Information AboutGod |
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God most commonly refers to the Deity worshipped by followers of Monotheistic and Monolatrist Religion s, whom they believe to be the Creator and ruler of the Universe . Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted . (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press , 1995. Theologians have ascribed a variety of attributes to the various conceptions of God. The most common among these include Omniscience , Omnipotence , Omnipresence , perfect Goodness , divine Simplicity , and eternal and necessary existence. God has also been conceived as being Incorporeal , a personal being, the source of all Moral Obligation , and the "greatest conceivable existent". These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish , Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Augustine Of Hippo , Edwards, Paul . "God and the philosophers" in Honderich, Ted . (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press , 1995. Al-Ghazali , Platinga, Alvin . "God, Arguments for the Existence of," ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Routledge, 2000. and Maimonides . Many notable Medieval Philosophers developed arguments for the Existence Of God , attempting to wrestle with the apparent Contradiction s implied by many of these attributes. Philosophers have developed many arguments for and against the Existence Of God . ETYMOLOGY AND USAGE
The capitalized form "God" was first used in Ulfilas ' Gothic translation of the New Testament , to represent the Greek '' Theos ''. In the English language the capitalization continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and the "gods" of of Judaism , Christianity , Islam and the Bahá'í Faith . Though there are significant cultural divergences that are implied by these different names, "God" remains the common English translation for all. The name may signify any related or similar monotheistic deities, such as the early monotheism of Akhenaten and Zoroastrianism . In the context of Comparative Religion , "God" is also often related to concepts of universal deity in Dharmic Religion s, in spite of the historical distinctions which separate ''monotheism from polytheism'' — a distinction which some, such as Max Müller and Joseph Campbell , have characterised as a ''bias'' within Western Culture and theology. NAMES OF GOD The noun ''God'' is the proper English name used for the deity of monotheistic faiths. Various English third-person pronouns are used for God, and the correctness of each is disputed. (See God And Gender .) Different names for God exist within different religious traditions:
, in Phoenician (1100 BC to AD 300), Aramaic (10th Century BC to 1st century AD) and modern Hebrew scripts.]]
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD painter Michelangelo . Detail of Sistine Chapel fresco ''Creation of the Sun and Moon'']] See Also: Conceptions of God Conceptions of God vary widely. Theologians and philosophers have studied countless conceptions of God since the dawn of civilization. The Abrahamic Conceptions Of God include the Trinitarian view of Christians, the Kabbalistic Definition of Jewish mysticism, and the Islamic Concept Of God . The Dharmic Religions differ in their view of the divine, ranging from the almost polytheistic view of God In Hinduism to the almost non-theist view of God In Buddhism . In modern times, some more abstract concepts have been developed, such as Process Theology and Open Theism . Conceptions of God held by individual believers vary so widely that there is no clear consensus on the nature of God.1 The contemporaneous French philosopher Michel Henry has however proposed a Phenomenological Approach And Definition Of God as phenomenological essence of Life . EXISTENCE OF GOD See Also: Existence of God Many arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed and rejected by philosophers, theologians, and other thinkers. In Philosophical terminology, such arguments concern schools of thought on the Epistemology of the Ontology of God. There are many philosophical issues concerning the existence of God. Some definitions of God are so nonspecific that it is certain that ''something'' exists that meets the definition; while other definitions are apparently self-contradictory. Arguments for the existence of God typically include metaphysical, empirical, inductive, and subjective types. Arguments against the existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive types. Conclusions reached include: "God exists and this can be proven"; "God exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" ( Theism in both cases); "God does not exist" ( Strong Atheism ); "God almost certainly does not exist"2 (''de facto'' atheism); and "no one knows whether God exists" ( Agnosticism ). There are numerous variations on these positions. A recent argument for the existence of God is called '', Kitzmiller V. Dover Area School District , December, 2005 THEOLOGICAL APPROACHES Theologians and philosophers have ascribed a number of attributes to God, including Omniscience , Omnipotence , Omnipresence , perfect Goodness , divine Simplicity , and Eternal and Necessary existence. God has been described as Incorporeal , a personal being, the source of all Moral Obligation , and the greatest conceivable being existent. These attributes were all claimed to varying degrees by the early Jewish , Christian and Muslim scholars, including St Augustine , Edwards, Paul . "God and the philosophers" in Honderich, Ted . (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press , 1995. Al-Ghazali , Plantinga, Alvin . "God, Arguments for the Existence of," ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Routledge, 2000. and Maimonides . Many Medieval Philosophers developed arguments for the existence of God, while attempting to comprehend the precise implications of God's attributes. Reconciling some of those attributes generated important philosophical problems and debates. For example, God's omniscience implies that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, their apparent Free Will might be illusory, or foreknowledge does not imply predestination; and if God does not know it, God is not omniscient.Wierenga, Edward R. "Divine foreknowledge" in Audi, Robert . ''The Cambridge Companion to Philosophy''. Cambridge University Press , 2001. The last centuries of philosophy have seen vigorous questions regarding the . '' Pensées '', 1669. Most major religions hold God not as a metaphor, but a being that influences our day-to-day existences. Many believers allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings, and give them names such as Angel s, Saint s, Djinn i, Demon s, and Deva s. Theism and Deism Theism holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and independently of human thought; that God created and sustains everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal, and is personal, interested and answers prayer. It 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 not involuntarily subject to 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. Open Theism , by contrast, asserts that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future. "Theism" is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism. , and does not literally answer prayers or cause miracles to occur. Common in Deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity. Pandeism and Panendeism , respectively, combine Deism with the Pantheistic or Panentheistic beliefs discussed below. HISTORY OF MONOTHEISM (. The concept of God as a singular patriarchal " Father all creation " is common in Western Culture ( Abrahamic ) monotheism.]] Many historians of religion hold that monotheism may be of relatively recent historical origins — although comparison is difficult as many religions claim to be ancient. Native religions of China and India have concepts of Panentheistic views of God that are difficult to classify along Western notions of monotheism vs. Polytheism . In the Ancient Near East , many cities had their own local god, although this henotheistic worship of a single god did not imply denial of the existence of other gods. The Hebrew Ark Of The Covenant is supposed (by some scholars) to have adapted this practice to a Nomad ic lifestyle, paving their way for a singular God. Yet, many scholars now believe that it may have been the Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire that was the first monotheistic religion, and the Jews were influenced by such notions (this controversy is still being debated). ZOROASTRIANISM The innovative cult of the Egyptian solar god Aten was promoted by the Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenophis IV), who ruled between 1358 and 1340 BC. The Aten cult is often cited as the earliest known example of monotheism, and is sometimes claimed to have been a formative influence on early Judaism, due to the presence of Hebrew slaves in Egypt. But even though 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 world-view ended with his death; the worship of other gods beside Aten never ceased outside his court, and the older polytheistic religions soon regained precedence. Other early examples of monotheism include two late Rigvedic hymns (10.129,130) to a Panentheistic creator god, Shri Rudram , a Vedic hymn to Rudra , an earlier aspect of Shiva often referred to by the ancient Brahmans as Stiva, a masculine fertility god, which expressed Monistic Theism , and is still chanted today; the Zoroastrian Ahuramazda and Chinese Shang Ti . The worship of polytheistic gods, on the other hand, is seen by many to predate monotheism, reaching back as far as the Paleolithic . Today, monotheistic religions are dominant in the many parts of the world, though other systems of belief continue to be prevalent. Monotheism and pantheism is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is Syncretism , mixing different elements from different religion. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement. 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 some consider them unhelpful. It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church , Theosophy , Hinduism, some divisions of Buddhism, and Taoism , along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations. 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 — but only as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God. Dystheism and nontheism Dystheism , related to Theodicy is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly-good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the Problem Of Evil . There is no known community of practicing dystheists. See also Satanism . Nontheism holds that the universe can be explained without any reference to the supernatural, or to a supernatural being. Some non-theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of human values and aspirations. Many schools of Buddhism may be considered non-theistic. SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE See Also: Relationship between religion and science There is a lack of consensus as to the appropriate scientific treatment of religious questions, such as those of the Existence , Nature and properties of God—mainly because of the lack of a common definition of God. A major point of debate has been whether God's existence or attributes can be empirically tested or gauged. Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called " Non-overlapping Magisteria " (NOMA). In this view, questions of the Supernatural , such as those relating to the Existence and Nature of God, are non- Empirical and are the proper domain of Theology . The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. The lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world. Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins , is that the existence of God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."7 A third view is that of Scientism : any question which cannot be defined can not be answered by science and is therefore either nonsensical or is not worth asking, on the grounds that only empirically answerable questions make sense and are worth attention. DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS or Muslim majorities tend to poll highest.]] See Also: List of religious populations As of 2000, approximately 53% of the world's population identifies with one of the three Abrahamic religions (33% Christian, 20% Islam, >1% Judaism), 6% with Buddhism, 13% with Hinduism, 6% with traditional Chinese religion, 7% with various other religions, and less than 15% as non-religious. National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World p. 49 Religion Adherents
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