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The noun God refers to any of a number of postulated immortal, supernatural beings, usually said to rule,
alone or in company with other gods, over the destinies of humankind and the universe. When spelled with a capital "G" it is a
proper noun, usually the name given in English to the one supreme being, as
postulated, especially but not exclusively, by the three major Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as well as Hinduism (Brahman), Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. When spelled with a small "g"
it is a common noun, referring to one of the postulated supernatural beings of some religious systems, such as the gods of the
Greek and Roman religions.
See Deities for a list from various religions. See also Goddess.
It can also be used to refer to similar concepts such as an energy or consciousness that pervade the universe, and whose
existence makes the universe possible; the source of all existence (YHWH); the best and
highest good within all sentient beings; a higher power; or even that which is beyond all understanding or definition.
Conflicting interpretations arise regarding the name of "God", and what the name actually means—often the
infinite God concept is mixed with non-infinite personifications of "God" (i.e., God as an old man, a Zeus or Odin.) A belief in a "God" or gods is found in all
cultures, although followers of a particular God or gods may consider other gods to be nonexistent or inferior. Likewise
many people hold non-literal, sometimes even secular interpretations of God;
few of which contradict the concept of the "Absolute Infinite",
despite any contradictions they may have with any particular religious
tradition.
Etymology
The word God comes from the Old English/German/Norse language family and is equivalent to the derivatives of the Latin word Deus. The
meaning and etymology behind the Germanic/Indo-European word God as used in English and its cognates (such as
Gott in modern German) have been hotly disputed, though most agree in a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form ʒuðán, which means
something like "possession" or "inspiration", and could be related to everything from the old Germanic divinity Wotan/Odin to the Greek word khute, meaning "libation".
God in monotheistic religions
The generic term God is often used as a proper name by most adherents of most monotheistic faiths. Different names for God have arisen from both language differences and from religious
traditions. Both kinds of branches have generated evolutions in the name of "God".
- Jehovah or Yahweh—one of the
names used for God in the Bible, based on the Hebrew YHVH (יהוה). This name, while appearing in Jewish
prayers, is never pronounced (Adonai is
usually said instead). As written Hebrew did not originally
mark vowels, the original pronunciation is speculative. See The name of God in Judaism for many other Jewish names of God.
See also the entry on Names given to the
divine
God in exclusivistic religions
In exclusivistic religions like Christianity, and Islam, it is believed that the God has revealed a version of his message which is final and the only true
message through a prophet or messenger. Most followers of exclusivistic religions also believe that their path is the only path
to salvation ordained by God.
God in inclusivistic religions
In inclusivistic religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Transcendentalism, it is believed that the followers of religion do not have an exclusive path to God.
Followers of inclusivistic faiths believe that followers of other religions are equally correct and are just on a different path
to the same destination.
The existence of God
Arguments both for and against the existence of God have a history dating back to classical times. Ontological arguments argue God exists by necessity or definition -
that God's existence can be determined from consideration of his nature alone. Cosmological arguments contend that the existence of the universe is contingent upon the existence of
God. Teleological arguments argue that the structure of
aspects of the Cosmos, such that the high level of complexity seen in our universe or
the apparent fine-tuning of physical constants, require a divine designer. Arguments from morality contend that the existence of 'good' and 'evil' imply the existence of God.
A more comprehensive list of such arguments can be found in Arguments for the existence of God.
Alternately, there are a variety of arguments against the existence of God. The problem of evil argues that the suffering seen in the world is inconsistent with an omnipotent but benevolent God.
The argument from Inconsistent Revelations argues the diversity of different religious
beliefs makes the 'truth' of any particular viewpoint on God highly improbable. Incompatible-properties arguments contend that many of the properties often
assigned to God are logically inconsistent with each other.
Fideism maintains that all these attempted proofs and disproofs of God's existence
are misguided, as belief in God must depend on faith, rather than any rational arguments
or proofs.
The nature of God
Theology is the study of the nature of the divine. Theologians attempt to
explicate (and in some cases systematize) beliefs as well as expressing their own personal experience of the divine. We attempt
to classify theologies according to their views on two fundamental issues:
- Is God singular or plural (or perhaps a trinity)?
- Is God transcendent or immanent, or both?
Answers to these questions reflect, and imply, different positions concerning the relationship between God or god(s) and the
world, and between God or god(s) and humankind.
- Theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite
and in some way present in the affairs of the world. Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely simple and is outside of time. Most theists hold
that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and
suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or
benevolence. For a discussion of the meaning of "God" in this sense, see: What is
God?.
- Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not intervene in
the world beyond what was necessary for Him to create it. In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and does not literally answer
prayers or cause miracles to occur.
- Monotheism holds that there is only one god, or that the one true god is
worshipped in different religions under different names. Polytheism is a belief
in a multitude of gods, not necessarily all possessed of equal power. Different forms of polytheism state different numbers of
gods, ranging from the dozens to the thousands.
- Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God. Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe. The
distinctions between the two are subtle, and many consider them unhelpful. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God; which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov. It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church, Theosophy, Cosmotheism, some Buddhists, Taoism, Process theology and a Christian movement known as Creation Spirituality, along with many varying denomintions and individuals within denominations.
Within Sanatana Dharma, or Hinduism (as it is commonly called) a
variety of lesser gods are seen as aspects of the one God, Brahman (not Brahma).
Brahman is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be. Vedanta is a branch of Hindu
philosophy which gives this matter a greater focus. Yoga is the primary focus in many
ways of a Hindu's religious activities, being somewhere between meditation,
prayer and healthful exercise. Some of
the Hindu gods include Brahma, Devi, Vishnu, and Siva. Most of its
adherents are monists, seeing in multiple manifestations of the one God or source of
being, which is often confused by non-Hindus as being polytheism. It is seen as
one unity, with the lesser gods aspects of the one, like many colors of the same prism, and seen by some as valid to worship.
Many even believe they may be able to bring worshippers closer to Moksha, end of the
cycle of rebirth. Some sects of Hinduism believe in a monotheistic ideal
of Krishna, or Vishnu or Shiva, but Brahman is more often seen as the one God, with all other gods emanating therefrom.
With all Hindus, there is a strong belief in all paths/true religions leading to One God.
- Maltheism is a form of theism, which holds that God is a cruel, arrogant,
abusive, and untruthful being, unworthy of worship. They point to the hypocritical inconsistencies in God's behavior and commands
as found in the Bible and other religious writings as evidence of this. Maltheists note the hypocrisy in attributing all that is
good to an omnipotent being, while denying that this being should also be held responsible for all that is evil. They note that
the problem of evil really isn't a problem at all: the answer to the
question "If God is omnipotent and benevolent, why is there evil in the world?" is an obvious one—there is no way an
omnipotent benevolent God would allow evil in the world, therefore God is either not omnipotent, not benevolent, or both. This is
similar to the notion that if God is 'our Heavenly Father', why would he treat us, his children, the way he does? Many Maltheists
believe that God is dependent on human worship to live, and that minimizing humanity's offering of worship to him will diminish
his power over us. The existence of Maltheism demonstrates that believing in (the existence of) God and worshiping God are two
distinctly different things.
- Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit every existing thing, including
plants, minerals, animals and, including all the elements, air, water, earth, and fire. The first form of worship probably
expressed animist ideas. The anthropologist E. B. Tylor argued that religion originally took an animist
form.
- Dualism, sometimes also called Manichaeism (although, strictly speaking, Manichaeism is but one dualistic religion), holds that there is both
a perfectly good God and an opposing evil deity of equal potency. It is the belief that there are only two fundamental things or
substances or constituents of things in the world at large or in the human soul. An example would be that both good and evil
simultaneously exist and that one cannot survive without the other. That they balance each other even though they are independent
of each other. An ancient form of Zoroastrianism which was known to the
ancient Greeks was dualist in nature.
- Henotheism is the belief in one god, but at the same time does not deny the
existence of other gods. It is a variation of polytheism which holds that there are many gods, but one of them is supreme and the
other ones are only ancillary and don't have the same level of "god-ness". Some forms of Greek and Roman classical polytheism
fall into this category. The gods of Norse mythology, who are
subsidiary to Odin are another example of henotheism. The term has come to mean in recent
years that one believes in multiple god/esses, though the worshipper "borrows" from various cultural groups and may worship one
above the others. An example would be worshipping a Greco-Roman god for one reason and then asking a Celtic god for something
else. This form of henotheism is frequently condemned in the Torah or Old Testament. The pagans of the
Roman Empire were similarly henotheistic, as are some modern-day Neopagans. Some sects of Hinduism possibly fall under this, but are more appropriately
termed monist deists.
- Monolatrism forms a type of henotheism. Its adherents believe that many
gods do exist, but these gods can exert their power only on those who worship them. Thus, a monolatrist may believe in the
reality of both the Egyptian gods and the god described in the Bible, but sees him or
herself as a member of only one of these religions. The gods that he/she worships affects their life; the other gods do not.
- Polytheism is the belief in more than one god/dess. In some beliefs it is
said that all these god/desses are of equal power and authority while in others a hierarchy exists. The Greco-Roman deity
structure exemplifies polytheism.
A few people use the word "monotheism" to refer to the belief in a single god and use "theism" to refer to any belief in
god(s), i.e., monotheism or polytheism. Some theists believe in the existence of other less powerful immortal beings, but give
them other names such as angels or demons.
Some people, find the concept of God meaningless or unnecessary.
- Atheism holds that no gods exist at all. Different atheists formulate this
position in different ways. Some posit that Buddhism is an atheistic form of
religion.
- Logical positivism holds that the word "god" is (cognitively) meaningless.
In addition, there are those who regard themselves as unavoidably ignorant.
- Agnosticism holds that humans cannot or do not know whether or not any
god or gods exist. Some theists and some atheists hold variations of this belief.
God as Unity or Trinity
Jews, Muslims, and a small fraction of
Christians are unitarian monotheists. The vast majority of
Christians have been and still are Trinitarian monotheists. Many Trinitarian Christians hold that belief in the Trinity
is so essential to Christianity that Unitarian Christians are pseudo-Christians, in need of being baptized with the Trinitarian formula before
they can be considered genuine Christians.
Unitarian monotheists hold that there is only one "person" (so to speak), or
one basic substance, in God. Some consider Trinitarianism to be a form of polytheism. In contrast, Trinitarian monotheists
believe in one god that exists as three distinct persons who share the same substance/essence; this belief is called the Trinity: compare with the Hindu Trimurti. See also Christology.
Mormons hold that God is one of three divine personages collectively referred to as
the Godhead. One of these personages is a spirit without a body referred to as the
Holy Ghost. The other two personages are spirits with perfected or
glorified (often called celestial) bodies referred to as Heavenly Father (or less commonly "Eloheim") and his son, Jesus Christ. Mormons hold that God is a Holy Man, or sanctified human who advanced to his
divine status through a repeatable process of progression. They believe that by following the precepts of their faith humans can
literally become gods (sometimes phrased as "become like Heavenly Father") at some point after death and resurrection. This
belief is mainly held in the largest Mormon branch, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This belief system implies, if not
explicitly claims, polytheism as opposed to the monotheistic views of mainstream Christianity.
Monotheistic conceptions of God
Judaism, Christianity and
Islam see God as a single being who rules over the universe. These three Western faiths
uphold an ancient monotheistic tradition that, according to their belief, is the original faith of mankind (or alternatively, for
some believers, began with their first Prophet, Abraham). In this view one God, the creator of the world, exists. A number of additional attributes generally link
to God, including Omnipotence (being all-powerful), Omniscience (being all-knowing), and Omnibenevolence (being all-loving).
These usually conceive of God as a personal God, with a will and personality. However, many important medieval
rationalist philosophers of these three religions taught that an intelligent person should not view God as personal at all, and
that all these teachings were actually meant as metaphors only. Some intellectuals
of these three faiths in the West still accept these views as valid, although many of the laity today do not have a wide awareness of them.
In Eastern Christianity, it remains essential that God
be personal; hence it speaks of the three persons of the Trinity. It also
emphasizes that God has a will, and that God the Son has two wills, divine and human, though these are never in conflict. The
personhood of God and of all human people is essential to the concept of theosis or
divinization.
Biblical definition of God
The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) characterizes God by these attributes: "The Lord, the Lord, a 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, but who 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." (Exodus 34:6–7)
The Hebrew Bible contains no systematic theology: No attempt is made to give a philosophical or rigorous definition of God, nor of how God acts
in the world. It does not explicitly describe God's nature, exemplified by God's assertion in Exodus that "you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live". It does, however, provide a poetic
depiction of God and His relationship with people. According to the biblical historian Yehezkal Kaufmann, the essential
innovation of Biblical theology was to posit a God that cares about people, and that cares about whether people care about Him.
Most people believe that the Bible should be viewed as humanity's view of God, but theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel described the Biblical God as
"anthropopathic", and said that we should read the Bible as God's view of humanity.
Similarly, the New Testament also contains no systematic theology: no
attempt is made to give a philosophical or rigorous definition of God, nor of how
God acts in the world. The New Testament does, however, provide an implicit theology as it teaches that God became human
while remaining fully God, in the person of Jesus Christ, and that he
subsequently sent the Paraclete. In this view, God becomes someone that can
be seen and touched, and may speak and act in a manner easily perceived by humans, while also remaining transcendent and
invisible. This appears to be a radical departure from the concepts of God found in the Hebrew Bible and in the Qur'an. The New Testament's statements regarding the nature of God were eventually developed
into the doctrine of the Trinity.
Aristotelian view of God
A separate article exists on the Aristotelian view
of God. Much of this article discusses Aristotle's book on first philosophy, the Metaphysics, in which Aristotle discusses the meaning of "being
as being". In brief, Aristotle holds that "being" primarily refers to the Unmoved Movers, and assigned one of these to each
movement in the heavens. Each Unmoved Mover continuously contemplates its own contemplation, and everything that fits the second
meaning of "being" by having its source of motion in itself, moves because the knowledge of its Mover causes it to emulate this
Mover (or should).
Many medieval philosophers made use of the idea of approaching a knowledge of
God through negative attributes. For example, we should not say that God exists in the usual sense of the term; all we can safely
say is that God is not nonexistent. We should not say that God is wise, but we can say that God is not ignorant, i.e. in some way
God has some properties of knowledge. We should not say that God is One, but we can state that there is no multiplicity in God's being. See apophatic theology. This article also discusses Aristotle discussion of Platonic theory, according to which ideas are the ultimate principles of Being.
Aristotelian view of God
Kabbalistic definition of God
Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric mysticism)
teaches that God is neither matter nor spirit. Rather God is the creator of both, but is Himself neither. But if God is so
different than His creation, how can there be any interaction between the Creator and the created? This question prompted
Kabbalists to discuss two aspects of God, (a) God Himself, who in the end is unknowable, and (b) the revealed aspect of God who
created the universe, preserves the universe, and interacts with mankind. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not
contradictory but complement one another.
Some Kabbalistic Jews, such as Moses Cordovero and Lubavitch (Chabad) Hasidism, hold that the first aspect of God is actually all that there really is. Nothing exists except for
God, and all else is an illusion. (Depending on how this is explained, such a view can be considered panentheism, or pantheism.) Most other Kabbalists hold
that there is an aspect of God that is revealed to the world.
Kabbalists speak of the first aspect of God as "En Sof"; this is translated as "the infinite", or "that which has no limits".
In this view, nothing can be said about this aspect of God. This aspect of God is impersonal. Kabbalists speak of the second
aspect of God as being seen by the universe as ten emanations from God; these emanations are called 'sefirot'.
The "sefirot" mediate the interaction of the ultimate unknowable God with the physical and spiritual world. Some explain the
sefirot as stages of the creative process whereby God, from His own infinite being, created the progression of realms which
culminated in our finite and physical universe. Others suggest that the sefirot may be thought of as analogous to the
fundamental laws of physics. Just as gravity, electro-magnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force allow for
interactions between matter and energy, the ten sefirot allow for interaction between God and the Universe.
A difficulty with this view is that the Kabbalah teaches that the Sefirot are not distinct from the Ein-Sof, but are somehow
within it. The idea that there are ten divine sefirot could evolve over time into the idea that "God is One being, yet
in that One being there are Ten". This would be almost the same as the Christian belief in the Trinity, which states that while
God is "One", in that One there are three persons. This interpretation of Kabbalah in fact did occur among a small number of Jews
in the 17th century. Rabbi Leon Modena, a 17th century Venetian critic of kabbalah,
wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah, then the Christian trinity would indeed be compatible with Judaism, as the Trinity
closely resembles the Kabbalistic doctrine of sefirot. This critique was in response to the fact that some Jews went so far as to
address individual sefirot individually in some of their prayers. Kabbalah had many other opponents, notably Rabbi Yitzchak ben
Sheshet Perfet (The Rivash); he stated that Kabbalah was "worse than Christianity", as it made God into 10, not just into three.
The critique, however, was unfair. Most followers of Kabbalah never believed this interpretation of Kabbalah. The Christian
Trinity concept posits that there are three persons existing within the Godhead, one of whom literally became a human being. In
contrast, the mainstream understanding of the Kabbalistic sefirot holds that they have no mind or intelligence; further,
they are not addressed in prayer, and they can not become a human being. They are conduits for interaction - not persons or
beings.
The Kabbalah's idea of emanations could also be compared to the distinction made by fourteenth century Christian theologian
Gregory Palamas. Palamas drew a distinction between God's
essence and energies, affirming that God was
unknowable in His essence, but knowable in His energies. Palamas never enumerated God's energies, but described them simply as
ways that God could be seen acting in the Universe, and particularly on people, from the light shining from the face of Moses
after Moses descended Mt. Sinai, to the light surrounding Moses, Elijah and Jesus Christ on Mt. Tabor during the transfiguration
of Jesus. For Palamas, God's energies were not some other thing separate from God, but were God; however the idea of energies was
kept very distinct from the idea of the three persons of the Trinity.
Today all Hasidic Orthodox Jews are Kabbalistic; some non-Hasidic
Orthodox Jews are kabbalisticly inclined, while some are rationalists. Most Reform and Conservative Jews are
rationalists.
Process theology and process philosophy definition of God
See the entries on process theology and panentheism.
Neopagan concept of God and/or gods
Neopaganism allows for diverse personal beliefs about the nature of God.
There is little specific dogma. Most Neopagans hold a polytheistic, pantheistic or panentheistic belief, often with some elements
of animism. Among Neopagans, and especially Wiccans, God is commonly expressed through
the duality of the Goddess and the Horned God. However, there are those Pagans who align themselves with the Left-Hand Path (LHP). These LHP Pagans are generally autotheists, believing that they themselves are gods or can become gods.
While on the surface neopagans worship many gods, many practice a kind of
monotheism, believing the many gods to be aspects of the One God. Many others practice duotheism, for example in many forms of
Wicca all gods are considered aspects of the Lord, and all goddesses aspects of the
Lady.
Most heathens consider themselves strict polytheists.
The Ultimate
Arguably, Eastern conceptions of The Ultimate (this, too, has many
different names) are not conceptions of a personal divinity, though certain Western conceptions of what is at least
called "God" (e.g., Spinoza's pantheistic conception and
various kinds of mysticism) resemble Eastern conceptions of The Ultimate.
The mathematician Georg Cantor identified God with the mathematical
concept of the Absolute Infinite.
The gender of God
In Judaism it is a fundamental heresy to believe that God has a gender.
Grammatically, most of the Hebrew names for God are masculine; a few
are grammatically feminine; this is not held to have literal significance. In regards to translating Hebrew names of God into
English, most Orthodox and many Conservative Jews argue that it would be wrong to apply English female pronouns to God, not because God is of the male gender, but because doing so tends to draw
attention to God as having gender, and also because the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) usually
uses names that are grammatically masculine.
In Christianity, one person of God, the Son, is believed to have become
incarnate as a human male; however, the other two persons of God are commonly considered to have no gender, since they are not at
all physical. (The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints is an exception; it teaches that God the Father also has a
perfect body of flesh and bones, while agreeing that the Holy Spirit is bodiless.) The other two persons (the Father and the Holy
Spirit) have traditionally been referred to using male pronouns, and have primarily been associated with male imagery; Jesus
referred to God as everyone's Father (e.g., the Lord's Prayer). But
some Christians today, especially those inspired by feminism, do
not consider this tradition and instruction to be binding. Other commentators point out that Hebrew tradition sees the Spirit as
female.
Most Neopagan traditions, such as Wicca, believe in both male and female Deities. A
few (especially Dianic Wicca) see the Divine as entirely feminine, and call
her the Goddess.
For a more detailed look at this issue, see the article on God and
gender.
Revelation: how God communicates with humanity
Many religions hold that God can communicate his will to humanity; this process is called revelation. Some religions believe that revelation is only available to certain individuals, dubbed prophets. Others believe that revelation is channeled through divinely sanctioned religious
institutions, and still other, more mystically oriented religions, believe that revelation is generally available to all
people.
The books of the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament) are held to be the
product of revelation by Jews. Both this and the New Testament are held to be the product of divine revelation by Christians. Muslims consider the
Hebrew Bible and the New Testament to be deliberately corrupted works; instead they affirm that the Koran alone represents divine revelation.
Neopagans teach that communication from the gods is usually direct and
experiential, and do not have the concepts of "scripture", "prophet" or "revelation" in the sense used by the Abrahamic religions. Divine messages are believed
to usually be given directly to the person or persons for whom they are meant. In some traditions, a ritual sometimes considered
revelatory is called Drawing Down the Moon, in which a high priestess (or sometimes High Priest) invokes the Goddess and
speaks by Divine inspiration to an assembled coven. This ritual occurs most commonly in
the Wiccan traditions.
Omnipotence and Omniscience
Discussions about God between people of different faiths, or indeed even between people of the same faith, often prove
unproductive, in no small amount due to people using the same words but assigning them different meanings. This situation occurs
when some monotheists within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam state that God is omnipotent. In practice one finds that the term
"omnipotent" has been used to connote a number of different positions. See the articles on Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Predestination.
Many monotheists reject altogether the view that God is omnipotent. In Unitarian-Universalism, much of Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism, and some liberal wings of Protestant
Christianity, God is said to act in the world through persuasion, and not by coercion. God makes Himself manifest in the world
through inspiration and the creation of possibility, but not by miracles or violations of the laws of nature. The most popular works espousing this point
come from Rabbi Harold Kushner (in Judaism). This is the view that also
was developed independently by Alfred North Whitehead
and Charles Hartshorne, in the theological system known as
process theology.
God as a computer, alien, etc.
Some comparatively new belief systems and books portray God as an alien. Many of these
theories hold that intelligent aliens from another world have been visiting Earth for many thousands of years, and have
influenced the development of our religions. Some of these books posit that prophets or messiahs were sent to the human race in order to teach humanity morality, and to encourage our civilization to grow and develop.
Some people have posited that perhaps God is really an intelligence that at some point in the past become sufficiently
advanced that it uploaded itself to the very fabric of the cosmos. In this view, this god-intelligence now looks over the
Earth.
Similar to this theory is the belief or aspiration that humans will create a God entity, emerging from an artificial intelligence. Arthur C. Clarke, a science fiction writer (and futurist of sorts), said in an interview that:
It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him.
Another variant on this hypothesis is that humanity or a segment of humanity will, through self-evolution, create a
posthuman God from itself; for some examples, see cosmotheism, transhumanism or even
prometheism.
Quotes about God
God is apprehended by imagination, intuition, reason, touch, opinion, sense, and name (and so on) while on quite the other
hand, we find we can't begin to understand him, so to some it seems a shame to go on but he is all things in all and he is
nothing in any he is often found in one thing small conversely, he is often missed in many. - Thomas Aquinas (as transcribed in Godspell)
Links and references
References
- Karen Armstrong, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ballantine Books,
1994
- Jack Miles, God : A Biography, Knopf, 1995.
- Cliff Pickover, The Paradox of God and the Science of
Omniscience, Palgrave/St Martin's Press, 2001.
See also
External links
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