah his name Ps 68 4 I shall not see Jah in Jah s land Is 38 11 It is common also in such often untranslated compounds as hallelujah praise Jah Ps 135 3 146 10 148 14 and in proper names like Elijah my God is Jah Adonijah my Lord is Jah Isaiah Jah has saved God Islam Empire of Faith PBS Retrieved 18 December 2010 Islam and Christianity Encyclopedia of Christianity 2001 Arabic speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as Allah Gardet L Allah Encyclopaedia of Islam Online Levine Michael P 2002 Pantheism A Non Theistic Concept of Deity p 136 Hastings 1925 2003 p 540 McDaniel June 2013 A Modern Hindu Monotheism Indonesian Hindus as People of the Book The Journal of Hindu Studies Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 jhs hit030 Boyce 1983 p 685 Kidder David S Oppenheim Noah D The Intellectual Devotional Revive Your Mind Complete Your Education and Roam confidently with the cultured class p 364 Duggal Kartar Singh 1988 Philosophy and Faith of Sikhism p ix Bahaʾuʾllah Joyce Watanabe 2006 A Feast for the Soul Meditations on the Attributes of God p x Assmann Jan Religion and Cultural Memory Ten Studies Stanford University Press 2005 p 59 Lichtheim M 1980 Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol 2 p 96 Afigbo A E Falola Toyin 2006 Myth history and society the collected works of Adiele Afigbo Trenton New Jersey Africa World Press ISBN 978 1592214198 OCLC 61361536 Buckley Jorunn Jacobsen 2002 The Mandaeans ancient texts and modern people New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0195153855 OCLC 65198443 Nashmi Yuhana 24 April 2013 Contemporary Issues for the Mandaean Faith Mandaean Associations Union retrieved 28 December 2021 See e g The Rationality of Theism quoting Quentin Smith God is not dead in academia it returned to life in the late 1960s They cite the shift from hostility towards theism in Paul Edwards s Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1967 to sympathy towards theism in the more recent Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Ontological Arguments Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved 27 December 2022 Aquinas Thomas 1990 Kreeft Peter ed Summa of the Summa Ignatius Press pp 65 69 Ratzsch Del Koperski Jeffrey 10 June 2005 2005 Teleological Arguments for God s Existence Teleological Arguments for God s Existence Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Fine Tuning The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Center for the Study of Language and Information CSLI Stanford University 22 August 2017 Retrieved 29 December 2022 Chappell Jonathan 2015 A Grammar of Descent John Henry Newman and the Compatibility of Evolution with Christian Doctrine Science and Christian Belief 27 2 180 206 Swinburne Richard 2004 The Existence of God 2 ed Oxford University Press pp 190 91 ISBN 978 0199271689 The existence of God 1 ed Watts amp Co p 75 Minority Report H L Mencken s Notebooks Knopf 1956 Martin Michael 1992 Atheism A Philosophical Justification Temple University Press pp 213 214 ISBN 978 0877229438 Craig William Lane Moreland J P 2011 The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology John Wiley amp Sons p 393 ISBN 978 1444350852 Parkinson G H R 1988 An Encyclopedia of Philosophy Taylor amp Francis pp 344 345 ISBN 978 0415003230 Nielsen 2013 Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons for an anthropomorphic God the atheist rejects belief in God because it is false or probably false that there is a God for a nonanthropomorphic God because the concept of such a God is either meaningless unintelligible contradictory incomprehensible or incoherent for the God portrayed by some modern or contemporary theologians or philosophers because the concept of God in question is such that it merely masks an atheistic substance e g God is just another name for love or a symbolic term for moral ideals Edwards 2005 On our definition an atheist is a person who rejects belief in God regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that God exists expresses a false proposition People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition It is common among contemporary philosophers and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless Sometimes too a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion Thomas Henry Huxley an English biologist was the first to come up with the word agnostic in 1869 Dixon Thomas 2008 Science and Religion A Very Short Introduction Oxford Oxford University Press p 63 ISBN 978 0199295517 However earlier authors and published works have promoted an agnostic points of view They include Protagoras a 5th century BCE Greek philosopher The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Protagoras c 490 c 420 BCE Archived from the original on 14 October 2008 Retrieved 6 October 2008 While the pious might wish to look to the gods to provide absolute moral guidance in the relativistic universe of the Sophistic Enlightenment that certainty also was cast into doubt by philosophic and sophistic thinkers who pointed out the absurdity and immorality of the conventional epic accounts of the gods Protagoras prose treatise about the gods began Concerning the gods I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life Hepburn Ronald W 2005 1967 Agnosticism In Borchert Donald M ed The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Vol 1 2nd ed MacMillan Reference US Gale p 92 ISBN 978 0028657806 In the most general use of the term agnosticism is the view that we do not know whether there is a God or not p 56 in 1967 edition Rowe William L 1998 Agnosticism In Edward Craig ed Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Taylor amp Francis ISBN 978 0415073103 In the popular sense an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in God whereas an atheist disbelieves in God In the strict sense however agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist In so far as one holds that our beliefs are rational only if they are sufficiently supported by human reason the person who accepts the philosophical position of agnosticism will hold that neither the belief that God exists nor the belief that God does not exist is rational agnostic agnosticism Oxford English Dictionary Online 3rd ed Oxford University Press 2012 agnostic A n oun A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of immaterial things especially of the existence or nature of God In extended use a person who is not persuaded by or committed to a particular point of view a sceptic Also person of indeterminate ideology or conviction an equivocator B adj ective Of or relating to the belief that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and as far as can be judged unknowable Also holding this belief a In extended use not committed to or persuaded by a particular point of view sceptical Also politically or ideologically unaligned non partisan equivocal agnosticism n The doctrine or tenets of agnostics with regard to the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena or to knowledge of a First Cause or God Philosophy of Religion info Glossary Theism Atheism and Agonisticism Philosophy of Religion info Archived from the original on 24 April 2008 Retrieved 16 July 2008 Theism definition of theism by the Free Online Dictionary Thesaurus and Encyclopedia TheFreeDictionary com Retrieved 16 July 2008 Dawkins Richard 23 October 2006 Why There Almost Certainly Is No God The Huffington Post Retrieved 10 January 2007 Sagan Carl 1996 The Demon Haunted World New York Ballantine Books p 278 ISBN 978 0345409461 McGrath Alister E 2005 Dawkins God genes memes and the meaning of life Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1405125390 Barackman Floyd H 2001 Practical Christian Theology Examining the Great Doctrines of the Faith Kregel Academic ISBN 978 0825423802 Gould Stephen J 1998 Leonardo s Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms Jonathan Cape p 274 ISBN 978 0224050432 Dawkins Richard 2006 The God Delusion Great Britain Bantam Press ISBN 978 0618680009 Hawking Stephen Mlodinow Leonard 2010 The Grand Design Bantam Books p 172 ISBN 978 0553805376 Krauss L A Universe from Nothing Free Press New York 2012 ISBN 978 1451624458 O Brien Jodi 2009 Encyclopedia of Gender and Society Los Angeles California Sage p 191 ISBN 978 1412909167 Retrieved 28 June 2017 BBC Religion Judaism www bbc co uk Gimaret D Allah Tawhid Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Mohammad N 1985 The doctrine of jihad An introduction Journal of Law and Religion 3 2 381 397 What Is the Trinity Archived from the original on 19 February 2014 Lipner Julius Hindu deities Retrieved 6 September 2022 Muller Max 1878 Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion As Illustrated by the Religions of India London England Longmans Green and Company McConkie Bruce R 1979 Mormon Doctrine 2nd ed Salt Lake City Utah Bookcraft p 351 McGrath Alister 2006 Christian Theology An Introduction Blackwell Publishing p 205 ISBN 978 1405153607 Pantheism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 17 May 2007 Retrieved 11 September 2022 Curley Edwin M 1985 The Collected Works of Spinoza Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0691072227 Nadler Steven 21 August 2012 2001 Baruch Spinoza Baruch Spinoza Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Pantheism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1 October 2012 Retrieved 18 November 2022 Dawe Alan H 2011 The God Franchise A Theory of Everything Alan H Dawe p 48 ISBN 978 0473201142 Pandeism This is the belief that God created the universe is now one with it and so is no longer a separate conscious entity This is a combination of pantheism God is identical to the universe and deism God created the universe and then withdrew Himself Bradley Paul 2011 This Strange Eventful History A Philosophy of Meaning Algora p 156 ISBN 978 0875868769 Pandeism combines the concepts of Deism and Pantheism with a god who creates the universe and then becomes it Culp John 2013 Panentheism Archived 16 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Spring Rogers Peter C 2009 Ultimate Truth Book 1 AuthorHouse p 121 ISBN 978 1438979687 As with Panentheism Pantheism is derived from the Greek pan all and theos God it literally means God is All and All is God Pantheist purports that everything is part of an all inclusive indwelling intangible God or that the Universe or nature and God are the same Further review helps to accentuate the idea that natural law existence and the Universe which is the sum total of all that is was and shall be is represented in the theological principle of an abstract god rather than an individual creative Divine Being or Beings of any kind This is the key element that distinguishes them from Panentheists and Pandeists As such although many religions may claim to hold Pantheistic elements they are more commonly Panentheistic or Pandeistic in nature Fairbanks Arthur Ed The First Philosophers of Greece K Paul Trench Trubner London England 1898 p 145 Dodds E R The Parmenides of Plato and the Origin of the Neoplatonic One The Classical Quarterly Jul Oct 1928 vol 22 p 136 Brenk Frederick January 2016 Pagan Monotheism and Pagan Cult Theism and Related Categories in the Study of Ancient Religions Vol 75 Philadelphia Society for Classical Studies University of Pennsylvania Retrieved 5 November 2022 Historical authors generally refer to the divine to theion or the supernatural to daimonion rather than simply God The Stoics believed in a God identifiable with the logos or hegemonikon reason or leading principle of the universe and downgraded the traditional gods who even disappear during the conflagration ekpyrosis Yet the Stoics apparently did not practice a cult to this God Middle and Later Platonists who spoke of a supreme God in philosophical discourse generally speak of this God not the gods as responsible for the creation and providence of the universe They too however do not seem to have directly practiced a religious cult to their God SCS AIA Annual Meeting Archived 3 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine Adamson Peter 2013 From the necessary existent to God In Adamson Peter ed Interpreting Avicenna Critical Essays Cambridge University Press p 170 ISBN 978 0521190732 Providence The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Encyclopedia com Retrieved 17 July 2014 Creation Providence and Miracle Reasonable Faith Retrieved 20 May 2014 Lemos Ramon M 2001 A Neomedieval Essay in Philosophical Theology Lexington Books p 34 ISBN 978 0739102503 Fuller Allan R 2010 Thought The Only Reality Dog Ear p 79 ISBN 978 1608445905 Pandeism is another belief that states that God is identical to the universe but God no longer exists in a way where He can be contacted therefore this theory can only be proven to exist by reason Pandeism views the entire universe as being from God and now the universe is the entirety of God but the universe at some point in time will fold back into one single being which is God Himself that created all Pandeism raises the question as to why would God create a universe and then abandon it As this relates to pantheism it raises the question of how did the universe come about what is its aim and purpose Perry M Schuon F Lafouge J 2008 Christianity Islam perspectives on esoteric ecumenism a new translation with selected letters United Kingdom World Wisdom p 135 ISBN 978 1933316499 Wierenga Edward R Divine foreknowledge in Audi Robert The Cambridge Companion to Philosophy Cambridge University Press 2001 www ditext com Archived from the original on 4 February 2018 Retrieved 7 February 2018 a b Edwards Paul God and the philosophers in Honderich Ted ed The Oxford Companion to Philosophy Oxford University Press 1995 ISBN 978 1615924462 Nayanar Prof A Chakravarti 2005 Samayasara of Acarya Kundakunda Gatha 10 310 New Delhi India Today amp Tomorrows Printer and Publisher p 190 Thera Narada 2006 The Buddha and His Teachings Jaico Publishing House pp 268 269 Hayes Richard P Principled Atheism in the Buddhist Scholastic Tradition Journal of Indian Philosophy 16 1 1988 Mar p 2 Cheng Hsueh Li Nagarjuna s Approach to the Problem of the Existence of God in Religious Studies Vol 12 No 2 June 1976 Cambridge University Press pp 207 216 Hayes Richard P Principled Atheism in the Buddhist Scholastic Tradition Journal of Indian Philosophy 16 1 1988 Mar Harvey Peter 2019 Buddhism and Monotheism Cambridge University Press p 1 Khan Razib 23 June 2008 Buddhists do Believe in God Discover Kalmbach Publishing Buddhists Pew Research Center The Pew Charitable Trusts Confucianism National Geographic National Geographic Society Taoism National Geographic National Geographic Society Culotta E 2009 The origins of religion Science 326 5954 784 787 Bibcode 2009Sci 326 784C doi 10 1126 science 326 784 PMID 19892955 Boyer Pascal 2001 Religion Explained New York Basic Books pp 142 243 ISBN 978 0465006960 boyer modern soap opera du Castel Bertrand Jurgensen Timothy M 2008 Computer Theology Austin Texas Midori Press pp 221 222 ISBN 978 0980182118 Barrett Justin 1996 Conceptualizing a Nonnatural Entity Anthropomorphism in God Concepts PDF Cognitive Psychology 31 3 219 47 doi 10 1006 cogp 1996 0017 PMID 8975683 S2CID 7646340 Rossano Matt 2007 Supernaturalizing Social Life Religion and the Evolution of Human Cooperation PDF Human Nature 18 3 Hawthorne New York 272 294 doi 10 1007 s12110 007 9002 4 PMID 26181064 S2CID 1585551 Archived from the original PDF on 3 March 2012 Retrieved 25 June 2009 Harris Sam The end of faith W W Norton and Company New York 2005 ISBN 0393035158 A spiritual experience 17 September 2020 Retrieved 11 October 2022 Sample Ian 23 February 2005 Tests of faith The Guardian Retrieved 15 October 2022 Ramachandran Vilayanur Blakeslee Sandra 1998 Phantoms in the brain New York HarperCollins pp 174 187 ISBN 0688152473 Kluger Jeffrey 27 November 2013 Why There Are No Atheists at the Grand Canyon Time Retrieved 12 October 2022 Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence Patheos com Retrieved 29 January 2011 Quran 51 56 Salat daily prayers BBC Retrieved 12 April 2022 Richards Glyn 2005 The Philosophy of Gandhi A Study of his Basic Ideas Routledge ISBN 1135799342 Allah would replace you with a people who sin islamtoday net Archived from the original on 14 October 2013 Retrieved 13 October 2013 Rigopoulos Antonio The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi 1993 p 372 Houlden J L Ed Jesus The Complete Guide 2005 p 390 de Gruyter Walter 1988 Writings on Religion p 145 See Swami Bhaskarananda Essentials of Hinduism Viveka Press 2002 ISBN 1884852041 Sri Guru Granth Sahib Sri Granth Retrieved 30 June 2011 D Antuono Matt 1 August 2022 The Heart Has Its Reasons That Reason Does Not Know National Catholic Register Retrieved 1 June 2023 Ibn Daqiq al Id 2014 A Treasury of Hadith A Commentary on Nawawi s Selection of Prophetic Traditions Kube Publishing Limited p 199 ISBN 978 1847740694 Hoover Jon 2 March 2016 Fiṭra Encyclopaedia of Islam THREE Brill doi 10 1163 1573 3912 ei3 com 27155 retrieved 13 November 2023 The Second Sage Aeon Retrieved 24 March 2023 Cakmak Cenap Islam A Worldwide Encyclopedia 4 volumes ABC CLIO 2017 ISBN 978 1610692175 p 1014 Siddiqui A R 2015 Qur anic Keywords A Reference Guide Kube Publishing Limited p 53 ISBN 9780860376767 Hutchinson Ian 14 January 1996 Michael Faraday Scientist and Nonconformist Retrieved 30 November 2022 Faraday believed that in his scientific researches he was reading the book of nature which pointed to its creator and he delighted in it for the book of nature which we have to read is written by the finger of God Hofmann Murad 2007 Islam and Qur an Amana publications p 121 ISBN 978 1590080474 Beaty Michael 1991 God Among the Philosophers The Christian Century Archived from the original on 9 January 2007 Retrieved 20 February 2007 Halverson 2010 p 36 Hoover John 2020 Early Mamluk Ashʿarism against Ibn Taymiyya on the Nonliteral Reinterpretation taʾwil of God s Attributes In Shihadeh Ayman Thiele Jan eds Philosophical Theology in Islam Later Ashʿarism East and West Islamicate Intellectual History Vol 5 Leiden and Boston Brill Publishers pp 195 230 doi 10 1163 9789004426610 009 ISBN 978 9004426610 ISSN 2212 8662 LCCN 2020008682 S2CID 219026357 Halverson 2010 pp 36 37 Chignell Andrew Pereboom Derk 2020 Natural Theology and Natural Religion in Zalta Edward N ed The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Fall 2020 ed Metaphysics Research Lab Stanford University retrieved 9 October 2020 Fiorenza Francis Schussler and Kaufman Gordon D God Ch 6 in Taylor Mark C ed Critical Terms for Religious Studies University of Chicago 1998 2008 pp 136 140 Gen 17 1 28 3 35 11 Ex 6 31 Ps 91 1 2 Gen 14 19 Ps 9 2 Dan 7 18 22 25 Exodus 3 13 15 Bentley David 1999 The 99 Beautiful Names for God for All the People of the Book William Carey Library ISBN 978 0878082995 Aquinas Thomas First part Question 3 The simplicity of God Article 1 Whether God is a body Summa Theologica New Advent Shedd William G T ed 1885 Chapter 7 The Confessions of Augustine Warren F Draper Lang David Kreeft Peter 2002 Why Male Priests Why Matter Matters Philosophical and Scriptural Reflections on the Sacraments Our Sunday Visitor ISBN 978 1931709347 Pagels Elaine H What Became of God the Mother Conflicting Images of God in Early Christianity Archived 23 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Signs Vol 2 No 2 Winter 1976 pp 293 303 Coogan Michael 2010 6 Fire in Divine Loins God s Wives in Myth and Metaphor God and Sex What the Bible Really Says 1st ed New York Boston Massachusetts Twelve Hachette Book Group p 175 ISBN 978 0446545259 Retrieved 5 May 2011 humans are modeled on elohim specifically in their sexual differences God s Gender www sikhwomen com IS GOD MALE OR FEMALE www gurbani org Boyce 1983 p 686 Williams Wesley A Body Unlike Bodies Transcendent Anthropomorphism in Ancient Semitic Tradition and Early Islam Journal of the American Oriental Society vol 129 no 1 2009 pp 19 44 JSTOR http www jstor org stable 40593866 Archived 18 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 18 Nov 2022 a b Shaman Nicholas J Saide Anondah R and Richert Rebekah A Dimensional structure of and variation in anthropomorphic concepts of God Frontiers in psychology 9 2018 1425 Bataille Georges 1930 Base Materialism and Gnosticism Visions of Excess Selected Writings 1927 1939 47 Marvin Meyer Willis Barnstone 30 June 2009 The Secret Book of John The Gnostic Bible Shambhala Retrieved 15 October 2021 Denova Rebecca 9 April 2021 Gnosticism World History Encyclopedia Retrieved 15 October 2021 a b Cornwell James 2009 Saints Signs and Symbols The Symbolic Language of Christian Art ISBN 081922345X p 2 Didron Adolphe Napoleon 2003 Christian iconography or The history of Christian art in the middle ages ISBN 0 7661 4075 X p 169 Arena Chapel at the top of the triumphal arch God sending out the angel of the Annunciation See Schiller I figure 15 Earls Irene 1987 Renaissance art a topical dictionary ISBN 0313246580 pp 8 283 Tarasov Oleg 2004 Icon and devotion sacred spaces in Imperial Russia ISBN 1861891180 p 185 Council of Moscow 1666 1667 Retrieved 30 December 2016 Lebron Robyn 2012 Searching for Spiritual Unity Can There Be Common Ground Crossbooks p 117 ISBN 978 1462712625 BibliographyBoyce Mary 1983 Ahura Mazda Encyclopaedia Iranica vol 1 New York Routledge amp Kegan Paul pp 684 687 Bunnin Nicholas Yu Jiyuan 2008 The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy Blackwells ISBN 978 0470997215 Pickover Cliff The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience Palgrave St Martin s Press 2001 ISBN 1403964572 Collins Francis The Language of God A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief Free Press 2006 ISBN 0743286391 Miles Jack God A Biography Vintage 1996 ISBN 0679743685 Armstrong Karen A History of God The 4 000 Year Quest of Judaism Christianity and Islam Ballantine Books 1994 ISBN 0434024562 Paul Tillich Systematic Theology Vol 1 Chicago Illinois University of Chicago Press 1951 ISBN 0226803376 Halverson J 2010 Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam The Muslim Brotherhood Ash arism and Political Sunnism Springer ISBN 978 0230106581 Hastings James Rodney 1925 2003 1908 1926 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics John A Selbie Volume 4 of 24 Behistun continued to Bunyan ed Edinburgh Scotland Kessinger Publishing LLC p 476 ISBN 978 0766136731 The encyclopedia will contain articles on all the religions of the world and on all the great systems of ethics It will aim at containing articles on every religious belief or custom and on every ethical movement every philosophical idea every moral practice External linksLibrary resources about God Resources in your library Resources in other libraries God at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Resources from Wikiversity Listen to this article 17 minutes source source nbsp This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 6 January 2008 2008 01 06 and does not reflect subsequent edits Audio help More spoken articles Concept of God in Christianity Concept of God in Islam Archived 21 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine God Christian perspective Hindu Concept of God Jewish Literacy Archived 19 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine permanent dead link Who is God Archived 19 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title God amp oldid 1220623557, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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