“Windows To Spirituality”
Nontheistic Religion This article covers the definition of Nontheistic Religion. Nontheistic religions are traditions of thought within a religious context — some otherwise aligned with theism, others not — in which nontheism informs religious beliefs or practices. Nontheism has been applied to the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology, and plays significant roles in Hinduism, Buddhism,...
Criticism Of Atheism Criticism of atheism is criticism of the concepts, validity, or impact of atheism, including associated political and social implications. Criticisms include positions based on the history of science, findings in the natural sciences, theistic apologetic arguments, arguments pertaining to ethics and morality, the effects of atheism on...
god (male deity) A god is a male deity, in contrast with a goddess, a female deity. While the term “goddess” specifically refers to a female deity, the plural “gods” can be applied to deities collectively, regardless of gender. The Greek and Roman pantheons were ruled by Zeus, and Jupiter. A god as a...
Tritheism Tritheism (from Greek τριθεΐα, “three divinity“) is a nontrinitarian Christian heresy in which the unity of the Trinity and thus monotheism are denied. It represents more a “possible deviation” than any actual school of thought positing three separate deities. It was usually “little more than a hostile label” applied to those who emphasized the individuality of...
Teleological Argument The teleological argument or physico-theological argument, also known as the argument from design, or intelligent design argument is an argument for the existence of God or, more generally, for an intelligent creator based on perceived evidence of “intelligent design” in the natural world. The earliest recorded versions of this argument are associated with Socrates in ancient...
Argument From Reason The argument from reason is an argument against metaphysical naturalism and for the existence of God (or at least a supernatural being that is the source of human reason). The best-known defender of the argument is C. S. Lewis. Lewis first defended the argument at length in his 1947 book, Miracles: A Preliminary Study. In the second...
Antireligion Antireligion is opposition to religion of any kind. It involves opposition to organized religion, religious practices or religious institutions. The term antireligion has also been used to describe opposition to specific forms of supernatural worship or practice, whether organized or not. Opposition to religion also goes beyond the misotheistic...
Logos Logos (λόγος, lógos; ”I say”) is a term in Western philosophy, psychology, rhetoric, and religion derived from a Greek word variously meaning “ground”, “plea”, “opinion”, “expectation”, “word”, “speech“, “account”, “reason“, “proportion”, and “discourse”. It became a technical term in Western Philosophy beginning with Heraclitus (c. 535 – c. 475...
Apophatic Theology Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. It forms a pair together with cataphatic theology, which...
Tian Tian (天; Tiān) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17–11th centuries BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as Shàngdì (上帝, “Lord on High”) or Dì (帝,”Lord”). During the following Zhou dynasty, Tiān became synonymous with this...
Divine Simplicity In theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is without parts. The general idea can be stated in this way: The being of God is identical to the “attributes” of God. Characteristics such as omnipresence, goodness, truth, eternity, etc., are identical to God’s being, not qualities that...
Skeptical Theism Skeptical theism is the view that we should remain skeptical of our ability to discern whether our perceptions about evil can be considered good evidence against the existence of the orthodox Christian God. The central thesis of skeptical theism is that it would not be surprising for an infinitely intelligent...
Death Of God Theology Death of God theology refers to a range of ideas by various theologians and philosophers that try to account for the rise of secularity and abandonment of traditional beliefs in God. They posit that God has either ceased to exist or in some way accounted for...
![William L. Rowe's example of natural evil: "In some distant forest lightning strikes a dead tree, resulting in a forest fire. In the fire a fawn is trapped, horribly burned, and lies in terrible agony for several days before death relieves its suffering."[22] Rowe also cites the example of human evil where an innocent child is a victim of violence and thereby suffers.[22]](https://slife.org/wp-content/uploads/Deerfire_high_res_edit-e1606337767780-520x249.jpg)
Problem Of Evil The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God (see theism). Or as the first known presentation by the Greek philosopher Epicurus puts it: “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then...
Theodicy Theodicy means the vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the evidential problem of evil by attempting “to make the existence of an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good or omnibenevolent God consistent with the existence of evil...
Theodicy And The Bible Relating theodicy and the Bible is crucial to understanding Abrahamic theodicy because the Bible “has been, both in theory and in fact, the dominant influence upon ideas about God and evil in the Western world”. Theodicy, in its most common form, is the attempt to answer the...
Impeccability Impeccability is the absence of sin. Christianity teaches this to be an attribute of God (logically God cannot sin, it would mean that he would act against his own will and nature) and therefore it is also attributed to Christ. Roman Catholic teaching Impeccability and Heaven Early Christians questioned whether the victorious saints in heaven could sin....
Image Of God The Image of God (צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים, tzelem Elohim; Latin: Imago Dei) is a concept and theological doctrine in Judaism, Christianity, and Sufism of Islam, which asserts that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Philosophers and theologians have debated the exact meaning of the phrase for millennia. Following...
Personal god A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute, “the All”, or the “Ground of Being”. In the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, God is described as being a personal creator, speaking in the first person and...
What Is Arianism? Arianism is a nontrinitarian Christological doctrine which asserts the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was begotten by God the Father at a point in time, a creature distinct from the Father and is therefore subordinate to him, but the Son is also God (i.e. God the Son). Arian teachings were...
