“Windows To Spirituality”
Origins Of Judaism The origins of Judaism lie in the Bronze Age amidst polytheistic ancient Semitic religions, specifically Canaanite religion, co-existing with a syncretization with elements of Babylonian religion and of the worship of Yahweh reflected in the early prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible. During the Iron Age I, the...
Religions Of The Ancient Near East The religions of the ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some examples of monolatry (for example, Yahwism and Atenism). Some scholars believe that the similarities between these religions indicate that the religions are related, a belief known as patternism. Many religions of the ancient near...
Demiurge 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. The Gnostics adopted the term “demiurge“. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily the same as the creator figure in the monotheistic sense, because the demiurge itself and the...
What Is The Meaning Of The Lord? Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others acting like a master, a chief, or a ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are entitled to courtesy titles. The collective...
What Is Deity? A deity is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as “a god or goddess (in a polytheistic religion)”, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as “a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively,...
Yahweh Yahweh was the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah. His exact origins are disputed, although they reach back to the early Iron Age and even the Late Bronze: his name may have begun as an epithet of El, head of the Bronze Age...
Shangdi Shangdi (上帝; pinyin: Shàngdì; Wade–Giles: Shang Ti), also written simply, “Emperor” (帝; pinyin: Dì), is the Chinese term for “Supreme Deity” or “Highest Deity” in the theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later Tian (“Heaven” or “Great Whole”) of Zhou theology. Although in Chinese religion the usage...
Baal Baal (Baʿal), was a title and honorific meaning “owner,” “lord” in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but...
Dying And Rising Deity A dying and rising deity, death and rebirth deity, or resurrection deity is a religious motif in which a god or goddess dies and is resurrected. “Death or departure of the gods” is motif A192 in Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (1932), while “resurrection of gods” is motif A193. Examples of gods...
Hindu Views On Monotheism This article covers Hindu views on Monotheism. Hinduism is a religion which incorporates diverse views on the concept of God. Different traditions of Hinduism have different theistic views, and these views have been described by scholars as polytheism, monotheism, henotheism, panentheism, pantheism, monism, agnostic humanism, atheism...
Arguments For Divine Unity This article covers Arguments for Divine Unity. When attributed to Almighty God, all things become as easy as one thing; when attributed to causes, one thing becomes as difficult as all things. As a result, the extraordinary cheapness and ease observed in the universe, as well...
God In Jainism In Jainism, godliness is said to be the inherent quality of every soul. This quality, however, is subdued by the soul’s association with karmic matter. All souls who have achieved the natural state of infinite bliss, infinite knowledge (kevala jnana), infinite power, and infinite perception are regarded as...
What is Theism? Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of the Supreme Being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with deism, the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to as classical theism) – or gods found in polytheistic religions—a belief in...
Blessing Of Animals Blessing of animals can be either of the animal or of the human-animal relationship, and can apply to pets and other companion animals, or to agricultural animals and working and other animals which humans depend on or interact with. Blessing of animals, or of the slaughtering process,...
Gender Of God In Christianity The gender of God in Christianity is a hot topic for centuries. The book of Genesis explains God made human beings both male and female in His image, but, throughout the biblical narrative, God is revealed as a Father who refers to Himself in male terms....
Gender Of God In Judaism Although the Gender of God in Judaism is referred to in the Tanakh with masculine imagery and grammatical forms, traditional Jewish Philosophy does not attribute the concept of sex to God, but does attribute gender. At times, Jewish aggadic literature and Jewish mysticism do treat God as gendered....
God In Hinduism The concept of God in Hinduism varies in its diverse traditions. Hinduism spans a wide range of beliefs such as henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, atheism and nontheism. Forms of theism find mention in the Bhagavad Gita. Emotional or loving devotion (bhakti) to a primary god such...
God And Gender In Hinduism This article covers God and gender in Hindusim. The Gender of God in Hinduism is sometimes visualized as a male god such as Krishna, or female goddess such as Lakshmi, androgynous such as Ardhanarishvara (a composite of Siva or Shiva – male – and Parvati –...
God In Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion and hence, believes that “God” is One, and prevails in everything, as symbolized by the symbol Ik Onkar (one all pervading spirit). The fundamental belief of Sikhism is that God exists, indescribable yet knowable and perceivable to anyone who surrenders his egoism and Loves the Almighty. The Sikh...
What Is Tzimtzum? The tzimtzum or tsimtsum (צמצום ṣimṣūm “contraction, constriction, condensation”) is a term used in the Lurianic Kabbalah to explain Isaac Luria’s doctrine that God began the process of creation by “contracting” his Ohr Ein Sof (infinite) light in order to allow for a “conceptual space” in which finite and seemingly independent...
