“Windows To Spirituality”
The following subcategories are a part of faith & belief. Please click and have more information about faith in these subjects.
Philosophical Theism Philosophical theism is the belief that a deity exists (or must exist) independent of the teaching or revelation of any particular religion. It represents belief in a personal God entirely without doctrine. Some philosophical theists are persuaded of a god’s existence by philosophical arguments, while others consider themselves to have a religious faith that need not be,...
What Is Unitarianism? Unitarianism (unitas “unity, oneness”, from unus “one”) is a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one person, as opposed to the Trinity (tri- from Latin tres “three”) which in many other branches of Christianity defines God as one being in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unitarian Christians, therefore, believe that Jesus was inspired by God in his moral teachings,...
What is Existence? Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with physical or mental reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontological property of being. Etymology The word “existence” comes from the Latin word exsistere meaning “to appear”, “to arise”, “to become”, or “to be”, but literally, it means “to stand out” (ex- being...
Omnipresence Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to describe something “existing or being everywhere at the same time, constantly encountered, widespread, common.”...
Ifrit The Ifrit also spelled as efreet, efrite, ifreet, afreet, afrite and afrit (ʻIfrīt: عفريت, pl ʻAfārīt: عفاريت) is a powerful type of demon in Islamic mythology. The Afarit are often associated with the underworld and also identified with the spirit of the dead and had been compared to evil genii loci in European culture. In Quran, hadith,...
What Is Leap Of Faith? A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside the boundaries of reason. Overview Jumping to conclusions (officially the jumping conclusion bias, often abbreviated as JTC, and also referred to as the inference-observation confusion) is a psychological term referring...
Kapila Kapila (कपिल) is a given name of different individuals in ancient and medieval Indian texts, of which the most well-known is the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. Kapila of Samkhya fame is considered a Vedic sage, estimated to have lived in the 6th-century BCE, or the 7th-century BCE. Rishi Kapila...
Proof Of The Truthful The Proof of the Truthful (برهان الصديقين, burhan al-siddiqin, also translated Demonstration of the Truthful or Proof of the Veracious, among others) is a formal argument for proving the existence of God introduced by the Islamic philosopher Avicenna (also known as Ibn Sina, 980–1037). Avicenna argued...
God Is Dead ‘God is Dead’ also known as The Death of God is a widely quoted statement by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche used the phrase to express his idea that the Enlightenment had eliminated the possibility of the existence of God. However, proponents of the strongest form of the Death...
Light Of The World Light of the World is a phrase Jesus used to describe himself and his disciples in the New Testament. The phrase is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and John. It is closely related to the parables of Salt and Light and Lamp under a bushel. Gospel accounts Referring to himself In John 8:12 Jesus applies the title to himself...
What Is Narcissism? Narcissism is the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one’s idealised self image and attributes. This includes self-flattery, perfectionism, and arrogance. The term originated from Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Narcissism is...
What Is Absolution? Absolution is the remission of sin, or of the punishment due to sin, granted by the Church. (For remission of punishment due to sin.) Absolution proper is that act of the priest whereby, in the Sacrament of Penance, he frees man from sin. It presupposes on the...
Tree Of Virtues And Tree Of Vices A tree of virtues (arbor virtutum) is a diagram used in medieval Christian tradition to display the relationships between virtues, usually juxtaposed with a tree of vices (arbor vitiorum) where the vices are treated in a parallel fashion. Together with genealogical trees, these diagrams qualify as among the earliest...
The Analects The Analects (論語; Lúnyǔ; literally “Selected Sayings”, also known as the Analects of Confucius, is an ancient Chinese book composed of a collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled and written by Confucius’s followers. It is believed to have been written...
What Is Righteousness? Righteousness is defined as “the quality of being morally correct and justifiable.” It can also be considered synonymous with “rightness”. It is a concept that can be found in Indian religions and Abrahamic traditions as a theological concept. For example, from various perspectives in Hinduism, Christianity, and Judaism it is considered an attribute that implies that a person’s actions are justified,...
Vedic Wisdom And Evolution Of Consciousness This article covers Vedic Wisdom And Evolution Of Consciousness. In the Rig Veda there are 5 hymns constituting an important dialogue between Lord Indra and Sage Agastya that reflects the significance of traversing the evolutionary path of consciousness, that seems to serve as a...
Development Of The Hebrew Bible Canon This article covers the Development Of The Hebrew Bible Canon. Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the 24 books of the Masoretic Text, commonly called the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, as authoritative. Modern scholarship suggests that the most recently written are the books of Jonah, Lamentations, and Daniel,...
Luther’s Canon Luther’s canon is the biblical canon attributed to Martin Luther, which has influenced Protestants since the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. While the Lutheran Confessions specifically did not define a canon, it is widely regarded as the canon of the Lutheran Church. It differs from the 1546 Roman Catholic canon of the Council...
Mosaic Authorship Mosaic authorship is the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition that Moses was the author of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. The books do not name any author, as authorship was not considered important by the society that produced them, and it was only after Jews...
Biblical Manuscript A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see Tefillin) to huge polyglot codices (multi-lingual books) containing both the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the New Testament, as well as extracanonical works. The study of biblical manuscripts is important...
