Draft:Outline of gods

Principal object of faith in theism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to gods:

God as depicted in Michelangelo's 1511 painting The Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Plants

A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to have authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life, with many also being considered as sacred and worthy of worship. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess, 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, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life".

Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as "God"), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity, but may accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being.

What is a "god"?

Each god can be described as all of the following:

  • A belief – a state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case regardless of empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty.
  • An entity – a being or spirit that exists either inside or outside of physical reality. The nature of God divides the philosophical school of physicalism from the schools of idealism and dualism; with the latter schools holding that they can exist and the former holding that they cannot. If one posits that non-physical entities can exist, there exist further debates as to their inherent natures and their position relative to physical entities.
  • A deity – a concept conceived in diverse ways in various cultures, typically as a natural or supernatural being considered divine or sacred. Monotheistic religions accept only one Deity (predominantly referred to as God), while polytheistic religions accept and worship multiple deities. A male deity is a god, while a female deity is a goddess. Some gods are described as being "outside of" or superseding gender.

Conceptions of gods

Conceptions of God

Qualities of gods

Qualities of monotheistic God

Qualities of pantheistic gods

Names of gods

Names of God

Pantheons

Pantheon

History of gods

Religious traditions

God-related publications

See also

References

External links


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