Conceptions of God

conception of God, or an attribute thereof, in various religions

thumb|Om signifies the essence of Brahman, the ultimate reality.

in Christianity, the first of the three persons of the Trinity, who begets the Son and from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds

Yahweh was an ancient Semitic deity in the southeastern ancient Levant that became the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel-Samaria and Judah. Although there is no clear consensus regarding the geographic origins of the deity, most modern scholars favor a southern origin hypothesis. The worship of the deity goes back to at least the early Iron Age and apparently to the late Bronze Age.

Anu ( , from 𒀭 an "Sky", "Heaven") or Anum, originally An ( ), was the divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the deities in ancient Mesopotamian religion. He was regarded as a source of both divine and human kingship, and opens the enumerations of deities in many Mesopotamian texts. At the same time, his role was largely passive, and he was not commonly worshipped. It is sometimes proposed that the Eanna temple located in Uruk originally belonged to him, rather than Inanna. While he is well attested as one of its divine inhabitants, there is no evidence

thumb|Greek alphabet|Greek spelling of logos|class=skin-invert-image

In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the Demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. Various schools of Gnostics adopted the term demiurge.

Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It is the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used to mean a god, deity, or Divine Being in human or animal form on Earth. The proper noun, Incarnation, refers to the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ. In Islamic literature it is called "ḥulūl".

Northwest Semitic word for "god"

symbol of the all-seeing eye (usually shown surrounded by rays of glory and/or in a triangle)

Christian conception of God

Pandeism, or pan-deism, is a theological doctrine that combines aspects of pantheism with aspects of deism. Unlike classical deism, which holds that the creator deity does not interfere with the universe after its creation, pandeism holds that such an entity became the universe and ceased to exist as a separate entity. Pandeism (as it relates to deism) purports to explain why God would create a universe and then appear to abandon it, and pandeism (as it relates to pantheism) seeks to explain the origin and purpose of the universe.

thumb|Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses (Juno (mythology)|Juno, [[Minerva, and Venus), by Isaac Oliver, ]]

Omniscience is the property of possessing maximal knowledge. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, it is often attributed to a divine being or an all-knowing spirit, entity or person. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are differing beliefs about omniscience among different schools.

Occasionalism is a philosophical doctrine about causation which says that created substances cannot be efficient causes of events. Instead, all events are taken to be caused directly by God. (A related concept, which has been called "occasional causation", also denies a link of efficient causation between mundane events, but may differ as to the identity of the true cause that replaces them.) The doctrine states that the illusion of efficient causation between mundane events arises out of God's causing of one event after another. However, there is no necessary connection between the two: it is

200px|thumb|right|alt=The Western Zhou version of the character "Tian". J. C. Didier identified the squared shape to be the same square found at the very central core of Shangdi, thus illustrating a strong connection (and identification) between the two deities|The Western Zhou version of the character "Tian". J. C. Didier identified the squared shape to be the same square found at the very central core of Shangdi, thus illustrating a strong connection (and identification) between the two deities. thumb|upright=1.3|Annual Sacrifice to Heaven ( jìtiān) in honour of the Highest Deity the Heavenl

Jewish conception of God

postulated ultimate cause of all activity in the universe

the three highest gods in the Taoist pantheon, regarded as pure manifestation of the Tao and the origin of all sentient beings

Tritheism (from Greek τριθεΐα, "three divinity") is a polytheistic nontrinitarian Christian conception of God in which the unity of the Trinity and, by extension, monotheism are denied.

thumb|Statues of Orishas in the water at Dique do Tororó Park, Salvador, Bahia|Salvador, [[Bahia, Brazil]]

novel by Carl Sagan

creator god who largely retires from the world and is no longer involved in its daily operation

Tian () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and is a central concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. During the Shang dynasty (17th–11th century BCE), the highest deity was referred to as Shangdi or Di (, "Lord"). In the subsequent Zhou dynasty, Tian became synonymous with this figure. Prior to the 20th century, the worship of Tian was considered an orthodox cosmic principle in China.

deity who can be related to as a person

Hindu conceptions of God or gods

Omnibenevolence is the property of possessing maximal goodness. Some philosophers, such as Epicurus, have argued that it is impossible, or at least improbable, for a deity to exhibit such a property alongside omniscience and omnipotence, as a result of the problem of evil. However, some philosophers, such as Alvin Plantinga, argue the plausibility of co-existence.

supreme being in many Native American cultures

Aseity (from Latin "from" and "self", plus -ity) (self-existence, self-causation, self-causality and autocausality) is the property by which a being exists of and from itself.

theory regarding ancient Greek religion

Ọlọrun (Yoruba alphabet: Ọlọrun) (Ede language: Ɔlɔrun) is the ruler of (or in) the Heavens, creator of the universe, and the Supreme Deity or Supreme Being in the Yoruba religion and related syncretic religions. Ọlọrun is also called numerous other names including Olodumare (Yoruba alphabet: Olódùmarè), Eledumare and Eleduwa/Eledua. However, in some belief systems the different names refer to particular deities or aspects of the same deity.

type of theology developed from Alfred North Whitehead

in religions, the wholly non-material aspect of a deity's nature & power

Baháʼí conception of God

thumb|The primary Sikh term for God, "Waheguru", written in Gurmukhi script

In Nazi Germany, gottgläubig () was a Nazi religious term for a form of non-denominationalism and deism practised by those German citizens who had officially left Christian churches but professed faith in some higher power or divine creator. Such people were called Gottgläubige ("believers in God"), and the term for the overall movement was Gottgläubigkeit ("belief in God"); the term denotes someone who still believes in a God, although without having any institutional religious affiliation. These Nazis were not favourable towards religious institutions of their time, nor did they tolerate ath

any specific religious or philosophical view of a supreme being

Dystheism (from ; ) is the belief that a god is not wholly good and can even be considered evil. Definitions of the term somewhat vary, with one author defining it as "where God decides to become malevolent".

mathematical concept – an extension of the idea of infinity

concept of God in Abrahamic religions

the idea that words describing the properties of God mean the same thing as when they apply to people or things, even if God is vastly different in kind

Binitarianism is a Christian theology of two persons, personas, or aspects in one substance/Divinity (or God). Classically, binitarianism is understood as a form of monotheism—that is, that God is absolutely one being—and yet with binitarianism there is a "twoness" in God, which means one God family. (In contrast to ditheism/duotheism) The other common forms of monotheism are "unitarianism", a belief in one God with one person, and "trinitarianism", a belief in one God with three persons. Binitarianism differs from Trinitarianism through the rejection of the Holy Spirit as being a distinct per

Traditional Chinese fivefold deity

Imiaslavie (imyaslavie, , or 'name-glorification'), among critics also known as imyabozhie () or imyabozhnichestvo (), "deification of the name", and also referred to as onomatodoxy () was a mystical-dogmatic movement in Russian Orthodoxy, the main position of which was the statement of the indissoluble connection between the name of God as the energy and action of God and God Himself. The imiaslavie movement emerged early in the 20th century, but both proponents and opponents cite alleged antecedents throughout the history of Christianity. Advocates claim that the idea is traceable to the Chu

literal or allegorical view

belief that God is without distinguishable parts, characteristics or features (is "one")

religious concept

Sikh view of God

god in Mormonism

gnosticism

Egotheism or autotheism (from Greek autos, 'self', and theos, 'god') is the belief in the divinity of oneself or the potential for self-deification. This concept has appeared in various philosophical, religious, and cultural contexts throughout history, emphasizing the immanence of the divine or the individual's potential to achieve a godlike state. While critics often interpret autotheism as self-idolatry or hubris, proponents view it as a form of spiritual enlightenment or personal transcendence.

theological movement within evangelical and post-evangelical Protestant Christianity, stating that, due to God’s and humans’ free will, God's knowledge is dynamic (“open”); His providence, flexible; the future, a plurality of branching possibilities

Supreme, final, and fundamental power in all reality

eternal divine manifestation of good in Manichaeism

In the indigenous religion of the ancient Tagalogs, Bathalà/Maykapál was the transcendent Supreme God, the originator and ruler of the universe. He is commonly known and referred to in the modern era as Bathalà, a term or title which, in earlier times, also applied to lesser beings such as personal tutelary spirits, omen birds, comets, and other heavenly bodies which the early Tagalog people believed predicted events. It was after the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines in the 16th century that Bathalà /Maykapál came to be identified with the Christian God, hence its synonym

in theology, aspect of divine presence

the substantial essence or nature of the Christian God

Tafwid () is an Arabic term meaning "relegation" or "delegation", with uses in theology and law.

transcendental deity of the Mandaeans