Difference between revisions of "God" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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====God as Woman====
 
====God as Woman====
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Recently there has been a number of new movements which have attempted to restore the role of the feminine in conceiving god. Wicca, for example, which uses magical procedures in order to manipulate circumstances, has focused upon the use of powers derived from numerous gods, particularly the Goddess. Wiccans base this veneration of the principle on the idea that such worship practices were prevalent in the world including Europe during the middle ages, but were repressed by patriarchal religious traditions which attempted to limit the balance of power attributed to women. Wicca, then, is seen as the current interation of a long-standing tradition of the Goddess as supreme. This line follows from an ancient shamanistic European tradition which worships the Mother Goddess in three aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone. Goddess, then, becomes the focus of worship and liturgy in the Wiccan tradition.
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Recently there has been a number of religious movements which have attempted to restore the role of the feminine in conceiving of God. [[Wicca]], for example, has focused upon the use of powers derived from numerous gods, particularly the Goddess, in order to execute magical procedures. Wiccans base this esteem for the feminine principle on the idea that such worship practices were prevalent in the world including Europe during the [[Middle Ages]], but were repressed by patriarchal religious traditions which attempted to limit the balance of power allowed to women. Wicca, then, is seen as the current interation of a long-standing tradition of religious belief which acknowledge the Goddess as supreme. This line follows from an ancient shamanistic European tradition which worships the Mother Goddess in three aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone. Goddess, then, becomes the focus of worship and liturgy in the Wiccan tradition.
 
   
 
   
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The urge to reinvigorate the sense of god as woman has found its way into mainstream religion, as well. Women in Christianity have begun to reconfigure the traditional concept of God, attempting to make it less male-centred, both linguistically and theologically. Some of these thinkers have even reconfigured the traditional understanding of theology itself, dubbing ruminations on the feminine aspects of God theaology, based on the Greek ''thea'', or feminine conception of God, as the Greek root ''theos'' is masculine. Other depictions of a female Christ, dubbed Christa, have also been produced, such as that which was erected in 1984 at the Cathedral Chruch of st. John the Divine in New York. These terms are not necessarily created to change the conception of God and Christ to exclusively female in gender, but rather to illustrate that male vocabulary has dominated conceptions of God throughout history, and that ultimately the divine transcends all statements of gender. Other Christian women have made similar assertions by associating Mary with the female nature of the divine, though Mary's unquestioning obedience to God has been critiqued by some feminists as reinforcing subordinate status of women. Also, her virginity could be seen as a denigration of women's sexuality.
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The urge to reinvigorate the sense of god as woman has found its way into mainstream religion, as well. Women in [[Christianity]] have begun to reconfigure the traditionally male conception of God, attempting to make it more feminine, both linguistically and theologically. Ruminations upon the feminine aspects of God have been dubbed ''theaology'', based on the Greek root ''thea'', or feminine conception of God as opposed to the masculine ''theos''. Other depictions of a female Christ, often referred to as Christa, have also been produced. These terms have not necessarily been created to change the conception of God and Christ to exclusively female in gender, but rather to illustrate that male vocabulary has dominated conceptions of God throughout history, and that ideally the divine should transcend all statements of gender. Other Christian women have made similar assertions by associating Mary with the female nature of the divine, though Mary's unquestioning obedience to God as well as her virginity have been critiqued by some feminists as reinforcing subordinate status of women.  
  
 
Other feminist theologians, such as Rosemary Radford Reuther, have incorporated androgynous features to god in order to balance traditionally "male" and "female" virtues in the divine. Androgyny may very well be the future of Godly conceptions in the context of gender. As John Bowker has suggested, "Maybe the next step woulod be to abandon both theo- and thea and speak instead of Deology; Latin is also gender specific (deus, dea), but both can be abandoned in speaking of Deo-." (p. 314).
 
Other feminist theologians, such as Rosemary Radford Reuther, have incorporated androgynous features to god in order to balance traditionally "male" and "female" virtues in the divine. Androgyny may very well be the future of Godly conceptions in the context of gender. As John Bowker has suggested, "Maybe the next step woulod be to abandon both theo- and thea and speak instead of Deology; Latin is also gender specific (deus, dea), but both can be abandoned in speaking of Deo-." (p. 314).
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Recent decades have seen the emergence of numerous variations of Goddess spirituality, a series of movements propounding the importance of female spirituality. Such movements are typically grounded in Feminist thought, which has questioned the theological foundations of monotheistic belief. That is, monotheism commonly asserts that one god is the most rational means by which to conceive of divinity. Furthermore, since religion and theology up until recently has been almost exclusively male-dominated, this one monotheistic entity has been ubiquitously conceived of as male and described in masculine terms. That is, this God is dominant over the world, often described as wholly other and rationally cohesive, an idea which feminists see as reinforcing patriarchy. Goddess spirituality is often based in the belief that this emphasis on rationality and the primacy of the mind in the quest for god has lead to a denial of the body in spiritual pursuits. Moreover, since God is most often conceived of as male, the male body frequently becomes the standard for humanity, and subsequently the female body is considered an abberation of the "true" human form. Such ideas have further perpetuated the lower standing of women in the monotheistic traditions. Feminist theologians cite archaelogical evidence that suggests goddess worship flourished in civilizations existing before the rise of male-dominated empires such as those of Greece and Rome. Thus, goddess spirituality hearkens back to these ancient forms of polytheism, acknowledging and giving worship to the many goddesses from antiquity, such as those of the Mesopotamian and Sumerian mythology discussed earlier. In doing so, goddess spirituality infuses the female body within the conception of the divine, while also stepping away from the undertones of masculine dominance which can be associated with the history and philosophy of monotheistic thought. The multiplicity of gods conceived by goddess spiritualists to exist in the transcendent realm acknowledges and embraces the immense diversity we perceive in the immanent realm, not only in the case of genders, but also in such spheres as ethnicity or even religious affiliation. Thus, polytheism has served as a inclusive, liberating concept for feminist theologians who have etched out the contemporary spirituality of the goddess.
 
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==

Revision as of 17:56, 7 September 2006

The term God is used to refer to a specific monotheistic or henotheistic concept of a supernatural Supreme Being. In these context, the word capitalized in the English language as a proper noun (the uncapitalized spelling is used to refer to an individual member of members of polytheistic pantheons). Typically, God is described as omniscient, omnipresent and immutable, though some recent theologies have brought this into question. Often God is held responsible for the creation of the world. The notion of such a supreme being exists in virtually all world religions, even those which deny the existence not of a god-figure such as Buddhism. However, the precise definition varies greatly between religions and even within specific denominations of religions.

Etymology

File:Gudis Argenteus.jpg
Earliest attestation of the Germanic word in the 6th century Codex Argenteus (Mt 5:9)

The word God continues from the Old English/Germanic terms god (guþ, gudis in Gothic, gud in modern Scandinavian and Gott in modern German). The original meaning and etymology of the Germanic word god has been widely disputed, though most agree it takes root in a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European word *khutóm. *Khutómis a passive perfect participle from the root *khu-, which likely meant "libation" or "sacrifice". Evidence for this theory is provided by comparisons of the Sanskrit hu- ("to sacrifice"), the Greek khu-, kheu- ("to pour") as well as the Common Germanic strong verb *geutan (Anglo-Saxon gēotan) "to pour", and the English in-got. The connection between these terms likely derives from the meaning "pour a libation". Another possible meaning of *khutóm is "invocation", related to the Sanskrit term hūta. The word God was first used in the Gothic translation of the New Testament by Ulfilas to represent the Greek term Theos, (Latin Deus) in translations of theBible .

Definition

Common traits attributed to most conceptualizations of God are absoluteness and other superlative qualities. In much religious and philosophic thought, God is considered the creator of the universe. However, many other definitions of the word exist. Some concepts of God center on a view of God as ultimate, immanent, transcendent, eternal Reality which exists beyond the malleable multiplicities of the sensible world. In many cases, god is attributed these qualities while also bearing some anthropomorphic traits, such as a particular gender, name, and sometimes even ethnic background. In other cases, God may be Supreme but not necessarily a Being, instead conceived of as an ambiguous impersonal force or philosophical concept. For example, the concept of God is sometimes embedded in definitions of abstractions such as truth, where the sum of all truth is equated to God.

Also included with definitions of God are questions concerning the dynamic of relationship between humans and god, or similarly, god and the physical world. Many traditions hold that the creator is also the sustainer active in the maintenance of worldly affairs through revelation and divine intervention, a position generally characteristic of classical theism. In contrast, others argue that God created the world but is no longer involved in it after creation, a position known as deism.

God is often considered the singular spiritual force in the universe. This conception is characteristic of monotheism, but monotheism varies greatly between religions rendering a universal definition impossible. For instance, many believers in these monotheistic faiths allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings, and give them names such as angels, saints, Djinn, demons, and devas. In contrast, God is considered the only entity in the universe, and the acknowledgement of any other such beings is considered polytheism. In other cases, the primary God exists in relation to other gods, rising to supremacy above the others (as in henotheism). Additionally, god may exist seperately from forces outside of His/Her purview as omnibenevolent, such as evil. With that said, not all systems hold that God is solely morally good. Whilse some conceptions hold that God is the very definition of moral goodness, others maintain that God is beyond morality.

Clearly, not all combinations of attributes function to coherently describe God, and this has been cause for much debate among theologians in many traditions. For example, if God is the Creator, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and the Ultimate Judge who is infinitely good, then he created all people, including those who would become atheists and pagans, knowing very well what kind of people they would be. If He then punishes such individuals with eternal damnation, this God cannot also be labelled as "good". Some faiths overcome such difficulties by making god responsible for good as well as evil, as in Zoroastrianism. In other cases, no claim is made that God is fully perfect, as in Process philosophy, where god's identity is continually unfolding.

Despite all of these possible traits, some philosophers do not so readily attribute definitions and characteristics to God. Negative theology, sometimes called apophatic theology, argues that no true statements about attributes of God can be made at all. Instead hegative theologians choose to speak in terms of what cannot be said about God. Similarly, Agnostic positions argue that limited human understanding precludes any possibility for conclusive statements to be made about God.

There are definitions of god which actually deny his existence, such as Paul Tillich's theology which states that god is the essence of all being, but can therefore not be said to exist in same the context of all finite beings in existence. There are also atheistic explanations for the recurrent existence of the concept of God within the human imagination. These often explain God as a function of psychological and/or sociological factors. Thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and Ludwig Feuerbach claim that God is merely a psychological projection of what humans want themselves to be, placed in the context of religion. Others, such as sociologist Emile Durkheim claim that the purpose of a supreme being and its the representative totem which is so often paired with it is to bond groups around communal worship of the totem. According, this totem is again a projection which actually serves to symbolize the tribe. Therefore, God is merely the collective projection of the entire clan, and so the clan worships itself.

Names of God

File:Tetragrammaton scripts.png
YHWH, the name of God or Tetragrammaton, in Phoenician (1100 B.C.E. to AD 300), Aramaic (10th Century B.C.E. to 0) and modern Hebrew scripts.

The noun God is the proper English name used for the deity of monotheistic faiths. Names of God, however, are innumerable, varying with religious traditions. The Bible frequently uses the term Yahweh, from the Hebrew: 'YHVH' (יהוה) in order to refer to God. YHVH, also known as the Tetragrammaton, provides an unpronouncable string of consonants, consistent with the Israelite belief that the true name of god should not be spoken. Other Biblical terms for god include Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, Amanuel, and Amen. When Moses asked God "What is your name?" he was given the answer Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, commonly translated "I am that I am", referring to His unconditional self-existence. Yahweh is also the most popular name for God in the established Jewish tradition, and remains so today. When written or typed as a proper noun, some observant Jews will use the form "G-d" to prevent the written name of God from becoming desecrated later on.

God is of course the most common moniker for the supreme deity in Christianity. However, other terms are used, such as The Holy Trinity (meaning the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit/"Holy Ghost") which is used in almost all mainstream Christianity to refer to the plenitude of God. Other churches use other definitions. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, God is called Igzi'abihier (or the "Lord of the Universe"). Some churches such as the United Church of Canada and Religious Science) are using the term "the One" alongside "God" as a more gender-neutral means by which to refer to God.

Allah is the term most commonly used in (Islam, not as "God's personal name", but the equivalent of the Hebrew word El. "Allah" is Arabic for "the God", and is also used by non-Muslim Arabs. Many linguists believe that the term Allāh is derived from a contraction of the Arabic words al (the) + ilah ("male deity"). In addition, one of the main pagan goddesses of pre-Islamic Arabia, Allāt (al + ilāh + at, or 'the female deity'), is cited as being etymologically (though not synchronically) the feminine linguistic counterpart to the grammatically masculine Allah. If so, the word Allāh is an abbreviated title, meaning 'the deity', rather than a name. If this theory is correct, then explains why Allah is by no means exclusive to Islam, and is commonly used by Arab Christians, Arab Jews, and Malteste Catholics in order to refer to the monotheist deity.

In India, Ishvara is the term used for God among the Hindus. In Sanskrit, it means the Supreme Lord. Most Hindus worship the personal form of God or Saguna Brahman, as Vishnu, Shiva, or directly as the Supreme Cosmic Spirit Brahman. A common prayer for Hindus is the Vishnu sahasranama, which is a hymn describing the one thousand names of God. Ishvara should not be confused with the numerous deities of the Hindu pantheon. In modern Hindi, Ishvara is also called Bhagwan. Sikhs worship God with the name Akal (the Eternal) or Onkar (See Aum). Help of the gurus is essential to reach God. Buddhism, in contrast can be described as atheistic or agnostic: When asked about a supreme God, Buddha remained silent on the subject. Buddha believed the more important issue was a way out of suffering. Enlightened beings are called Arhats or Buddha. However, popular Buddhism of China has venerated the Bodhisattva, an enlightened being that has chosen to forego entering into nirvana until all beings are enlightened. Buddhism also teaches about the devas, or heavenly beings who temporarily dwell in states of great happiness. Jains, meanwhile, do not recognize any Supreme Omnipotent creator God, though they commonly invoke the five paramethis: Siddha, Arahant, Acharya, Upadhyaya and Sadhu.

File:KJV Psalm 23 1 2.jpg
KJV of 1611 (Psalms 23:1,2): Occurrence of "Lord" (and "God" in the heading)

The name of God is consistently capitalized in English writings. The development of English orthography was dominated by Christian texts. In early English bibles, the Tetragrammaton was rendered in capitals: "IEHOUAH" in William Tyndale's version of 1525. The King James Version of 1611 renders YHWH as "The Lord", Elohim as "God", Adonay YHWH and Adonay Elohim as "Lord God", and kurios ho theos as "Lord God" (in the New Testament). Capitalized "God" was first used to refer to the Judeo-Christian concept, and may now signify any monotheistic conception of God, including the translations of the Arabic Allāh and the African Masai Engai. The use of capitalization, as for a proper noun, has persisted to disambiguate the concept of a singular God from pagan deities for which lowercase god has continued to be applied. Pronouns referring to God are also often capitalized and are traditionally in the masculine gender, i.e. "He", "His" etc. However, in more recent times, some people have referred to God in feminine terms, such as "She" and "Her".

Classifications for Beliefs in God

Since the beginning of human religious thought, there have been virtually innumerable ideas provided for purposes of explicating, expressing and experiencing god. Therefore, religious scholars and theologians alike have created a number of classificatory terms in order to better describe the various types of belief in God. Some of the terms most applicable to the current discussion are given below.

  • Theism describes the belief that God is both transcendent and immanent. Thus, God is infinite and ineffable, yet also present in the affairs of the world. God's immanence attributed to revelations given to humanity (for example, holy scriptures) or miracles, whereby god takes initiative in contacting humanity. Even everyday human experiences such as those of "love", "goodness", or "truth" can be interpreted as affirmations of God's involvement in creation. Typically, God in theism is personalistic, having human form and a dynamic emotionality. Most theists hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and unfailingly benevolent, although this belief raises questions about how God relates to evil and suffering in the world. To remedy this difficulty, some theists ascribe to God a self-consciousness or else purposefully place limits upon His omnipotence, omniscience, and/or benevolence. "Theism" is sometimes used to refer in a more general sense to any belief in a god or gods such as monotheism or polytheism.
  • Deism, which holds that God is wholly transcendent, exists in direct counterpoint to theism. For deists, God exists as a First Cause, but does not intervene in the world beyond creation. In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and does not literally answer prayers or cause miracles to occur. Rather, god is simply the entity which created the universe, setting in motion all of its physical laws and processes. After this, god steps out of the picture, allowing the universe to be operated solely by these physical laws. In this way, deism is highly reconcilable with scientific thought. Also common in deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity, and has even been desribed as having no awareness that humanity even exists.
  • Henotheism is the academic classification placed upon religious belief systems which have accepted or do accept the existence of many gods, but worship one particular deity as supreme. This may take the form of a system in which one god rises to supremacy over others in a process of mythological succession (as did Zeus among the Greeks). However, it may also refer to systems where various gods exist in order to illustrate aspects of a greater, supreme being or essence, such as in Vedic Hinduism. Henotheistic beliefs are very often the precursor to full-fledged monotheism, as gradually the inferior gods fall away and the supreme god or universal principle beyond the gods becomes recognized as the sole divinity.
  • Monotheism holds that there is only one God. This has led some traditions to espouse an exclusionist view, holding that their definition of God is the sole correct one. Exclusionist monotheists of one religion can, and often do, consider the God or gods of religions other than their own to be false. For instance, some Christian fundamentalists consider all the gods of other religions to be demons in disguise, including even the monotheistic God of Islam. Others hold an inclusionist view, accepting the possibility of more than one definition of God to be true at the same time and/or claiming that the one true God is worshipped in different religions under different names. Eastern religious believers and Liberal Christians are more likely to assume that adherents of other faiths worship the same God as they, albeit with different attributes due to cultural influences. Unlike other religious classifications, monotheism has been conceived of by many religions as an "ideal" towards which all spiritual endeavour should strive, hence it is the classification which often plays the most significant role in discussions of God such as this.
  • Pantheism refers to the belief that God is the universe and the universe is God. In this system, god is fully immanent, imbuing all of reality with a spiritual basis, and is typically not seen as transcendent. All of Natural law, existence, and the sum total of all that is, was, and ever will be, is represented in the theological principle of God. This means that every object, as well as each individual human, is part of God. Most pantheists do not describe God in personalistic terms, instead conceiving God to be the unconscious, non-sentient universe and the holy majesty it entails in its totality.
  • Panentheism holds that God contains the Universe but is not identical to, existing beyond it as well as within it. Panentheism is often compared to pantheism, however, the panentheist God is both immanent and transcendent, as in Theism. Unlike theism, the panentheist God is less likely to be personalistic. Despite the fact that the term has only recently come into currency within religious circles, pantheistic sentiments are actually quite common in religious movements, such as the Jewish mystic sect Kabbalah, the Liberal Catholic Church, Process Theology, and many branches of Hinduism.

Conceptions of God

Ancient Conceptualizations

Many of the earliest conceptualizations of God, it seems, were actually of goddesses. Archaelogical findings suggest that small female figures and cave paintings of females were the dominant modes for worship in the Paleolithic times (35000-10000 B.C.E.) and later. These depictions typically focus upon the reproductive parts, specifically emphasizing large breasts, the pregnant womb, and the vulva. These parts presumably represented women's creative and preservative traits, such as the production of new life and provision of nourishment. Extrapolating upon these figures, it seems that the female was also symbolically linked to the earth, as both were perceived to maintain the life cycle. The frequent appearance of these figures in archaeological finds, and the lack of comparable male forms, has lead some archaeologists and religious scholars to suggest that the earliest human conception of the deity was as a goddess, with male divinity viewed as the subordinate partner. Some thinkers, such as Sjoo and Mor, brazenly cliam that God was conceived as female for the first 200 000 years of human life upon the earth as we know it, perhaps having been carried on from earlier beliefs of the Cro-Magnons.

Later findings from Catal Huyuk in what is now Turkey suggest that settlements existing between 6500 and 5500 B.C.E. also held the goddess in highest esteem. Certain rooms in living quarters exclusively show paintings of the Goddess, while others feature pictures of female vultures near headless bodies, perhaps suggesting that it is the female principle which takes life back into herself in order to create it anew. Buildings and artifacts found from the ancient Indus Valley in what is now modern day north India may indicate the goddess was also of particular importance. This civilization, which flourished from 2500-1800 C.E., seems to have placed the Goddess in primacy, evident from the number of female depictions found. Any such themes of female primacy disappeared when the militaristic Aryans invaded the Indus Valley. The goddess is virtually ignored in the Vedas, the foundational texts of Hinduism which were composed by the invading Aryans, suggesting the Goddess was supplanted by the notion of a male god in this region. Scholar Marja Gimbutas has extended these findings to argue that there may once have been an agrarian culture centred in Europe in ancient times which also worshipped the goddess. These peaceful people were, in theory, overtaken by patrilineal Russian invaders who assimilated the European goddess worshippers into their patriarchal culture. However, the reconstruction of such evidence is largely conjectural and in need of more concrete evidence.

Early monotheism

The religions that are monotheistic today are often thought of as having been of relatively recent historical origin. Efforts, however, at comparison between the various developemnts in each tradition are usually beset by the claims of most religions to being very ancient or eternal. The worship of polytheistic gods, on the other hand, is seen by many to predate monotheism. Today, monotheistic religions are dominant, though other systems of belief still exist.

Ancient Egyptian

The notion of one god, transcendent to the entire universe grew in several instances out of henotheism. One example comes from the iconoclastic cult of the Egyptian solar god Aten, which was promoted by the pharoah Akhenaten (Amenophis IV), who ruled between 1358 and 1340 B.C.E. Upon inheriting the throne, Akhenaten brought Aten from relative obscurity among the other gods and made him synonymous with the sun, which Egyptians of that time period thought to be the single most powerful entity among . Furthermore, Aten came to represent a more personal conception of the divine than the other gods, all of whom had been primarily the focus of public ritual in temples. As these other gods in the pantheon came to be perceived as inferior to Aten, their idols were destroyed. Even though such works as Akhenaten's hymn to Aten offers strong evidence that Akhenaten considered Aten to be the sole, omnipotent creator, Akhenaten's program to enforce this monotheistic worldview was promptly put to a halt upon his death. The worship of gods other than Aten never fully ceased outside Akhenaten's court, and the older polytheistic cults soon regained prominence. However, the Aten cult could still be classified one of the earliest known examples of monotheism, and it is claimed by some scholars to have possibly been a formative influence on early Judaism's eschewal of polytheism, due to the presence of Israelite slaves in Egypt.

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism provides another example of early monotheistic belief. Zarathushstra founded Zoroastrianism at best estimation sometime during the 10th century B.C.E. as a reacion against Indo-Iranian polytheism which was steeped in ritualism. Zarathushstra (as well as the later Zoroastrians) merged the various notions of divinity found within these assorted faiths into one all-encompassing deity called Ahura Mazda (or "Wise Lord"). Zarathushtra set his teachings apart from contemporary Iranian traditions by insisting that worship be dedicated solely to the Wise Lord. Although Ahura Mazda is the supreme power in the universe, he cannot, however, be considered completely all-powerful. Ahura Mazda is described as inherently good, just and moral, and as such creates only good thing, a seeming limitation to His power considering the presence of evil in the world. Zoroastrians attribute the existence of evil to two subsidiary moral spirits who Ahura Mazda is said to have fathered: Spenta Manyu, who is good, and Angra Manyu, who is evil. Although such a conception limits Ahura Mazda's power, he is consistently portrayed as triumphant over evil, which marks him as the supreme entity in the Zoroastrian cosmos. Later Zoroastrianism also includes other, seemingly more obviously polytheistic elements, such as the acknowledgement of angelic beings called the Amesha Spentas, who are seen as emanations of Ahura Mazda which put in place His will in the physical world.

Greek definitions of God

While Greek mythology is known for its polytheism, the notion of God in more singular or unified form was more hospitably accepted by numerous Greek philosophers. Early thinkers suggested various natural elements which seemed to provide the pantheisitic essence for the universe such as Anaximenes (who claimed the essence to be air) or Thales (who thought it was water). Eventually these elements came to be more abstract, reaching beyond the physical world. Anaximander, for instance, proposed an uncreated and indestructible being which could not itself be considered a thing, yet was responsible for the existence of all things, ruling them all. For Pythagorus and his followers, all things were ruled by mathematics and geometry. Xenophanes propounded the idea of a changeless, undestroyable and unified entity which possessed infinite intelligence as was present in all things, which he called the "All-One" . He claimed this notion of unity and oneness to be the highest and most reasonable form of religious thought.

These ruminations as to the singular essence behind the universe culminated in the later philosophical monotheism espoused by both Plato and Aristotle. Plato construed god as representative of the single good which existed in contrast to the physical world, which was in constant flux and therefore evil. This so-called "Form of the Good" was held by Plato to exist beyond specific instances of good in the world, because each of these particulars was subject to mutability and therefore not eternal. Plato claimed these transient appearances of the Form of the Good were created by a demiurge. The point of life was to rise up from all that is ugly, evil and fallacious and realize the true, permanent Good. Likewise, Aristotle, the famous student of Plato, believed that truth can be found within a proper understanding of the natural world, which is attributable to its ultimate source. This source, also known as the First Mover, is an immutable and indivisible entity, which represents the ultimate ground of truth and singularly provides the explanation as to why all things exist with the characteristics they do, as well as how they came into being. Aristotle propounded the idea that all must seek to understand truth, as the search for truth is ultimately participation in god. Both Plato and Aristotle's conception of the highest entity in the universe would go on to wield massive influence on the conceptions of God in the Abrahamic faiths.

Abrahamic conceptions

Michelangelo's view of God in the painting Creation of the Sun and Moon in the Sistine Chapel)

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are together considered Abrahamic religions due to the fact they worship the God who first came into covenant with Abraham. The stipulation upon this covenant between God and Abraham was that Abraham spread the teaching that only He was god and that all others were false. Therefore, each religion strongly espouses monotheism. Further, no doubt basing later conceptions on the dialougical relationship between Abraham and God, Abrahamic faiths conceive of this god as deeply involved in human history rather than detached from it. God often appears at various junctures through time in order to alter the fate of the physical world.

Considering this close relationship between man and God, it is not surprising that Jews, Christians and Muslims often conceive of God in personalisting terms, bestowing upon Him an explicit will and personality. Even God's physiognomy is marked by anthropomorphic traits, as is evident in the Book of Genesis 1:27 where it is stated "God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Also, God is almost always referred to in the masculine sense. Many medieval rationalist philosophers in each of these religions put forth the view that one should not conceive of God as personal in the literal sense, as such perceptions limit His transcendent majesty. Rather, they claimed that such personal descriptions of God should only be intended as metaphors. Some within these three faiths still accept such views as valid, although the majority of the laity today do not have a wide awareness of them.

Despite the Abrahamic God's similarity to these worldly forms of humans, each of these faiths are also highly dualistic, and God is wholly seperate from the world. In addition, each religion imputes the standard godly traits upon God: he created the world, rules over the universe, and has the properties of holiness (in that He is separate from sin and incorruptible), justness (being fair, right, and true in all His judgments), sovereignty (unthwartable in His will), omnipotence (being all-powerful), omniscience (knowing all), omnibenevolence (all-loving), omnipresence (everywhere-present), and immortality (in that He is eternal and everlasting).

Biblical definition of God

The Hebrew Bible contains no systematic theology, in that no attempt is made to give a rigourousphilosophical definition of God. In fact, God's nature seems to be left ambiguous in order to render His nature mysterious. This is exemplified by God's assertion in Exodus that "you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live". This statement suggests that God's traits, exists beyond human comprehension, and are transcendent to the degree of being harmful. Furthermore, nowhere in the Hebrew Bible are the words omnipotent, omniscient, or omnibenevolent used to define God in a systematic sense. Although Scripture does not describe God systematically, it does provide a poetic depiction of God and His relationship with people. Biblical texts make evident that God that cares about people, and that He also cares about whether or not people care about Him.

God according to the Bible is characterized not just as Creator, but also as the "Heavenly Father". As this title would imply, he is marked in the Hebrew Bible by a number of personalistic, or more specifically, paternalistic traits. Exodus 34:6-7 describes him suchly : "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin (...) will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." Here god is described as being capable of a wide variety of moods ranging from loving and gentle to irascible and vengeful.

Like the Old Testament, the New Testament contains little systematic theology. Again no punctilious definition of God is given, nor is there an elucidation of how exactly God works within the world. However the first of John's letters states: "God is light" (1 John 1:5), before he states: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). This metaphor involving light insinuates that god's true existence is far beyond the physical world, yet his action within it can serve to sustain it. The New Testament also seems to provide an implicit theology as it teaches that God interacted and connected directly with people, in the person of Jesus, and that he subsequently sent the Holy Spirit to maintain this link. Through the person of Jesus, God becomes someone that can be seen and touched, and who may speak and act in a manner easily perceived by humans, while also remaining transcendent and invisible to the naked eye. This appears to be a radical departure from the concepts of God found in Hebrew Bible. The New Testament's statements regarding the nature of God and his various attributes were eventually developed into the doctrine of the Trinity.

God as Trinity

In 325, the Council of Nicaea declared that Jesus Christ, as the son of God, consisted of the same substance as the Father. Along with these two was added the Holy Spirit, the worldly manifestation of God within human beings, which resulted in the formulation that god was made up of three persons composed of one substance. God, therefore, is a single Being who consists, simultaneously and eternally, of three personae, all three of whom share a single Divine essence. Since the 4th Century AD, in both Eastern and Western Christianity, this doctrine has been stated as "One God in Three Persons." Supporting the doctrine of the Trinity is known as Trinitarianism. Trinitarians hold that the three persons of God have the same purpose, holiness, and sovereignty, and therefore each can be worshipped as God without violating the idea that there is only one God to which worship belongs. After the Council of Nicaea, mainstream Christianity came to be defined by the doctrine of the Trinity, and other views of god were considered heretical. As such, the vast majority of Christians today are still trinitarian.

Some alternative views of the trinity have been provided, however, such as Arianism, founded by the early Christian theologian Arius (256-336 C.E.). Arius claimed that the Son, while still divine, was subordinate to the Father, a view similar to that held by the contemporary Jehovah's Witnesses. Sabellius, a third century theologian, claimed that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are actually different modalities of one God as perceived by humans, rather than three distinct persons spawned from the essence of the one God. Mormons believe that the three personas are in reality three separate divine personages. One of these personages is a spirit without a body referred to as the Holy Ghost. The other two personages, Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, are resurrected beings with perfected or celestial bodies . Mormons hold that God is a Holy Man who advanced to his divine status through a repeatable process of progression. They believe that by following their religion's teachings, humans can also progress to become gods in the literal sense once they have experienced their own death and resurrection, a process called Exaltation.

Muslims, Jews, and a small fraction of Christians are unitarian monotheists, referring to the fact that they believe in god as an undivided one and nothing else. Unitarian monotheists hold that God is only one "person" (so to speak), and often consider Trinitarian beliefs to reflect a form of polytheism. As well, not all non-Christian religions disavow multiplicities derived from a supreme god. Hasidic Jews holds that there are ten Sefirot (emanations) of God, each of which is more distinct than a mere characteristic of god, but less distinct than a separate personage. Some sects of Hinduism also recognize the Trimurti, a conception of three major gods which represents mode of the supreme deity. (see below).

Binitarianism

Binitarianism is an alternative view within Christianity that there were originally two beings in the Godhead. These two are most commonly held to be the Father and the Word that became the Son (Jesus the Christ). Binitarians believe that God is a family, currently consisting and the Son and the Father to whom he is subordinate. Some believe that other entities will eventually be born into this divine family. Binitarians claim their views were held by the original New Testament Church, and consider the trinity to be a theological misappropriation fabricated by later Christian hegemony. Scholars of early Christian theology suggest that binitarianism developed out of circles existing during the Apostolic era which worshipped (Jesus) in a manner that in traditional Judaism would be reserved for God alone, while continuing to affirm the Judaic notion that God is one.

In modern times, this view is most commonly associated with some branches of the Worldwide Church of God. Unlike most unitarians and trinitarians who tend to identify themselves by the given terms applied to them, binitarians normally do not refer to their belief in the duality of the Godhead, as binitarianism. Rather, the term has been bestowed upon them by scholars and theologians to place them in contrast to trinitarian theology. Although some critics prefer to use the term ditheist or dualist instead of binitarian, those terms suggests that God is not one, rather than representing the more accurate binitarian belief that God is one family. Among early Binitarians, the Son's subordinance may have been upheld in order to avoid this very charge of ditheism.

Kabbalistic and Hasidic definitions of God

Mainstream Orthodox Judaism teaches that although God is the creator of both matter and spirit, he is himself neither. This teaching has raised questions among some as to how can there be any interaction between the Creator and the created if the Creator is indeed so different from it. In response, early Kabbalists (Jewish mystics) envisioned two aspects of God: firstly, God himself, is ultimately unknowable, and secondly, the revealed aspect of God who created and preserves the universe, interacting with mankind in a personal way. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but rather complementary to one another.

Kabbalah teaches that in order to create the universe, God "withdrew," and created the universe within the space from which "He" contracted. It is taught in the Zohar that God, at the beginning of creation, shattered ten ספירות ("sephiroth") or כלים ("kaylim" or "vessels"), scattering their fragments throughout the universe. The sephiroth are comprised of different vessels embodying various emanations of God's being. Each of these sephiroth is more distinct than a mere characteristic of god, but less distinct than a separate personage, thereby precluding the perception that such a doctrine is polytheistic. Over time, this view evolved into the belief that all of existence was in fact God itself, and that humanity is imbued with an inherent Godliness which each and every human being must come to terms with. The standing view in neo-Hasidism, currently, can be summed up within the quotation "There is nothing but God," as is stated in the ancient Kabbalistic incantation, אין עוד מילבדו ("Ain od milvado"). Thus, the Kabbalistic view of God can be described as pantheistic or panentheistic, a definite departure from tradiaional Jewish theism.

Allah

Muslims conceive God as One, with monotheism forming the cornerstone to their faith. Just as in the other Abrahamic faiths, Muslims claim the worship of one god to be the only acceptable form of religious faith, and place themselves in direct opposition to polytheists and idolators. Allah is all truth and the source of all creation, therefore Allah alone is the sole entity for worship, and no other gods are to be acknowledged or worshipped, without exceptions. With this in place, Muslims deny all forms of polytheism, as well as the Christian notion of the Trinity, which they also claim to be polytheistic. There is no existence or supernatural powers to be worshipped other than Allah. To attribute the traits of Allah upon any other god is considered by Muslims to be the only unforgiveable sin.

The Qu'ran speaks of 99 names of God which can be used to describe Allah. In the Quranic text, however, more than 99 "names" are listed, most of which are not actually epithets, but rather attributes which Allah embodies. Many of these names portray Allah in highly personalistic terms, often claiming Allah as having the abilities to "see" and "hear", which has sparked controversy among Muslim theologians scholarship, some of whom claim that such passages insinuate God has a particular form and is limited by senses. In general, the conclusion has been reached that if God does see and hear, he does so in a manner unworthy of comparison to mere human sensations. One name Al Haq, meaning The Truth, seems to equate to Allah absolute truth as that which cannot be negated. Al Haq is more than a reflection of faith in the existence of The God, and links the concept of God to all creation forever. Thus Allah transcends the prophetic origins of Islam and is actually universal in all time, applying to all existence whether past, present, and future. These traits speak to the the fact that Allah is completely transcendent and therefore wholly separate from humanity. However, he is said to immanent within the world, as well, a process which is carried out through the revelation given to various prophets, the most important of whom is Mohammed.

Negative theology

Some Jewish, Christian and Muslim medieval philosophers developed what is termed as negative theology (sometimes called apophatic theology), the idea of approaching knowledge of God through negative attributes rather than positive statements. In negative theology, it is assumed that human language can never truly express the purview of God. Instead, that person who wishes to understand god must go beyond words. In this sense, negative theology is not a denial of what god is, but rather an exploration of what the Divine might be. For example, a negative theologian might claim that we should not proclaim God's existence in the usual sense of the term. Rather, we would be better off claiming that God is not nonexistent. We should not say that God is wise, but we can say that God is not ignorant. We should not say that God is One, but we can state that there is no multiplicity in God's being. Rather than asserting what god is, then, negative theologians discuss what God is not. This kind of theology is often allied with or expressed in tandem with mystical traditions, which commonly focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception, experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion. Mystical experiences are often described as exceeding the boundaries of human language, therefore, statements about mystical experience of god may be best suited for such a theology of negation.

Conceptions of God in Hinduism

Although the vast varieties of traditions labelled under the heading of Hinduism feature numerous conceptions of the divine, god in Hinduism can be conceived of most simply in two forms for purposes of this article. Firstly God can be conceived as Brahman, which is (at best) described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, transcedent and immanent Reality that is the ground of all Being in this universe, as well as all of non-being. Secondly, God can be conceived of as Ishvara (the Supreme Lord), the personalistic manifestation of god. Ishvara represents the most popular form of God in Hinduism. Despite the fact that many Hindus acknowledge numerous deities or demi-gods known as Devas, Hindus generally believe that Ishvara is only One.

Vedic Henotheism

Hinduism of the early Vedas in largely characterized by polytheism or henotheism, with elaborate ritualism and sacrifice prescribed for appeasing various gods. However, these various gods seem to serve the purpose of honouring a greater, more pantheistic or monistic essence underlying the entire universe. These various gods rise to supremacy at various times in Vedic myth, as well as in ritual. Often this supreme God was called Indra, represented as a warrior god, or else cosmic forces such as Agni, god of fire, Varuna, keeper of the celestial waters, and Vac, speech. Each of these deities enjoyed a position at the top of the Vedic pantheon throughout the course of the Vedas. The interchangable nature of the supreme god suggests that Vedic henotheism was merely a heuristic device for a greater, more nebulous reality, with gods and goddesses personalizing various aspects of the supreme divinity in order to render it more accessible. Rig Veda 1:164:46 is famous for insinuating the existence of some divinity beyond the numerous gods, stating that "Truth is One, though the sages know it as many." Such a statement may be interpreted as a vague hint towards a deeper monism or even monotheism, gauging from the later schools of Hinduism that were seemingly on a search to define god as ultimately one; even within these early texts, it seems clear that the Vedic seers were unsatisfied with the idea of their polytheistic pantheon serving as the sole conception of divinity. Although the various gods were invoked during ritual and sacrifice, it was evident the seers recognized them as manifestation which underlies all perceived multiplicities. By the time of the Upanishads, early commentaries upon the Vedas, the notion of an ineffable, indescribable Supreme Cosmic Spirit which served as grounds for the entire universe called Brahman had been developed to better articultate this singular, supreme essence.

Vedanta Schools

The schools of Vedanta (or "end of the Vedas) are responsible for the further development of this a notion of Brahman. Advaita (or "non-dualistic") Vedanta, founded by mystic philosopher Shankara (700-750 C.E.), served as the fertile grounds from which one of the first monistic philosophies of God was developed. According to Shankara, Brahman is the only true reality in this world, and everything else is based in illusion (or maya). Maya is that complex illusory power which causes the Brahman to be perceived as the material world. Shankara also differentiated between Nirguna Brahman (Brahman without qualities) and Saguna Brahman (Brahman with qualities). When human beings attempt to understand the attributeless Brahman with their worldly minds, ever under the influence of maya, Brahman becomes God, or Ishvara as described as above. Therefore, God in the traditional form with positive attributes (Saguna Brahman) is Brahman conditioned by maya. Ishvara is omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal, independent, Creator of the world, and also its destroyer, ruling the world with his Maya. However, while God is perceived in this conditioned state, humans by way of their ignorance are the servants of Maya, which is the cause of the widespread unhappiness experienced within the mortal world. The Advaita Vedanta philosophy concludes that once one comes to fully realize that the distinction between Brahman and all particular things, including the human soul (Atman), are merely an illusory, they will recognize their own inherent unity with Brahman and henceforth liberate themselves from the material realm.

Visistadvaita (or "qualified non-dualistic"), the second of the major Vedanta schools founded by mystic saint Ramanuja (1017-1137 C.E.) , holds that while the self is still connected to Brahman, it is only an incomplete part and not the same as the whole. While god is infinite and represents the cause and effect of the universe, individual atman are limited and considered to be inferior to Brahman. Brahman, while still remaining ultimately non-dual, is typically perceived by Visistadvaitas as almost or equally important in personalistic Ishvara form. Belief in this deity was claimed by Ramanuja to be indispensible for purposes of reaching the non-dual Brahman. Individual atman form the body of God, while God forms their soul. Simple realization of the soul's true identity will not suffice for attaining liberation, then, since Brahman and atman are not fully equivalent. Rather, Ramanuja prescribed that one should dedicate and surrender themsevles to Ishvara in a process called bhakti (or "loving devotion"). The end result of successful devotion is not a complete merger of the soul with Brahman, as was described by Shankar, but rather an oppurtunity for the liberated soul to share in the nature of God.

Madhva's (1238-1317 C.E.) Dvaita (or "dualistic") Vedanta, in contrast, denies any connection between Brahman and atman. Intead, God is conceived of in wholly personal terms as Ishvara, a being totally seperate from the universe and souls within it, a view displaying significant overlap with Western theism. Nirguna Brahman is rarely acknowledged within this school, which considers the notion of a deity without characteristics to be an intellectual abstraction with no appeal to everyday practices of religion among laypersons.

Emanational Monotheism

Just as with the Vedic tradition, many outside observers interpret the practices of some modern Hindu sects to be polytheistic in nature. However, just as in the Vedic tradition, describing these Hindus as polytheistic is essentially innacurate. For Hindus, as in other faiths, God is made up of innumerable aspects, a consequence of its infinite nature. Therefore, like the Vedic deities, the numerous deities of Hinduism, which have been reported as numbering as high as 330 million, are necessary to provide personalized emphasis upon certain traits of God. Many members of the Hindu faith take the view that it is only through conception of so many divine beings that humans come to realization of Brahman or Ishvara.

One such example of a multiplicity serving as a window to the primordial oneness is classical Hindu idea of the Trimurti, which acknowledges three aspects of God in the personae of Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). These three gods are simply different aspects of the one and the same Ishvara, who is ultimately inconceivable. In this manner, the Trimurti is similar to the Sabellian interpretations of the Christian Trinity. Such forms of worship are very much alive in many contemporary Hindu traditions, such as the Smarta school, which believes worship through meditation upon icons (murti) representing an unlimited number of gods is the optimum means by which connect with the greater power Brahman which transcends the iconic form. All gods, then, reduce to the same principle which does not exist as a plurality. Such schools of Hinduism are better described as emanational monotheism rather than polytheism proper. Emational monotheism refers to religious traditions in which a singular monistic or pantheistic principle is perceived by humans as having many emanations or iterations, and is subsequently given worship through these forms. Other forms of Hinduism are more explicitly polytheistic. For example, the Mimamsa school recognizes the devas (celestial spirits) as the rulers over the forces of nature, with no particular deva rising above the others as the supreme deity.

Devotional Monotheism

Because the many Hindu conceptualizations of gods serve a practical purpose, some remain popular based on their features or mythologies, while other fall out of significance. For some Hindus, the practical polytheism of the many gods has become non-essential as a means to consider one god, and hence there has developed significant devotional monotheistic movements which acknowledge one personalized god as supreme, particularly those gods who have maintained significance since the early history of Hinduism. Such is the case with the popular movements of Vaishnavism, which worships Vishnu and his avatars, and Saivism, which worships Shiva, the two largest branches of Hinduism today. Both of these gods enjoyed some significance in the Vedas, Vishnu being declared the supreme god in several instances, and Shiva prominent in the form of his precursor, Rudra. Their mythologies burgeoned in popularity after the circulation of the Puranas and the Mahabarata, which laid the foundation for their eventual veneration as monotheistic gods.

In the movements associated with Shiva and Vishnu it is believed that Ishvara and Brahman are identical. Thus, these movements more closely resemble traditional Western monotheism in that each sect considers their chosen god to be the sole and supreme deity. However, unlike the Western traditions (as well as Hindu interpretations such as Dvaita Vedanta), the devotional sects generally do not interpret the relation between God and the universe as one of dualism. Rather, they maintain a monistic view which conceives their personalistic god as the supreme entity of the universe, embodying the indescribable and supreme power of the traditional Brahman without qualities. The personalistic attributes of Vishnu and Shiva are not perceived to be limitations upon their power. In fact, it is these very characteristics which are thought to render Vishnu or Shiva superior over Nirguna Brahman.

Ishvara, whether in the form of Shiva or Vishnu, is endowed with several major attributes. The number six is invariably given, but the individual attributes listed in any given account vary since the actual number of auspicious qualities of God are said to be countless. One set of attributes (and their common interpretations) are: Jnana, the power to know about all beings simultaneously; Bala, the capacity to support everything without any fatigue; Virya, the power to retain immateriality in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations; Tejas, which expresses self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by way of spiritual effulgence; and Aishvarya, unchallenged rule over the sixth attribute, Shakti the energy which renders the impossible possible. Shakti itself is the focus of worship in Shaktism, another popular devotional school. Followers of Shaktism conceive of the divine power of the Ishvara as a female goddess, called Devi or Durga who is worshipped as the Divine Mother.

Other Eastern Conceptions

Sikhism

Many scholars attribute the formation of Sikhism to geographical and social pressures which engendered the merger of elements from the Hindu and Islamic faith. With that said, Sikhism features numerous aspects from both religions, such as the notion that God is essentially One (Ek Onkar). Numerous passages within the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh holy book) assert the importance of this idea, including the very first stanza, known as the Mool Mantra. It reads: "One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth (...) Self-Existent." As in the Islamic faith, the assertion of monotheism is a rigourous one, as Sikhs reject any division of God, including the notion that god can produce avatars or human incarnations.

Generally, God is described by Sikhs as the creator of the universe, singular, supreme, timeless, omnipresent, and perfectly moral. Sikhs claim that God's very essence is unchanging Truth (Sat Namm). In addition, He is also described in seemingly anthropomorphic terms, such as in the aforementioned Mool Mantra, which describes Him as "Creative Being Personified." Although Sikhs, like Muslims, bestow many names upon God in order to describe His various traits, they most commonly refer to Him as Wahiguru.

Sikhism also features elements of pantheism or panentheism. Stories attributed to Guru Nanak suggest that he believed god to be everywhere in the physical world as in pantheism, in contrast to contemporaneous Muslims who believed God to be centered around the Kaaba in Mecca. Similarly, the Sikh tradition typically describes God as the preservative force within the physical world, present in all material forms. Each of these worldly forms was created as a manifestation of God. These ideas, taken together with the prevalent Sikh belief that God transcendent creator who exists independent of the world could be interpreted to suggest that Sikhism is panentheistic.

Chinese Religion

The concept of Tian, the force which judged both the world and its rulers, came into currency within China during the Zhou dynasty (1122-255 B.C.E.). Scholars still under debate whether or not Tian was a personal agent or an impersonal force which set in motion all natural forces, though general definitions span both meanings. Evidence suggests that under the Zhou, Tian was actually more of a personalistic force, representing an all-powerful entity which guaranteed peace and justice within the kingdom so long as rulers maintained order and justice, and meted out punishment through natural and social disasters if not. In this way, Tian was primarily seen as a force in support of or against the political leaders. The way in which the ruler was obligated to rule his empire in order to please Tian was known as Tian-Ming, or "the Mandate of Heaven." The ruler, then, was the most important link between Tian and the common people. In fact, only the ruler called upon Tian in the process of ritual and sacrifice. In this way, the people were detached from Tian, and eventually came to see the ruler as a sort of God on earth as the concepts of the ruler and communication with Tian became inextricably linked. Eventually, the ruler came to be known as Tian-zi, the "Son of Heaven," embodiment of Tian on Earth. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), Tian became an item of even more reverence, as humans and the earth came to also be seen as deeply interrelated with it. Tian, then, did not remain separate from creation, and eventually actions of all people were undertaken with regard toward Tian. Inevitably, Tian came to be questioned as the actions of just rulers came to coincide with natural disasters and other seemingly undeserved fates.

Although the teachings of Confucius (551–479 B.C.E.) teachings may seem closer to atheistic than theistic, the notion of the Mandate of Heaven still influenced his work. Confucius delved into the practical questions of how one could live in order to implement the will of heaven and therefore uphold peace, harmony and justice within society. For purposes of implementing the will, he stressed the concept of li which had previously referred to ritual, but was nuanced under his influence,coming to be referred to as "propriety". By bringing personal, familial and societal roles into harmony, one could acheive li, basis for putting the Mandate of Heaven into action. Tian is the foundation for all of which is good, the ultimate aid in attaining a life of ren or "humanity." Therefore, the truly humanistic person always keeps Tian in mind. Mozi would expand upon Confucius' teachings, claiming Tian to be the absolute source of goodness, and the principle which differentiates between what is right and what its wrong. Tian brings what is recognized as beneficial and pleasing for all people in the world, particularly by way of people who seek its goodness through ritual activities such as sacrifice and prayer.

Lao-Tzu, author of the Dao De Jing and acknowledged founder of Daoism, provided a more pantheistic concept to describe the principle which creates and sustains the world, the Dao. Simply put, the Dao is the way: the ultimate, ineffable principle which contains the entirety of the universe, yet also embodies nothingness as its nature. It is all things, but it is also no particular thing. Thus, the Dao, in its totality, represents the central unifying metaphysical and naturalistic principle pervading the entire universe. While the Dao is indescribable and incapable of full human understanding, it is not altogether indiscernable. That is, if one can look beyond the surface of things, they can potentially begin to see the Way of the universe, and come to a realization of their own place as a product of and participant within this Way. The Dao is also responsible for creation, oscillatings between two contrasting creative energies which exist in diametric opposition, the yin and the yang, which put in place for dualities in the physical world. Therefore, the Dao, while not personalistic by any means, embodies many of the definitive traits of God in other traditions. Later on, more personalistic conceptions of divinity would arise. In the Daoist tradition which followed, Lao-Tzu himself came to be viewed as the incarnation of the Dao, and was venerated as a personal god. As well, numerous other humans who followed the Dao were recognized as heavenly figures, or xians ("immortals"), and henceforth were acknowledged held a measure of supremacy in folk religious circles.

Atheism

Also necessary within a discussion of conceptions of god is atheism, which refers most generally to a lack of belief in god. However, the term has a variety of meanings ranging from ignorance or inconclusiveness towards the existence of god, to full-fledge denial that god exists. Also, atheism may entail a disbelief in certain conceptions of god, such as the personalistic variation. Such ideas have been present since aniquity. In the Far East during the 6th century B.C.E. , both Buddha and his contemporary Lao Tzu promoted a contemplative life which supplanted the idea of personal gods. The hedonistic Carvaka school, meanwhile, which flourished in India for a period of time which may have spanned as long as two milleniums between 600 B.C.E. and 1400 C.E., held that the only entities in existence were material, and that all the pleasures of life should be indulged since there was no possibility of god or afterlife to speak of. Similarly, in Greece during the 4th century B.C.E., philosopher Epicurus put forth view that people should disavow faith in god and the notion of an afterlife in order to enjoy the immediate sensory pleasures. Although atheism was considered an anathema in Europe during the Middle Ages, Pope Boniface VIII brazenly suggested that Christianity was a fully human invention, and maintained this atheist position while still insisting on the political primacy of the Catholic Church.

During the Age of Enlightenment, the concept of atheism resurfaced as an accusation made against those who questioned the religious status quo, such as Thomas Hobbes and Christopher Marlowe. However, by the late 18th century atheism had become the philosophical position of a rapidly growing minority, headed by the openly atheistic works of Paul Baron d'Holbach. In the 19th century, atheism became a powerful political tool through the writings of Ludwig Feuerbach, who claimed God was a fictional projection fabricated by humanity. This idea greatly influenced economist Karl Marx, the founding father of communism, who believed that labourers are given religion by thier capitalist employers in order to mitigate the pain caused by the reality of their economic subordination. Religion, Marx claimed, subsequently renders the working class amenable to social control and exploitation. Friedrich Nietzsche summed up the 19th century popularity of atheism when he coined the aphorism "God is dead". By the 20th century atheism had become common as rationalism and secular humanism came in vogue, particularly among scientists. By the late 20th century, atheism also became a staple of various Communist states such as the USSR and China.

Modern views

Process Theology

Process theology is a modern school of thought influenced by the process philosophy developed by mathemetician Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947 C.E.). In process philosophy, is not omnipotent in the classical sense, where He is often viewed as a coercive being. Nor is reality composed of material substances that endure through time. Rather, reality (or more accurately, realities) is made up of serially-ordered events, transitory units of psychic phenomena which are experiential in nature. These units are both backward and forward-looking in regard to time, and are therefore linked to all other occassions which form the totality of the universe. These occassions, are therefore the entire universe, is contained within the mind of God. Those things link together according to patterns determined by the mental activity of god rather than totally at random. However, God cannot force any one thing to happen, but instead can only offer probabilities. In this way, God allows free will to humans as well as everything within the universe, while maintaining a power of persuasion over individual wills (as opposed to explicit force). Therefore, the universe described in Process philosophy is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will, and therefore, both God and his creatures co-create the universe. Furthermore, Because God contains a universe which is in a constant state of flux, God is also considered to be malleable. However, the abstract elements of God, such as benevolence, wisdom, and so forth, remain constant. Therefore, God transcends the universe He contains, marking Process theology a panentheistic.

Posthuman God

Similar to Process philosophy is the belief or aspiration that humans will eventually create a God entity, which will emerge from artificial intelligence or a similar application of human knowledge. Since this God is created by humans and not before them, it is commonly referred to as the posthuman god. Such a concept has been suggested by famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who has claimed that creating a God may actually be the true aim of all religion, rather than providing worship to one. Clarke's friend and science-fiction colleague, the late Isaac Asimov, postulated in his story "The Last Question" a merger between humanity and automated intelligence that ultimately produces a deity capable of reversing entropy. This deity subsequently initiates a new Creation trillions of years in the future when the Universe is in the last stage of heat death. Another variant on this hypothesis is that humanity or a segment of humanity will create or evolve into a posthuman God by itself; a view upheld by followers of cosmotheism and transhumanism, among others.

God as Dead

A number of quasi-atheistic definitions of God have developed with describe god as "dead." While Nietzsche glibly commented upon god's death in order to summarize the intellectual climate of the 19th century, some theologians believe god actually existed at one point in the history of the universe, but eventually ceased to exist. Within the Jewish tradition, this position was held by Conservative rabbi Richard Rubinstein, who was imprisioned in Auschwitz concentration camp during his youth. Having witnessed firsthand the attrocities engineered by the Nazis, Rubinstein made the brazen claim that "God died at Auschwitz", thereby dissolving the covenant between God and the Jews. Within the Christian fold, theologian Thomas Altizer put forth the idiosyncratic view that God has died, not metaphorically but literally, in a process of self-annihilation. Differentiating his position from that Nietzsche, Altizer refers to the death of God as an actual event which has occured in both a historical and cosmological sense. God alienated himself to the world through Christ, according to Altizer, and in order to be emancipated from the potential emptiness of a transcendent realm left vacuous without God, Christians must confess the fact God is indeed dead and move onward. Theologies such as Altizer and Rubinstein's are highly unorthodox, and due to the extremely pessimistic implications of their ideas, as well as the theological difficulties that arise with the claim that an entity regarded as transcendent and immutable can somehow "die", these perspectives have not been widely accepted.

God as non-existent

According to Protestant theologian Paul Tillich, finite beings such as humans, which are theoretically infinite in variation, cannot be sustained or caused by another finite or existant being. The only entity, he claimed, which can create or preserve finite beings is being itself, which he referred to as the "ground of being", or God. According to Tillich, god should not be conceived of as a being which is limited to time and space, as such limitations underestimate the divine ground of being, and thereby render it as finite, as well. Since God is the creator and sustainer of all finite things, god cannot be a finite being. Tillich attempts to eliminates these difficulties by claiming that "God does not exist. He is being itself beyond essence and existence. Therefore to argue that God exists is to deny him." While some accused Tillich of atheism, he instead suggests that since god is beyond the common understanding of being and existence, and therefore must be considered non-existent for all intents and purposes. To call God a being is a gross oversimplification, as God, according to Tillich, is more precisely the essence of all being. For Tillich, God does not exist except as a concept or category for the aid of human understanding.

Extraterrestrials

Some comparatively new belief systems portray God as an Extraterrestrial lifeform or forms. Many of these theories hold that beings from another world who are highly advanced both spiritually and intellectually have been visiting Earth for many thousands of years, and have influenced the development of earthly religions. Examples of these beliefs, such as Raelianism, posit that prophets or messiahs have been sent throughout history in order to teach morality to the human race and encourage the development of civilization. In some cases, these intelligent extraterrestrial beings are said to have planted the seeds of life on earth, thereby making them responsible for the creation of humanity as well as all other biological organisms. One famous espouser of such a view was the late Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA. Confronted with the statistical improbability of the origin of self replicating and purposeful life timeframe physicists allot for the creation of planet earth, which Crick alleged was miniscule, he was convinced life on earth must have originated far away.

God as Woman

Recently there has been a number of religious movements which have attempted to restore the role of the feminine in conceiving of God. Wicca, for example, has focused upon the use of powers derived from numerous gods, particularly the Goddess, in order to execute magical procedures. Wiccans base this esteem for the feminine principle on the idea that such worship practices were prevalent in the world including Europe during the Middle Ages, but were repressed by patriarchal religious traditions which attempted to limit the balance of power allowed to women. Wicca, then, is seen as the current interation of a long-standing tradition of religious belief which acknowledge the Goddess as supreme. This line follows from an ancient shamanistic European tradition which worships the Mother Goddess in three aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone. Goddess, then, becomes the focus of worship and liturgy in the Wiccan tradition.

The urge to reinvigorate the sense of god as woman has found its way into mainstream religion, as well. Women in Christianity have begun to reconfigure the traditionally male conception of God, attempting to make it more feminine, both linguistically and theologically. Ruminations upon the feminine aspects of God have been dubbed theaology, based on the Greek root thea, or feminine conception of God as opposed to the masculine theos. Other depictions of a female Christ, often referred to as Christa, have also been produced. These terms have not necessarily been created to change the conception of God and Christ to exclusively female in gender, but rather to illustrate that male vocabulary has dominated conceptions of God throughout history, and that ideally the divine should transcend all statements of gender. Other Christian women have made similar assertions by associating Mary with the female nature of the divine, though Mary's unquestioning obedience to God as well as her virginity have been critiqued by some feminists as reinforcing subordinate status of women.

Other feminist theologians, such as Rosemary Radford Reuther, have incorporated androgynous features to god in order to balance traditionally "male" and "female" virtues in the divine. Androgyny may very well be the future of Godly conceptions in the context of gender. As John Bowker has suggested, "Maybe the next step woulod be to abandon both theo- and thea and speak instead of Deology; Latin is also gender specific (deus, dea), but both can be abandoned in speaking of Deo-." (p. 314).

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Arrington, Robert L. ed. A Companion to the Philosophers. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. ISBN 155786845
  • Armstrong, K. A History of God. London: Vintage, 1999. ISBN 0-09-927367-5.
  • Berman, D. (1990). A History of Atheism in Britain: from Hobbes to Russell. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04727-7
  • Bowker, John. God: A Brief History. New York: DK Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-7894-8050-6
  • Carr, Brian. "Shankara." In Robert L. Arrington, ed., 613-620.
  • Carr, Indira Mahalingam. "Ramanuja." In Robert L. Arrington, ed., 609-612.
  • Carr, Indira Mahalingam & Carr, Brian. "Madhva." In Robert L. Arrington, ed., 592-594.
  • Church, F. Forrester, ed. The Essential Tillich Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
  • Gimbutas, Marija. The Living Goddesses. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. ISBN 0520213939
  • Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0802860702
  • Miles, Jack. God : A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1995.
  • Myers, Michael W. Brahman: A Comparative Theology. Richmond UK: Curzon, 2001.
  • Pickover, Cliff. The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience. New York: Palgrave/St Martin's Press, 2001.
  • Rohi, Rajinder Kaur. Semitic and Sikh Monotheism: A Comparative Study. Patiala, India: Punjabi University Publication Bureau, 1999. ISBN 8173805504
  • Sjoo, M. & Mor, B. The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991.
  • "Systems of Religious and Spiritual Belief." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Volume 26 Macropaedia. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2002. 530-577.
  • Tapasyananda, Swami. Bhakti Schools of Vedanta. Hollywood, CA: Vedanta Press and Catalog, 1991. ISBN 81-7120-226-8
  • Thrower, James (1971). A Short History of Western Atheism. London: Pemberton. ISBN 0-310-71101-1

See also

External links

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