{{Short description|none}} {{Redirect|God of Abraham|the Jewish prayer|God of Abraham (prayer)}} {{God|expanded=by religion}}
[[Monotheism]]—the belief that there is only one deity—is a foundational tenet of the [[Abrahamic religions]], which alike [[Conceptions of God|conceive God]] as the all-powerful and all-knowing deity<ref name="Sociology of Religion"/> from whom [[Abraham]] received a [[divine revelation]], according to their respective narratives.<ref name="Goodman 2010">{{cite book |author-last=Noort |author-first=Ed |year=2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-R5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |chapter=Abraham and the Nations |editor1-last=Goodman |editor1-first=Martin |editor1-link=Martin Goodman (historian) |editor2-last=van Kooten |editor2-first=George H. |editor3-last=van Ruiten |editor3-first=Jacques T.A.G.M. |title=Abraham, the Nations, and the Hagarites: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Perspectives on Kinship with Abraham |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions |volume=13 |pages=3–33 |doi=10.1163/9789004216495_003 |isbn=978-90-04-21649-5 |issn=1388-3909}}</ref> The most prominent Abrahamic religions are [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]].<ref name="British-Library">{{cite web |author-last=Abulafia |author-first=Anna Sapir |author-link=Anna Abulafia |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-abrahamic-religions |title=The Abrahamic religions |website=www.bl.uk |publisher=[[British Library]] |location=[[London]] |access-date=25 February 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712150432/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-abrahamic-religions |archive-date=12 July 2020}}</ref> They—alongside [[Samaritanism]],<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Kartveit |author-first=Magnar |year=2009 |title=The Origin of the Samaritans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZSl64Or5UMC&pg=PA351 |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=[[Vetus Testamentum|Vetus Testamentum, Supplements]] |volume=128 |pages=351–370 |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004178199.i-406.63 |isbn=978-90-47-44054-3 |issn=0083-5889 |lccn=2009023695}}</ref> the [[Druzism|Druze Faith]],<ref name="Abu-Izzeddin 1993"/> the [[Baháʼí Faith]],<ref name="British-Library"/> and the [[Rastafari movement]]<ref name="British-Library"/>—all share a common belief in the Abrahamic God. Likewise, the Abrahamic religions share similar features distinguishing them from [[Comparative religion|other categories of religions]]:<ref name="Bremer 2015">{{cite book |author-last=Bremer |author-first=Thomas S. |year=2015 |chapter=Abrahamic religions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GE3YBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |title=Formed From This Soil: An Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America |location=[[Chichester|Chichester, West Sussex]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |pages=19–20 |doi=10.1002/9781394260959 |isbn=978-1-4051-8927-9 |lccn=2014030507 |s2cid=127980793}}</ref> *all of their theological traditions are, to some extent, influenced by the depiction of the [[Yahweh|God of Israel]] in the [[Hebrew Bible]],{{refn|<ref name="Sociology of Religion">{{cite book |editor1-last=Christiano |editor1-first=Kevin J. |editor2-last=Kivisto |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Swatos |editor3-first=William H. Jr. |year=2015 |orig-year=2002 |title=Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments |chapter=Excursus on the History of Religions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYtjY7GJav4C&pg=PA254 |location=[[Walnut Creek, California]] |publisher=[[AltaMira Press]] |edition=3rd |pages=254–255 |doi=10.2307/3512222 |jstor=3512222 |isbn=978-1-4422-1691-4 |lccn=2001035412 |s2cid=154932078}}</ref><ref name="Goodman 2010"/><ref name="British-Library"/><ref name="Bremer 2015"/><ref name="Hughes 2012">{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Aaron W. |author-link=Aaron W. Hughes |year=2012 |chapter=What Are "Abrahamic Religions"? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0K3Ia1rQCZEC&pg=PA15 |title=Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=15–33 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199934645.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-993464-5 |s2cid=157815976}}</ref>}} who is explicitly named ''[[YHWH|Yahweh]]'' in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and ''[[Allah]]'' in [[Arabic]];{{refn|<ref name="Goodman 2010"/><ref name="British-Library"/><ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Ben-Sasson 2018"/><ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam"/>}} *all of them trace their roots to Abraham as a common [[Abraham's family tree|genealogical]] and spiritual [[Patriarchs (Bible)|patriarch]].{{refn|<ref name="Sociology of Religion"/><ref name="Goodman 2010"/><ref name="British-Library"/><ref name="Bremer 2015"/><ref name="Hughes 2012"/>}}
In the Abrahamic tradition, God is [[Divine simplicity|one]], [[Eternity#God and eternity|eternal]], [[Omnipotence|omnipotent]], [[Omniscience|omniscient]], and the [[Creator deity|creator of the universe]].<ref name="Sociology of Religion"/> God is typically referred to with masculine grammatical articles and pronouns only,<ref name="Sociology of Religion"/><ref name="JSSR 2024">{{cite journal |author1-last=Upenieks |author1-first=Laura |author2-last=Bonhag |author2-first=Rebecca |date=March 2024 |title=Masculine God Imagery and Sense of Life Purpose: Examining Contingencies with America's "Four Gods" |journal=[[Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion]] |location=[[Chichester|Chichester, West Sussex]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] on behalf of the [[Society for the Scientific Study of Religion]] |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=76–102 |doi=10.1111/jssr.12881 |doi-access=free |issn=1468-5906 |s2cid=265057828}}</ref> and is further held to have the properties of [[Sacredness|holiness]], [[justice]], [[omnibenevolence]], and [[omnipresence]]. Adherents of the Abrahamic religions believe God is also [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent]], meaning he is outside of both space and time and therefore [[Incorporeality|not subject to anything within his creation]], but at the same time a [[Personal god|personal God]]: intimately involved, listening to individual prayer, and reacting to the actions of his creatures.
==Judaism== {{Main|God in Judaism|Yahwism}} {{Further|Elohim|Shema Yisrael|Tetragrammaton}} [[File:YHWH_on_Mesha_Stele.jpg|thumb|240px|right|The [[Mesha Stele]] bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite god [[Yahweh]].<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Lemaire |author-first=André |author-link=André Lemaire |date=May–June 1994 |title="House of David" Restored in Moabite Inscription |url=http://www.cojs.org/pdf/house_of_david.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[Biblical Archaeology Review]] |volume=20 |number=3 |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |publisher=[[Biblical Archaeology Society]] |issn=0098-9444 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331134523/http://www.cojs.org/pdf/house_of_david.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>]]
Judaism, the oldest Abrahamic religion, is based on a strict, [[exclusive monotheism]],{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011">{{cite book |author1-last=Grossman |author1-first=Maxine |author2-last=Sommer |author2-first=Benjamin D. |year=2011 |chapter=GOD |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA294 |editor-last=Berlin |editor-first=Adele |editor-link=Adele Berlin |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=2nd |pages=294–297 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199730049.001.0001 |isbn=9780199759279 |lccn=2010035774}}</ref><ref name="Leone 2016">{{cite journal |author-last=Leone |author-first=Massimo |date=Spring 2016 |title=Smashing Idols: A Paradoxical Semiotics |url=https://iris.unito.it/retrieve/handle/2318/1561609/136254/Massimo%20Leone%202016%20-%20Smashing%20Idols.pdf |editor-last=Asif |editor-first=Agha |journal=Signs and Society |location=[[Chicago]] |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] on behalf of the Semiosis Research Center at [[Hankuk University of Foreign Studies]] |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=30–56 |doi=10.1086/684586 |hdl=2318/1561609 |doi-access=free |eissn=2326-4497 |issn=2326-4489 |s2cid=53408911 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923020328/https://iris.unito.it/retrieve/handle/2318/1561609/136254/Massimo%20Leone%202016%20-%20Smashing%20Idols.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2017 |access-date=28 July 2021}}</ref>}} finding its origins in the [[Yahwism|sole veneration]] of [[Yahweh]],{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/>{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|pages=362–363}}{{sfn|Betz|2000|pages=916–917}}<ref name="Gruber 2013">{{cite book |last=Gruber |first=Mayer I. |year=2013 |chapter=Israel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1xbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |editor-last=Spaeth |editor-first=Barbette Stanley |editor-link=Barbette Spaeth |title=The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=76–94 |doi=10.1017/CCO9781139047784.007 |isbn=978-0-521-11396-0 |lccn=2012049271}}</ref>}} the predecessor to the Abrahamic conception of God.{{#tag:ref|Although the [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic god]] [[El (deity)|El]] is indeed the most ancient predecessor to the Abrahamic god,<ref name="Stahl 2021">{{cite book |last=Stahl |first=Michael J. |year=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drMlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |chapter=The "God of Israel" and the Politics of Divinity in Ancient Israel |title=The "God of Israel" in History and Tradition |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=[[Vetus Testamentum|Vetus Testamentum: Supplements]] |volume=187 |pages=52–144 |doi=10.1163/9789004447721_003 |isbn=978-90-04-44772-1|s2cid=236752143 }}</ref><ref name="Smith 2003">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |author-link=Mark S. Smith |year=2003 |chapter=El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afkRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |title=The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=133–148 |doi=10.1093/019513480X.003.0008 |isbn=978-0-19-513480-3}}</ref><ref name="Smith 2000">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |author-link=Mark S. Smith |year=2000 |chapter=El |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA384 |editor1-last=Freedman |editor1-first=David Noel |editor2-last=Myer |editor2-first=Allen C. |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=384–386 |isbn=978-90-5356-503-2}}</ref>{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|pages=352–365}} this specifically refers to the ancient ideas [[Yahweh]] once encompassed in the [[Ancient Hebrew religion]], such as being a [[Storm god|storm-]] and [[War god|war-god]], living on mountains, or controlling the weather.<ref name="Stahl 2021"/><ref name="Smith 2003"/><ref name="Smith 2000"/>{{sfn|Niehr|1995|pages=63–65, 71–72}}{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|pages=361–362}} Thus, in this page's context, "Yahweh" is used to refer to God as conceived in the Ancient Hebrew religion, and should not be referenced when describing his later worship in today's Abrahamic religions.|group=Note}} The [[Names of God in Judaism|names of God]] used most often in the [[Hebrew Bible]] are the [[Tetragrammaton]] ({{Langx|he|יהוה|translit=YHWH}}) and [[Elohim]].{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Ben-Sasson 2018">{{cite book |author-last=Ben-Sasson |author-first=Hillel |chapter=Conditional Presence: The Meaning of the Name YHWH in the Bible |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKjDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |title=Understanding YHWH: The Name of God in Biblical, Rabbinic, and Medieval Jewish Thought |location=[[Basingstoke]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |edition=1st |series=Jewish Thought and Philosophy |date=2019 |pages=25–63 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-32312-7_2 |isbn=978-3-030-32312-7 |s2cid=213883058}}</ref>}} Jews traditionally do not pronounce it, and instead refer to God as ''[[Names and Titles of God in Judaism#HaShem|HaShem]]'', literally "the Name". In prayer, the Tetragrammaton is substituted with the pronunciation [[Names of God in Judaism#Adonai|Adonai]], meaning "My Lord".<ref name="Moberly 1990">{{cite book |last=Moberly |first=R. W. L. |author-link=R. W. L. Moberly |year=1990 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZs3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA209 |chapter="Yahweh is One": The Translation of the Shema |editor-last=Emerton |editor-first=J. A. |editor-link=John Emerton |title=Studies in the Pentateuch |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=[[Vetus Testamentum|Vetus Testamentum: Supplements]] |volume=41 |pages=209–215 |doi=10.1163/9789004275645_012 |isbn=978-90-04-27564-5}}</ref> This is referred to primarily in the Torah: "[[Shema Yisrael|Hear O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One]]" ({{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|6:4|HE}}).<ref name="Moberly 1990"/>
God is conceived as unique and perfect, free from all faults, deficiencies, and defects, and further held to be [[Omnipotence|omnipotent]], [[Omnipresence|omnipresent]], [[Omniscience|omniscient]], and completely [[Infinity|infinite]] in all of his attributes, who has no partner or equal, being the sole creator of everything in existence.{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Moberly 1990"/><ref name="Lebens 2022">{{cite book |author-last=Lebens |author-first=Samuel |year=2022 |chapter=Is God a Person? Maimonidean and Neo-Maimonidean Perspectives |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYlUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT90 |editor1-last=Kittle |editor1-first=Simon |editor2-last=Gasser |editor2-first=Georg |title=The Divine Nature: Personal and A-Personal Perspectives |location=[[London]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=90–95 |doi=10.4324/9781003111436 |isbn=9780367619268 |s2cid=245169096 |lccn=2021038406}}</ref><ref name="Angelini 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Angelini |author-first=Anna |year=2021 |chapter=Les dieux des autres: entre «démons» et «idoles» |title=L'imaginaire du démoniaque dans la Septante: Une analyse comparée de la notion de "démon" dans la Septante et dans la Bible Hébraïque |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |language=fr |series=Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism |volume=197 |pages=184–224 |doi=10.1163/9789004468474_008 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-46847-4}}</ref>}} In Judaism, [[Aniconism in Judaism|God is never portrayed in any image]].{{refn|<ref name="Leone 2016"/><ref name="Angelini 2021"/><ref name="Lorberbaum 2015"/>}} The idea of God as a [[Dualistic cosmology|duality]] or [[trinity]] is heretical in Judaism: it is considered akin to [[polytheism]].{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Leone 2016"/><ref name="Angelini 2021"/><ref name="Bernard 2019">{{cite book |last=Bernard |first=David K. |author-link=David K. Bernard |year=2019 |orig-date=2016 |chapter=Monotheism in Paul's Rhetorical World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AD1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ: Deification of Jesus in Early Christian Discourse |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Journal of Pentecostal Theology: Supplement Series |volume=45 |pages=53–82 |isbn=978-90-04-39721-7 |issn=0966-7393}}</ref>}} The Torah specifically forbade ascribing partners to share his singular sovereignty,{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Leone 2016"/><ref name="Moberly 1990"/>}} as he is considered to be the [[Absolute (philosophy)|absolute one]] without a second, indivisible, and incomparable being, who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to him.{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Lebens 2022"/>}} Thus, God is unlike anything in or of the world as to be beyond all forms of human thought and expression.{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Lebens 2022"/>}}
God in Judaism is conceived as [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]],{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/>{{sfn|Van der Toorn|1999|pages=361–362}}<ref name="Lorberbaum 2015">{{cite book |last=Lorberbaum |first=Yair |year=2015 |chapter=Anthropomorphism and ''Imago Dei'' – Some Basic Distinctions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cVuXBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |title=In God's Image: Myth, Theology, and Law in Classical Judaism |location=[[Cambridge]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=50 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781107477940.004 |isbn=9781107477940 |lccn=2014027899 |quote=The word ''zelem'' strikes a particularly jarring note in the context of the [[Jewish tradition]]. From its very inception, the Jewish people declared an unrelenting war on [[Idol worship|image-worship]]. Idol worship in all forms and in all its stages was identified by the Israelite heritage with idolatry. This idea was expanded and accentuated in [[Halakha|rabbinic law]]. The widely accepted reason for this prohibition is that the [[God in Judaism|God of Israel]] is [[Non-corporeal being|non-corporeal]] and [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent]] in relation to any form. Ostensibly supported by a number of Biblical verses, this understanding became a lever wielded by many scholars in order to negate the presence of [[anthropomorphism]] in Biblical and Talmudic sources, which are in fact blatantly anthropomorphic. This trend is particularly evident in the treatment of those sources dealing with the idea of [[Biblical creationism|creation in God's image]].}}</ref><ref name="Bernard 2019"/>}} unique, benevolent, eternal, the creator of the universe, and the [[Ethical monotheism|ultimate source of morality]].{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Nikiprowetzky |first=V. |date=Spring 1975 |title=Ethical Monotheism |journal=[[Daedalus (journal)|Daedalus]] |publisher=[[MIT Press]] for the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=69–89 |jstor=20024331 |issn=1548-6192 |oclc=1565785}}</ref>}} Thus, the term ''God'' corresponds to an actual ontological reality, and is not merely a projection of the human psyche.<ref name="Tuling 2020">{{cite book |author-last=Tuling |author-first=Kari H. |year=2020 |chapter=PART 2: Does God Have a Personality—or Is God an Impersonal Force? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzfsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |editor-last=Tuling |editor-first=Kari H. |title=Thinking about God: Jewish Views |location=[[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln]] and [[Philadelphia]] |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]/[[Jewish Publication Society]] |series=JPS Essential Judaism Series |pages=67–168 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv13796z1.7 |isbn=978-0-8276-1848-0 |s2cid=241520845 |lccn=2019042781}}</ref> Traditional interpretations of Judaism generally emphasize that God is [[Personal god|personal]] yet also [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent]] and able to intervene in the world,<ref name="Ben-Sasson 2018"/> while some modern interpretations of Judaism emphasize that God is an [[God in Judaism#Non-personal|impersonal]] force or ideal rather than a supernatural being concerned with the universe.{{refn|<ref name="Berlin 2011"/><ref name="Tuling 2020"/>}}
==Christianity== {{Main|God in Christianity|Attributes of God in Christianity}} {{Further|Diversity in early Christian theology|Great Apostasy|Nontrinitarianism|Son of God (Christianity)|Trinity}} {{Christianity|expanded=theology}}
[[Christianity]] originated in [[Christianity in the 1st century|1st-century]] [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]] from a sect of [[Jewish Apocalypticism|apocalyptic]] [[Jewish Christians]] within the realm of [[Second Temple Judaism]],{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005">{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |year=2005 |orig-year=2003 |title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew |chapter=At Polar Ends of the Spectrum: Early Christian Ebionites and Marcionites |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URdACxKubDIC&pg=PA95 |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=95–112 |doi=10.1017/s0009640700110273 |isbn=978-0-19-518249-1 |lccn=2003053097 |s2cid=152458823 |access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="Hurtado 2005">{{cite book |last=Hurtado |first=Larry W. |author-link=Larry Hurtado |year=2005 |chapter=How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Approaches to Jesus-Devotion in Earliest Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi5xIxgnNgcC&pg=PA13 |title=How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] and [[Cambridge|Cambridge, UK]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=13–55 |isbn=978-0-8028-2861-3 |access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Freeman |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Freeman (historian) |year=2010 |title=A New History of Early Christianity |chapter=Breaking Away: The First Christianities |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_in-6VLgRoC&pg=PA31 |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=31–46 |doi=10.12987/9780300166583 |isbn=978-0-300-12581-8 |jstor=j.ctt1nq44w |lccn=2009012009 |s2cid=170124789 |access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilken |first=Robert Louis |year=2013 |title=The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity |chapter=Beginning in Jerusalem |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iW1-JImrwQUC&pg=PA6 |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=6–16 |isbn=978-0-300-11884-1 |jstor=j.ctt32bd7m |lccn=2012021755 |s2cid=160590164 |access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Lietaert Peerbolte |author-first=Bert Jan |year=2013 |chapter=How Antichrist Defeated Death: The Development of Christian Apocalyptic Eschatology in the Early Church |editor1-last=Krans |editor1-first=Jan |editor2-last=Lietaert Peerbolte |editor2-first=L. J. |editor3-last=Smit |editor3-first=Peter-Ben |editor4-last=Zwiep |editor4-first=Arie W. |title=Paul, John, and Apocalyptic Eschatology: Studies in Honour of Martinus C. de Boer |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=[[Novum Testamentum|Novum Testamentum: Supplements]] |volume=149 |pages=238–255 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MoKxIeOTkqYC&pg=PA238 |doi=10.1163/9789004250369_016 |isbn=978-90-04-25026-0 |issn=0167-9732 |s2cid=191738355 |access-date=13 February 2021}}</ref>}} and thus shares most of its beliefs about God, including his [[omnipotence]], [[omniscience]], his role as creator of all things, his personality, [[immanence]], [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendence]], and ultimate unity, with the innovation that [[Jesus of Nazareth]] is considered to be, in one way or another, the fulfillment of the ancient [[biblical prophecies]] about the [[Messiah in Judaism|Jewish Messiah]], the [[Supersessionism|completion of the Mosaic Law]] of the Israelite [[Prophets in Judaism|prophets]] and [[Jewish priesthood|priests]], the [[Son of God (Christianity)|Son of God]], and/or the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnation of God himself as a human being]].{{refn|<ref name="Leone 2016"/><ref name="Bernard 2019"/><ref name="Ehrman 2005"/><ref name="Hurtado 2005"/><ref name="Bermejo-Rubio 2017">{{cite journal |author-last=Bermejo-Rubio |author-first=Fernando |year=2017 |title=The Process of Jesus' Deification and Cognitive Dissonance Theory |editor1-last=Feldt |editor1-first=Laura |editor2-last=Valk |editor2-first=Ülo |journal=[[Numen (journal)|Numen]] |volume=64 |issue=2–3 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=[[Leiden]] |pages=119–152 |doi=10.1163/15685276-12341457 |eissn=1568-5276 |issn=0029-5973 |jstor=44505332 |s2cid=148616605}}</ref>}}
Most [[Christian denominations]] believe Jesus to be the incarnated Son of God, which is the main theological divergence with respect to the [[exclusive monotheism]] of the other Abrahamic religions: [[Christianity and Judaism|Judaism]], [[Samaritanism]], the [[Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion|Baháʼí Faith]], and [[Christianity and Islam|Islam]].{{refn|<ref name="Leone 2016"/><ref name="Bernard 2019"/><ref name="Bermejo-Rubio 2017"/><ref name="DelColle 2001">{{cite book |author-last=Del Colle |author-first=Ralph |year=2001 |orig-date=1997 |chapter=Part II: The content of Christian doctrine – The Triune God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvCmnn4Tq20C&pg=PA121 |editor-last=Gunton |editor-first=Colin E. |editor-link=Colin Gunton |title=The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine |location=[[Cambridge]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=121–140 |doi=10.1017/CCOL0521471184.009 |isbn=9781139000000}}</ref>}} Although personal [[salvation]] is implicitly stated in Judaism, personal salvation by grace and a recurring emphasis in [[Christian doctrine|orthodox theological beliefs]] is particularly emphasized in Christianity,<ref name="DelColle 2001"/> often contrasting this with a perceived [[Legalism (theology)|over-emphasis in law observance]] as stated in [[Halakha|Jewish law]], where it is contended that a belief in an intermediary between man and God or in the multiplicity of persons in the Godhead is against the [[Noahide laws]], and thus [[Shituf|not monotheistic]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Jewish Concepts: The Seven Noachide Laws |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-seven-noachide-laws |url-status=live |year=2021 |orig-year=2017 |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |publisher=American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210052305/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-seven-noachide-laws |archive-date=10 February 2017 |access-date=17 October 2021 |quote=Even though the [[Talmud]] and [[Maimonides]] stipulate that [[Capital punishment in Judaism|a non-Jew who violated the Noachide laws was liable to capital punishment]], contemporary authorities have expressed the view that this is only the maximal punishment. According to this view, there is a difference between Noachide law and halakhah. According to halakhah, when a Jew was liable for capital punishment it was a mandatory punishment, provided that all conditions had been met, whereas in Noachide law death is the maximal punishment, to be enforced only in exceptional cases. In view of the strict monotheism of Islam, [[Judaism and Islam|Muslims were considered as Noachides]] whereas [[Christianity and Judaism|the status of Christians was a matter of debate]]. Since the [[late Middle Ages]], however, Christianity too has come to be regarded as Noachide, on the ground that [[Trinitarianism]] is not forbidden to non-Jews.}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}}
In [[Nicene Christianity|mainstream Christianity]], theology and beliefs about God are enshrined in the doctrine of [[monotheistic]] [[Trinitarianism]], which holds that the three persons of the trinity are distinct but all of the same indivisible essence, meaning that the Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and the Son is God, yet there is one God as there is one indivisible essence.{{refn|<ref name="DelColle 2001"/><ref name="Theokritoff 2010">{{cite book |author-last=Bobrinskoy |author-first=Boris |year=2010 |orig-date=2008 |chapter=Part I: Doctrine and Tradition – God in Trinity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jP2vivMSezMC&pg=PA49 |editor1-last=Cunningham |editor1-first=Mary B. |editor2-last=Theokritoff |editor2-first=Elizabeth |title=The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology |location=[[Cambridge]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=49–62 |doi=10.1017/CCOL9780521864848.004 |isbn=9781139001977}}</ref><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=F. L. |editor1-link=F. L. Cross |editor2-last=Livingstone |editor2-first=E. A. |editor2-link=Elizabeth Livingstone |year=2005 |chapter=Doctrine of the Trinity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1652 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=3rd Revised |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001 |pages=1652–1653 |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3}}</ref>}} These mainstream Christian doctrines were largely formulated at the [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]] and are enshrined in the [[Nicene Creed]].{{refn|<ref name="DelColle 2001"/><ref name="Theokritoff 2010"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/>}} The Trinitarian view emphasizes that [[Will of God|God has a will]], and that [[God the Son]] has two natures, divine and human, though these are never in conflict but joined in the [[hypostatic union]].{{refn|<ref name="DelColle 2001"/><ref name="Theokritoff 2010"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/>}}
With regard to Christianity, [[Religious studies|religion scholars]] have differed on whether [[Mormonism]] belongs with mainstream Christian tradition as a whole (i.e., [[Nicene Christianity]]), with some asserting that it amounts to a distinct Abrahamic religion in itself due to [[Mormonism and Nicene Christianity|noteworthy theological differences]].{{refn|<ref name="Eliason 2001">{{cite book |author-last=Shipps |author-first=Jan |author-link=Jan Shipps |editor-last=Eliason |editor-first=Eric A. |year=2001 |title=Mormons and Mormonism: An Introduction to an American World Religion |chapter=Is Mormonism Christian? Reflections on a Complicated Question |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsokQJDKJ7cC&pg=PA76 |location=[[Urbana, Illinois|Urbana]] and [[Chicago]] |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |pages=76–98 |isbn=978-0-252-02609-6 |s2cid=142892455}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Mason |author-first=Patrick Q. |author-link=Patrick Q. Mason |date=3 September 2015 |title=Mormonism |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-75 |url-access=subscription |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.75 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |doi-access=free |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130060403/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-75 |url-status=live |archive-date=30 November 2018 |access-date=15 May 2021}}</ref>}} [[Rastafari|Rastafarianism]], the heterogenous movement that originated in [[Jamaica]] in the 1930s, is variously classified by religion scholars as either an international socio-religious movement, a distinct Abrahamic religion, or a [[new religious movement]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Chryssides |first=George D. |author-link=George Chryssides |year=2001 |orig-year=1999 |title=Exploring New Religions |chapter=Independent New Religions: Rastafarianism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S4_rodMYMygC&pg=PA269 |location=[[London]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum International]] |series=Issues in Contemporary Religion |pages=269–277 |doi=10.2307/3712544 |jstor=3712544 |isbn=978-0-8264-5959-6 |oclc=436090427 |s2cid=143265918}}</ref>
===Gnosticism=== {{Main|Gnosticism}} {{Further|Christianity in the ante-Nicene period|Gnostic texts}} [[File:Lion-faced deity.jpg|thumb|A lion-faced, [[Snakes in mythology|serpentine]] [[deity]] found on a Gnostic gem in [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'', a depiction of [[Yaldabaoth]].]]
[[Gnosticism]] originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical [[Judaism|Jewish]] and [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] sects.<ref name="Magris 2005">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Magris |first=Aldo |year=2005 |title=Gnosticism: Gnosticism from its origins to the Middle Ages (further considerations) |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |encyclopedia=Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion |edition=2nd |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Inc.]] |pages=3515–3516 |isbn=978-0028657332 |oclc=56057973}}</ref> In the [[History of early Christianity|formation of Christianity]], various [[sectarian]] groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge (''[[gnosis]]'') of the divine spark within, over [[faith]] (''pistis'') in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians.{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005b">{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |year=2005 |orig-year=2003 |title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew |chapter=Christians "In The Know": The Worlds of Early Christian Gnosticism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URdACxKubDIC&pg=PA113 |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=113–134 |doi=10.1017/s0009640700110273 |isbn=978-0-19-518249-1 |lccn=2003053097 |s2cid=152458823}}</ref><ref name="May 2008"/><ref name="Brakke 2010">{{cite book |last=Brakke |first=David |year=2010 |title=The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EQ1XwHg0o0C&pg=PA18 |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |pages=18–51 |isbn=9780674066038 |jstor=j.ctvjnrvhh.6 |s2cid=169308502}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Layton |first=Bentley |author-link=Bentley Layton |year=1999 |chapter=Prolegomena to the Study of Ancient Gnosticism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GC4vwTXJSaMC&pg=PA106 |editor-last=Ferguson |editor-first=Everett |editor-link=Everett Ferguson |title=Doctrinal Diversity: Varieties of Early Christianity |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc |series=Recent Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays |pages=106–123 |isbn=0-8153-3071-5}}</ref>}} Gnosticism presents a distinction between the [[Monad (Gnosticism)|highest, unknowable God]], and the [[Demiurge#Gnosticism|Demiurge]], "creator" of the material universe.{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005b"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/><ref name="May 2008"/><ref name="Brakke 2010"/>}} The Gnostics considered the most [[Essential property|essential]] part of the process of [[salvation]] to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their [[Perspective (cognitive)|worldview]] along with faith in the [[Great Church|ecclesiastical authority]].{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005b"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/><ref name="May 2008"/><ref name="Brakke 2010"/>}}
In Gnosticism, the [[Serpent (Bible)|biblical serpent]] in the [[Garden of Eden]] was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge (''[[gnosis]]'') to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the [[Dystheism|malevolent]] [[Demiurge#Gnosticism|Demiurge]]'s control.<ref name="Kvam 1999">{{cite book |editor1-last=Kvam |editor1-first=Kristen E. |editor2-last=Schearing |editor2-first=Linda S. |editor3-last=Ziegler |editor3-first=Valarie H. |year=1999 |chapter=Early Christian Interpretations (50–450 CE) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ux3bSDa2rHkC&pg=PA108 |title=Eve and Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender |location=[[Bloomington, Indiana]] |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |pages=108–155 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt2050vqm.8 |isbn=9780253212719 |jstor=j.ctt2050vqm.8}}</ref> Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a [[dualistic cosmology]] that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the [[Salvation|liberating savior]] and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or [[creator god]], identified with the [[Yahweh|Hebrew God]] of the [[Old Testament]].{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005b"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/>}}
Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the [[Monad (Gnosticism)|Unknown God]] of the [[Gospel]], the father of [[Jesus Christ]] and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God.{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005b"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/><ref name="May 2008">{{cite book |author-last=May |author-first=Gerhard |year=2008 |chapter=Part V: The Shaping of Christian Theology – Monotheism and creation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UTfmw_zStsC&pg=PA434 |editor1-last=Mitchell |editor1-first=Margaret M. |editor1-link=Margaret M. Mitchell |editor2-last=Young |editor2-first=Frances M. |editor2-link=Frances Young |title=The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 1: Origins to Constantine |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=434–451, 452–456 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521812399.026 |isbn=9781139054836}}</ref><ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Valentinus and the Valentinians|author=Bousset, Wilhelm|author-link=Wilhelm Bousset|volume=27|pages=852-857|short=x}}</ref>}} In the [[Archontics|Archontic]], [[Sethianism|Sethian]], and [[Ophites|Ophite]] systems, [[Yaldabaoth]] (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who sinned by claiming divinity for himself and generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he [[Creationism|created]].{{refn|<ref name="Litwa 2016">{{cite book |author-last=Litwa |author-first=M. David |year=2016 |orig-date=2015 |chapter=Part I: The Self-deifying Rebel – “I Am God and There is No Other!”: The Boast of Yaldabaoth |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwcBDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |title=Desiring Divinity: Self-deification in Early Jewish and Christian Mythmaking |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=47–65 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190467166.003.0004 |isbn=9780199967728 |lccn=2015051032 |oclc=966607824}}</ref><ref name="Fischer-Mueller 1990">{{cite journal |author-last=Fischer-Mueller |author-first=E. Aydeet |date=January 1990 |title=Yaldabaoth: The Gnostic Female Principle in Its Fallenness |journal=[[Novum Testamentum]] |volume=32 |issue=1 |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=79–95 |doi=10.1163/156853690X00205 |eissn=1568-5365 |issn=0048-1009 |jstor=1560677}}</ref><ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Demiurge |volume=4 |first=John Peter |last=Arendzen}}</ref>}}
However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent.{{refn|<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Logan 2002">{{cite book |author-last=Logan |author-first=Alastair H. B. |year=2002 |orig-date=2000 |chapter=Part IX: Internal Challenges – Gnosticism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fyCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA923 |editor-last=Esler |editor-first=Philip F. |title=The Early Christian World |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |series=Routledge Worlds |pages=923–925 |isbn=9781032199344}}</ref>}} For instance, [[Valentinianism|Valentinians]] believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness.{{refn|<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Logan 2002"/>}} All Gnostics were regarded as [[Heresy in Christianity|heretics]] by the [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox]] [[Early Church Fathers]].{{refn|<ref name="Ehrman 2005b"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/><ref name="May 2008"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Brakke |first=David |author-link=David Brakke |year=2010 |chapter=Imagining "Gnosticism" and Early Christianities |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EQ1XwHg0o0C&pg=PA18 |title=The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |pages=18–51 |isbn=9780674066038 |jstor=j.ctvjnrvhh.6 |s2cid=169308502}}</ref>}}
===Mormonism=== {{Main|God in Mormonism}} {{Further|Beliefs and practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}} [[Image:Joseph Smith first vision stained glass.jpg|left|thumb|200px|In his 1838 personal history, [[Joseph Smith]] wrote that he had [[First Vision|seen two personages]] in the spring of 1820. In 1843, Smith stated that these personages, [[God the Father]] and [[Jesus Christ]], had separate, tangible bodies.<ref name="EoM">{{citation |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/God_the_Father |contribution=God the Father |pages=548–552 |author1-last=Robinson |author1-first=Stephen E. |author2-last=Burgon |author2-first=Glade L. |author3-last=Turner |author3-first=Rodney |author4-last=Largey |author4-first=Dennis L. |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |year=1992 |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc=24502140 |via=[[Harold B. Lee Library]] |access-date=7 May 2021}}</ref>]]
In the belief system held by the Christian churches that adhere to the [[Latter Day Saint movement]] and most [[Mormonism|Mormon denominations]], including [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), the term ''God'' refers to [[Elohim]] ([[God the Father]]),{{refn|<ref name="EoM"/><ref name="Davies 2003">{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Douglas J. |author-link=Douglas Davies |year=2003 |chapter=Divine–human transformations: God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fw8DIziwEDsC&pg=PA67 |title=An Introduction to Mormonism |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=67–77 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511610028.004 |isbn=978-0-511-61002-8 |oclc=438764483 |s2cid=146238056}}</ref>}} whereas ''[[Godhead (Christianity)|Godhead]]'' means a council of three distinct gods: Elohim (the Eternal Father), [[Jehovah]] ([[God the Son]], Jesus Christ), and the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity#The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Holy Ghost]], in a [[Nontrinitarianism|Non-trinitarian conception of the Godhead]].{{refn|<ref name="EoM"/><ref name="Davies 2003"/>}} The Father and Son have perfected, material bodies, while the Holy Ghost is a spirit and does not have a body.{{refn|<ref name="EoM"/><ref name="Davies 2003"/>}} This differs significantly from mainstream Christian Trinitarianism; in Mormonism, the three persons are considered to be physically separate beings, or personages, but united in will and purpose.{{refn|<ref name="EoM"/><ref name="Davies 2003"/><ref>The term with its distinctive Mormon usage first appeared in ''[[Lectures on Faith]]'' (published 1834), Lecture 5 ("We shall in this lecture speak of the Godhead; we mean the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."). The term ''Godhead'' also appears several times in Lecture 2 in its sense as used in the [[Authorized King James Version]], meaning ''divinity''.</ref>}} As such, the term ''Godhead'' differs from how it is used in mainstream Christianity.{{refn|<ref name="EoM"/><ref name="Davies 2003"/>}} This description of God represents the [[orthodoxy]] of the LDS Church, established early in the 19th century.<ref name="Davies 2003"/>
===Unitarianism=== {{Main|Unitarianism|Unitarian Universalism}} {{Further|History of Unitarianism|List of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist churches|Radical Reformation}}
A small minority of Christians, largely coming under the headings of [[Unitarianism]] and [[Unitarian Universalism]], hold [[Nontrinitarianism|Non-trinitarian conceptions of God]].{{refn|<ref name="Ledger-Lomas 2017">{{cite book |author-last=Ledger-Lomas |author-first=Michael |year=2017 |chapter=Unitarians and Presbyterians |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0nADgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |editor1-last=Larsen |editor1-first=Timothy |editor2-last=Ledger-Lomas |editor2-first=Michael |title=The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume III: The Nineteenth Century |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=99–123 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780199683710.003.0005 |isbn=9780191823923 |lccn=2016953084}}</ref><ref name="Bremer 2015b">{{cite book |author-last=Bremer |author-first=Thomas S. |year=2015 |title=Formed From This Soil: An Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America |chapter=Transcendentalism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GE3YBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA235 |url-status=live |location=[[Chichester|Chichester, West Sussex]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |page=235 |doi=10.1002/9781394260959 |isbn=978-1-4051-8927-9 |lccn=2014030507 |s2cid=127980793 |quote=Unitarian theology, which developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, included a critique of the [[History of Christian theology|traditional Christian theology]] of the [[Trinity]], which regarded [[God in Christianity|God]] as three distinct but unified beings—transcendent [[God the Father|Creator God]], human Savior God (i.e., [[Jesus Christ]]), and immanent Spiritual God (i.e., the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]). Unitarians viewed this understanding of God as a later theological corruption, and they embraced a view of God as a singular, unified entity; in most Unitarian theological interpretations, [[Jesus Christ]] retains highest respect as a spiritual and moral teacher of unparalleled insight and sensitivity, but [[Christology|he is not regarded as divine]], or at least his divine nature is not on the same level as the singular and unique [[Creator deity|Creator God]]. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113235453/https://books.google.com/books?id=GE3YBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA235 |archive-date=2023-01-13 |access-date=2023-01-13}}</ref>}} Unitarian Christians affirm the [[wikt:unitary|unitary]] [[God in Christianity|nature of God]] as the singular and unique [[Creator deity|creator of the universe]],<ref name="Bremer 2015b"/> believe that [[Jesus Christ]] was [[Divine inspiration|inspired by God]] in his moral teachings and that he is the [[Redeemer (Christianity)|savior]] of mankind,<ref name="Bremer 2015b"/> but he is not equal to God himself. The churchmanship of Unitarianism generally reject the doctrine of [[original sin]], and may include [[Liberal Christianity|liberal]] [[Christian denominations|denominations]] or Unitarian Christian denominations that are more [[Conservative Christianity|conservative]], with the latter being known as [[Biblical unitarianism|biblical Unitarians]].{{refn|<ref name="Larsen2011">{{cite book |author-last=Larsen |author-first=Timothy |year=2011 |chapter=Unitarians: Mary Carpenter and the Sacred Writings |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGgVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |title=A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-161433-0 |pages=137–153}}</ref><ref name="MandelbroteLedger-Lomas2013">{{cite book |author1-last=Mandelbrote |author1-first=Scott |author2-last=Ledger-Lomas |author2-first=Michael |year=2013 |title=Dissent and the Bible in Britain, c. 1650–1950 |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-960841-6 |page=160 |quote=Although a biblical Unitarian, [[Mary Carpenter]] was lifelong friends with [[James Martineau]], the pioneer of English [[Liberal Christianity|liberal]] [[Unitarianism]].}}</ref>}}
The birth of the Unitarian faith is proximate to the [[Radical Reformation]], beginning almost simultaneously among the Protestant<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTUTqE2difgC&dq=%22polish+brethren%22+%22protestant%22&pg=PA16|title=Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966–1945|isbn=978-0313260070|last1=Lerski|first1=Jerzy Jan|last2=Lerski|first2=George J.|last3=Lerski|first3=Halina T.|year=1996|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|access-date=2021-12-25|archive-date=2023-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928230520/https://books.google.com/books?id=QTUTqE2difgC&dq=%22polish+brethren%22+%22protestant%22&pg=PA16|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Polish Brethren]] in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and in the [[Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Principality of Transylvania]] in the mid-16th century;{{refn|<ref name="Luszczynska 2018">{{cite book |author-last=Luszczynska |author-first=Magdalena |year=2018 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQh2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 |url-status=live |title=Politics of Polemics: Marcin Czechowic on the Jews |location=[[Berlin]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1515/9783110586565-001 |isbn=9783110586565 |s2cid=158456664 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210201605/https://books.google.com/books?id=mQh2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 |archive-date=2023-02-10 |access-date=2023-02-10}}</ref><ref name="Williams 1995">{{cite book |author-last=Williams |author-first=George Huntston |author-link=George Huntston Williams |year=1995 |chapter=Chapter 28: The Rise of Unitarianism in the Magyar Reformed Synod in Transylvania |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppmYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1099 |url-status=live |title=The Radical Reformation |location=[[University Park, Pennsylvania]] |publisher=[[Penn State University Press]] |edition=3rd |pages=1099–1133 |isbn=978-0-943549-83-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113232336/https://books.google.com/books?id=ppmYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1099 |archive-date=2023-01-13 |access-date=2023-01-13}}</ref>}} the first Unitarian Christian denomination known to have emerged during that time was the [[Unitarian Church of Transylvania]], founded by the Unitarian preacher and theologian [[Ferenc Dávid]] ({{circa|1520}} – 1579).{{refn|<ref name="Luszczynska 2018"/><ref name="Williams 1995"/>}} As is typical of [[English Dissenters|Christian dissenters]] and [[Nonconformist Relief Act 1779|nonconformists]], Unitarianism does not constitute one single [[Christian denomination]];<ref name="Ledger-Lomas 2017"/> rather, it refers to a collection of both existing and extinct Christian groups (whether historically related to each other or not) that share a common theological concept of the unitary nature of God.{{refn|<ref name="Ledger-Lomas 2017"/><ref name="Bremer 2015b"/><ref name="Larsen2011"/>}}
==Islam== {{Main|Allah|God in Islam}} {{Further|Islamic theology}} {{Allah |related}}
In [[Islam]], God ([[Allah]]) ({{langx|ar|ٱللَّٰه|translit=Allāh}}, {{IPA|ar|ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)|IPA|Ar-Allah.oga}}, lit. "the God")<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Gardet |author-first=Louis |year=1960 |title=Allāh |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=1 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0047 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref> is the supreme being, all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe.{{refn|<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam"/><ref name="EoQ-Quran">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Böwering |author-first=Gerhard |author-link=Gerhard Böwering |year=2006 |title=God and his Attributes |editor-last=McAuliffe |editor-first=Jane Dammen |editor-link=Jane Dammen McAuliffe |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān]] |volume=II |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00075 |isbn=978-90-04-14743-0}}</ref><ref name="esp22">{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John L. |author-link=John Esposito |year=2016 |orig-year=1988 |title=[[Islam: The Straight Path]] |edition=Updated 5th |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=22 |doi=<!--no--> |jstor=<!--no--> |isbn=978-0-19-063215-1 |s2cid=153364691}}</ref>}} Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular (''[[Tawhid|tawḥīd]]'').{{refn|<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John L. |author-link=John Esposito |year=2016 |orig-year=1988 |title=[[Islam: The Straight Path]] |edition=Updated 5th |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=88 |doi=<!--no--> |jstor=<!--no--> |isbn=978-0-19-063215-1 |s2cid=153364691}}</ref>}} He is considered to be unique (''wāḥid'') and inherently one of them (''aḥad''), all-merciful and omnipotent.{{refn|<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam"/><ref name="Firestone 2008">{{cite book |author-last=Firestone |author-first=Reuven |author-link=Reuven Firestone |year=2008 |chapter=Chapter 10: God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9aqo0scH9n0C&pg=PA79 |title=An Introduction to Islam for Jews |location=[[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]] |publisher=[[Jewish Publication Society]] |pages=79–83 |isbn=9780827610491 |lccn=2007047352}}</ref>}} According to the [[Quran|Qurʾān]], there are [[99 Names of God]] (''al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā'', "the best names") each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of God.<ref name="Firestone 2008"/> All these names refer to Allah, considered to be the supreme and all-comprehensive divine Arabic name.<ref name="Firestone 2008"/> Among the 99 Names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Entirely Merciful" (''al-Raḥmān'') and "the Especially Compassionate" (''al-Raḥīm'').<ref name="Firestone 2008"/>
Islam rejects the doctrine of the [[Incarnation]] and the notion of a [[personal God]] as [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]], because it is seen as demeaning to the [[transcendence of God]].<ref name="Firestone 2008"/> The Qurʾān prescribes the fundamental transcendental criterion in the following verses: "The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, so serve Him and be patient in His service. Do you know any one equal to Him?" ({{Cite Quran|19|65|expand=no|style=nosup}}); "(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things)" ({{Cite Quran|42|11|expand=no|style=nosup}}); "And there is none comparable unto Him" ({{Cite Quran|112|4|expand=no|style=nosup}}).<ref name="Firestone 2008"/> Therefore, Islam strictly rejects all forms of anthropomorphism and [[anthropopathism]] of the [[concept of God]], and thus categorically rejects the Christian concept of the [[Trinity]] or division of persons in the [[Conceptions of God|Godhead]].{{refn|<ref>{{cite book|author=Zulfiqar Ali Shah|title=Anthropomorphic Depictions of God: The Concept of God in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Traditions: Representing the Unrepresentable|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=164ZDAAAQBAJ|date=2012|publisher=[[International Institute of Islamic Thought]] (IIIT)|isbn=978-1-56564-583-7|pages=48–56}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1=Zafar Isha Ansari|editor2=Isma'il Ibrahim Nawwab|title=The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture: The Foundations of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zcd7DQAAQBAJ|date=2016|volume=1|publisher=[[UNESCO Publishing]]|isbn=978-92-3-104258-4|pages=86–87}}</ref>}}
Muslims believe that Allah is the same God worshipped by the members of the [[Abrahamic religions]] that preceded Islam, i.e. [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] ({{cite quran|29|46|expand=no|style=nosup}}).<ref name="Peters1">F.E. Peters, ''Islam'', p.4, Princeton University Press, 2003</ref> Creation and ordering of the universe is seen as an act of prime mercy for which all creatures sing his glories and bear witness to his unity and lordship. According to the Qurʾān: "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things" ({{Cite Quran|6|103|expand=no|style=nosup}}).<ref name="esp22"/> Similarly to Jews, Muslims [[Jesus in Islam|explicitly reject the divinity of Jesus]] and don't believe in him as the incarnated God or Son of God, but instead consider him a [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|human prophet]] and the [[Messiah in Islam|promised Messiah]] sent by God, although the Islamic tradition itself is not unanimous on the [[Islamic views on Jesus' death|question of Jesus' death and afterlife]].{{refn|<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Cole |author-first=Juan |author-link=Juan Cole |date=March 2021 |title='It was made to appear to them so': the Crucifixion, Jews, and Sasanian war propaganda in the Qur'ān |editor1-last=Stausberg |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-link=Michael Stausberg |editor2-last=Engler |editor2-first=Steven |editor2-link=Steven Engler (religion scholar) |journal=[[Religion (journal)|Religion]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=404–422 |doi=10.1080/0048721X.2021.1909170 |issn=1096-1151 |lccn=76615899 |oclc=186359943 |s2cid=233646869}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Reynolds |first=Gabriel S. |author-link=Gabriel Said Reynolds |date=May 2009 |title=The Muslim Jesus: Dead or Alive? |url=https://www3.nd.edu/~reynolds/index_files/jesus%20dead%20or%20alive.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=237–258 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X09000500 |jstor=40379003 |s2cid=27268737 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617010816/https://www3.nd.edu/~reynolds/index_files/jesus%20dead%20or%20alive.pdf |archive-date=17 June 2012 |access-date=25 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Neal |year=1991 |chapter=The Crucifixion – Non-Muslim Approaches |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ht1hpisBQF0C&pg=PA106 |title=Christ in Islam and Christianity: The Representation of Jesus in the Qur'an and the Classical Muslim Commentaries |location=[[Albany, New York]] |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |pages=106–140 |isbn=978-0-7914-0558-1 |s2cid=169122179}}</ref>}}
==Druze Faith== {{Main|Druzism}} {{Further|Epistles of Wisdom|Reincarnation#Druze}}
The [[Druzism|Druze Faith]] is the [[Druze#Esotericism|esoteric]] and [[ethnic religion]] of the Druzes, a group of [[Tribes of Arabia|Arab tribes]] that migrated at different times from [[southern Arabia]] to settle in [[Wadi al-Taym|Wādī al-Taym]], present-day [[Lebanon]].<ref name="Timani 2021"/> Their religion emerged in [[Cairo]]<ref name="Timani 2021"/> as an offshoot of the [[Ismailism|Ismā‘īli denomination]] of [[Shia Islam|Shiʿa Islam]] and developed in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] during the 10th century CE, after the Ismā‘īli Muslims had established the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] in [[North Africa]] and subsequently [[Fatimid conquest of Egypt|conquered Egypt]] in 969.{{refn|<ref name="Abu-Izzeddin 1993"/><ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="Firro 2012"/>}} The [[Fatimid dynasty|Fatimid rulers]] claimed to be both [[Caliphate|caliphs]] and [[Imamate in Ismaili doctrine|imams]], endowed with heavenly powers from [[Allah|God]], and fulfilling a [[Messianism|messianic role]].{{refn|<ref name="Abu-Izzeddin 1993"/><ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="Firro 2012">{{cite book |author-last=Firro |author-first=Kais M. |year=2012 |chapter=Nationalism and Confessionalism: Shiʿis, Druzes, and Alawis in Syria and Lebanon |editor1-last=Roald |editor1-first=Anne S. |editor2-last=Longva |editor2-first=Anh N. |title=Religious Minorities in the Middle East: Domination, Self-Empowerment, Accommodation |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Social, Economic, and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia |volume=108 |pages=254–265 |doi=10.1163/9789004216846_012 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-21684-6 |issn=1385-3376}}</ref>}} During the reign of [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh]] (996–1021), the imam-caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, a group of sages, eager to see the messianic promise fulfilled, began to propagate his "call to monotheism" (''al-daʿwa al-Tawḥīdiyya'') or "call of Ḥākim" (''al-daʿwa al-Ḥākimiyya'') in the [[Levant]], from 1017 to 1043.{{refn|<ref name="Abu-Izzeddin 1993"/><ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="EoQ-Firro"/>}} His followers called themselves ''[[Ahl al-Tawhīd|Ahl al-Tawḥīd]]'' ("People of the Unity [of God]") and ''Mūwaḥḥidūn'' ("Unitarians"), while outsiders called their new religion ''al-Druziyya''.{{refn|<ref name="Abu-Izzeddin 1993">{{cite book |author-last=Abu-Izzeddin |author-first=Nejla M. |year=1993 |origyear=1984 |chapter=Al-Ḥākim Bi-Amr Allāh |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CvT7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=The Druzes: A New Study of Their History, Faith, and Society |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[E. J. Brill]] |pages=74–86 |doi=10.1163/9789004450349_011 |isbn=978-90-04-45034-9}}</ref><ref name="Timani 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Timani |author-first=Hussam S. |year=2021 |chapter=The Druze |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=M. Afzal |editor2-link=Afzal Upal |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |pages=724–742 |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_038 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-9004435544 |issn=1874-6691}}</ref>}}
The Druze conception of God is declared by them to be one of [[Monotheism|strict and uncompromising unity]].{{refn|<ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="Firro 2012"/><ref name="EoQ-Firro"/>}} He is described as the [[Supreme Being]], inaccessible, omniscient, omnipresent, imperishable, and almighty God who is the creator of all things in the universe.{{refn|<ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="Firro 2012"/><ref name="EoQ-Firro"/>}} The Druze doctrine states that [[Panentheism|God is both transcendent and immanent]], in which he is above all attributes, but at the same time, he is eternally present:{{refn|<ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="Firro 2012"/><ref name="EoQ-Firro"/>}} "God is unique, eternal, without a beginning, and abiding without end. He is beyond the comprehension of human understanding and cannot be defined by words or attributes distinct from His essence. He has no body or spirit".<ref name="Firro 2012"/>
The Druze Faith is based on the ''[[Epistles of Wisdom]]'' (''Rasāʾil al-Ḥikma''), a set of 111 letters written during the brief period of its propagation in the [[Levant]] (1017–1043).{{refn|<ref name="Timani 2021"/><ref name="EoQ-Firro"/>}} Three centuries later, these epistles were collected into six books by [[Al-Sayyid al-Tanukhi|ʿĪsā al-Tanūkhī]], compiler of the Druze Canon.<ref name="EoQ-Firro"/> Their scriptures quote, either fully or in part or sometimes even with a single word, more than 250 verses from the [[Quran|Qurʾān]] to corroborate their own doctrine and/or to refute [[Islamic theology|Islamic beliefs]] that were inconsistent with the Druze Faith.<ref name="EoQ-Firro">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Firro |author-first=Kais M. |year=2001 |title=Druzes |editor-last=McAuliffe |editor-first=Jane Dammen |editor-link=Jane Dammen McAuliffe |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān]] |volume=I |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00051 |isbn=978-90-04-14743-0}}</ref> Despite a [[Persecution of Druze|long history of religious persecution]] by [[Muslims]],{{refn|<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Zartman |editor-first=Jonathan K. |year=2023 |orig-year=2020 |chapter=Minorities |title=Conflict in the Modern Middle East: An Encyclopedia of Civil War, Revolutions, and Regime Change |location=[[Santa Barbara, California]] |publisher=[[ABC-Clio]] |pages=198–200 |doi=10.5040/9798400630415-0003417 |isbn=979-8-2160-6477-0 |quote=Historically, [[Islam and other religions|Islam]] classified [[Christians]], [[Jews]], and [[Zoroastrians]] as protected "[[People of the Book]]", a secondary status [[Jizya|subject to payment of a poll tax]]. Nevertheless, [[Persecution of Zoroastrians|Zoroastrians suffered significant persecution]]. Other religions such as the [[Alawites]], [[Alevis]], and [[Druze]] often suffered more.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Layish |author-first=Aharon |year=2022 |orig-year=1982 |chapter=Introduction |title=Marriage, Divorce, and Succession in the Druze Family: A Study Based on Decisions of Druze Arbitrators and Religious Courts in Israel and the Golan Heights |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Social, Economic, and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia |volume=31 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1163/9789004491199_004 |isbn=978-90-04-49119-9 |issn=1385-3376 |quote=the Druze religion, though originating from the Isma'lliyya, an extreme branch of the Shia, seceded completely from Islam and has, therefore, experienced periods of persecution by the latter.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Swayd |author-first=Samy S. |year=2015 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Druzes |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |edition=2nd |page=132 |isbn=9781442246164 |quote=Some Muslim rulers and jurists have advocated the persecution of members of the Druze Movement beginning with the seventh Fatimid Caliph Al-Zahir, in 1022. Recurring period of persecutions in subsequent centuries [...] failure to elucidate their beliefs and practices, have contributed to the ambiguous relationship between Muslims and Druzes}}</ref>}} the Druze Faith has survived to the present day and contemporary Druze communities live primarily in [[Druze in Israel|Israel]], [[Druze in Jordan|Jordan]], [[Druze in Lebanon|Lebanon]], and [[Druze in Syria|Syria]].<ref name="Timani 2021"/>
==Baháʼí Faith== {{Main|God in the Baháʼí Faith}} {{Further|Baháʼí cosmology|Baháʼí teachings}} {{Baháʼí sidebar}}
The [[Baháʼí literature|writings]] of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] describe a [[Monotheism|monotheistic]], personal, inaccessible, omniscient, omnipresent, imperishable, and almighty God who is the creator of all things in the universe.<ref name="BFaith-74">{{cite book |author1-last=Hatcher |author1-first=William S. |author2-last=Martin |author2-first=J. Douglas |year=1985 |title=The Baháʼí Faith |location=[[San Francisco]], [[California]] |publisher=[[Harper (publisher)#Harper & Row (1962–1990)|Harper & Row]] |page=74 |isbn=978-0-06-065441-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/bahfaithemer00hatc/page/74 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref name=PSmith>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Peter |year=2008 |title=An Introduction to the Baháʼí Faith |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-86251-6}}</ref>{{rp|106}} The [[existence of God]] and the [[universe]] is thought to be eternal, without a beginning or end.<ref name="britannica">{{cite book |editor1-last=Daume |editor1-first=Daphne |editor2-last=Watson |editor2-first=Louise |year=1992 |contribution=The Baháʼí Faith |url=https://archive.org/details/1988britannicabo0000daum |title=Britannica Book of the Year |location=[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |isbn=978-0-85229-486-4 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
Although transcendent and inaccessible directly,<ref name="Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Cole |author-first=Juan |author-link=Juan Cole |title=BAHAISM i. The Faith |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/bahaism-i |url-status=live |volume=III/4 |pages=438–446 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |date=30 December 2012 |orig-year=15 December 1988 |doi=10.1163/2330-4804_EIRO_COM_6391 |doi-access=free |issn=2330-4804 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123112620/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/bahaism-i |archive-date=23 January 2013 |access-date=11 December 2020}}</ref>{{rp|438-446}} God is nevertheless seen as conscious of the creation,<ref name="Iranica"/>{{rp|438–446}} with a will and purpose that is expressed through messengers recognized in the Baháʼí Faith as the [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestations of God]]<ref name=PSmith/>{{rp|106}} (all the [[Prophets in Judaism|Jewish prophets]], [[Zoroaster]], [[Krishna]], [[the Buddha]], [[Jesus]], [[Muhammad in the Baháʼí Faith|Muhammad]], the [[Báb]], and ultimately [[Baháʼu'lláh]]).<ref name="Iranica"/>{{rp|438–446}} The purpose of the creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator,<ref name=PSmith/>{{rp|111}} through such methods as [[Prayer in the Baháʼí Faith|prayer]], [[Introspection|reflection]], and being of [[Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity|service to humankind]].<ref name="hatcher_huri">{{cite journal |author-last=Hatcher |author-first=John S. |year=2005 |title=Unveiling the Hurí of Love |url=https://bahai-library.com/hatcher_unveiling_huri_love |journal=[[Baháʼí studies#Journals|The Journal of Baháʼí Studies]] |location=[[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]] |publisher=Association for Bahá'í Studies–North America |volume=15 |pages=1–40 |access-date=2020-10-16 |via=Bahá'í Library Online}}</ref> God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through his intermediaries, the prophets and messengers who have founded various [[world religions]] from the [[Human history|beginning of humankind]] up to the present day,<ref name=PSmith/>{{rp|107–108}}<ref name="Iranica"/>{{rp|438–446}} and will continue to do so in the future.<ref name="Iranica"/>{{rp|438–446}}
The Manifestations of God reflect his divine attributes, which are creations of God made for the purpose of spiritual enlightenment, onto the physical plane of existence.<ref name="BFaith-123-126">{{cite book |author1-last=Hatcher |author1-first=William S. |author2-last=Martin |author2-first=J. Douglas |year=1985 |title=The Baháʼí Faith |location=[[San Francisco]], [[California]] |publisher=[[Harper (publisher)#Harper & Row (1962–1990)|Harper & Row]] |pages=123–126 |isbn=978-0-06-065441-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/bahfaithemer00hatc/page/123 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In the Baháʼí Faith, all physical beings reflect at least one of these attributes, and the human [[soul]] can potentially reflect all of them.<ref name="GH">{{cite book |author-last=Saiedi |author-first=Nader |year=2008 |title=Gate of the Heart |url=https://archive.org/details/gateheartunderst00saie/page/n171 |url-access=limited |location=[[Waterloo, Ontario]] |publisher=[[Wilfrid Laurier University Press]] |pages=163–180 |isbn=978-1-55458-035-4 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> The Baháʼí conception of God rejects all [[Pantheism|pantheistic]], [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]], and [[Incarnation|incarnationist]] beliefs about God.<ref name=PSmith/>{{rp|106}}
==Rastafari== {{Main|Rastafari}} {{Further|Rastafari#Jah and Jesus Christ}}
[[Rastafaris]] refer to God as ''[[Jah]]'',{{refn|{{sfn|Clarke|1986}}<ref name="Murrell 2000">Murrell, Nathaniel Samuel. "Tuning Hebrew psalms to reggae rhythms: Rastas' revolutionary lamentations for social change." ''CrossCurrents'' (2000): pp. 525-540. Quotes: "The Psalms gave the Rastas the trademark name 'JAH' for their hero and deity, Ras Tafari, Emperor Haile Selassie I; the title JAH is found once in the Psalms as an abbreviation for Yahweh (or Jahweh), the four-letter word (tetragrammaton) YHWH. Psalm 68:4 reads, 'Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice in him.'" "To Leonard Howell, one of the Jamaican pioneers of Rastafari, the prophetic declaration in Psalm 68:31—'Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God'—was an indispensable paradigm for positing the messianic fulfillment of the Bible in the person of Haile Selassie I."</ref><ref>Tomei, Renato. "Relocating a Sacred Space: From Mount Zion to the New Jerusalem in the Mystic Poetry of Rastafari." ''English Academy Review'' 40, no. 1 (2023): pp. 99-116.</ref>}} a shortened version of ''[[Jehovah]]'' in the [[Authorized King James Version]] (KJV).{{sfnm|1a1=Cashmore|1y=1983|1p=24|2a1=Rubenstein|2a2=Suarez|2y=1994|2p=2|3a1=Barrett|3y=1997|3p=83}} Jah is said to be [[Immanence|immanent]],{{sfn|Chevannes|1990|p=135}} but is also [[Incarnation|incarnate]] in each individual.{{sfnm|1a1=Cashmore|1y=1983|1p=6|2a1=Clarke|2y=1986|2p=12|3a1=Barnett|3y=2006|3p=876|4a1=Fernández Olmos|4a2=Paravisini-Gebert|4y=2011|4p=196}} This belief is reflected in the Rastafarian aphorism that "God is man and man is God".{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=36}} Rastafaris describe "knowing" Jah, rather than simply "believing" in him.{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=65}} In seeking to narrow the distance between humanity and divinity, Rastafaris embraces [[mysticism]].{{sfn|Edmonds|2012|p=92}} Closeness to Jah may be accomplished through [[Livity (spiritual concept)|Livity]], a form of the [[Nazirite]] [[Religious vows|vow]] derived from the [[Old Testament]].{{refn|<ref>Capparella, H., 2016. "Rastafari in the Promised Land." ''Antrocom: Online Journal of Anthropology'', 12(1).</ref><ref>{{citation|last1=Werden-Greenfield|first1=A.Y. |year=2016|title=Warriors and prophets of livity: Samson and Moses as moral exemplars in Rastafari|publisher=Temple University}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chakravarty|first1=K.G. |year=2015|title=Rastafari revisited: A four-point orthodox/secular typology|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|volume=83|number=1|pages=151-180}}</ref>}} The Rastafarian conception of God has similarities with the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Hindu conception of soul]] (''ātman'').{{refn|<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stokke|first1=C. |year=2021|title=Consciousness development in Rastafari: A perspective from the psychology of religion|journal=Anthropology of Consciousness|volume=32|number=1|pages=81-106}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chakravarty|first1=K.G. |year=2015|title=Rastafari revisited: A four-point orthodox/secular typology|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|volume=83|number=1|pages=151-180}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Powell|first1=Steven|title=Dread rites: an account of Rastafarian music and ritual process in popular culture|year=1989|page=31}}</ref>}} [[Jesus]] is an important figure in Rastafari,{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=67}} but practitioners reject the traditional Christian view of Jesus, and particularly the [[Race and appearance of Jesus|depiction of him as a White European]].{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1p=67|2a1=Barrett|2y=1997|2p=106}} Instead, many Rastafaris consider [[Haile Selassie I]] as the fulfillment of [[Book of Psalms|Psalm]] {{bibleverse-nb||Psalms|68:31|HE}}, and therefore the [[Messiah]] or [[Incarnation|Jah incarnate]].<ref name="Murrell 2000"/>
==See also== {{Portal|Bible|Christianity|Islam|Judaism|Middle East}} {{div col}} * [[Ancient Canaanite religion]] * [[Ancient Semitic religion]] * [[Argument from morality]] * [[Atenism]] * [[Comparative religion]] * [[Conceptions of God]] * [[Creationism]] * [[Demiurge]] * [[Dystheism]] * [[Ethical monotheism]] * [[Evil God Challenge]] * [[False god]] * ''[[God of Abraham]]'' (Yiddish prayer) * [[God of Israel (disambiguation)|God of Israel]] * [[Mandaeism]] * [[Misotheism]] * [[Moralistic therapeutic deism]] * [[Names of God]] * [[Outline of theology]] * [[Problem of evil]] * [[Problem of Hell]] * [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia]] * [[Satanic Verses]] * [[Schools of Islamic theology]] * [[Semitic Neopaganism]] * [[Sky father]] * [[Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions]] * [[Theistic Satanism]] * [[Theodicy]] * [[Theology of the Unification Church]] * ''[[Urmonotheismus]]'' (primitive monotheism) * [[Violence in the Bible]] * [[Violence in the Quran]] {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=Note}}
==References== {{Reflist|40em}}
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Hughes |year=2012 |chapter=What Are "Abrahamic Religions"? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0K3Ia1rQCZEC&pg=PA15 |title=Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=15–33 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199934645.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-993464-5 |s2cid=157815976}} *{{cite book |last=Niehr |first=Herbert |year=1995 |chapter=The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion: Methodological and Religio-Historical Aspects |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bua2dMa9fJ4C&pg=PA45 |editor-last=Edelman |editor-first=Diana Vikander |title=The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms |location=[[Leuven]] |publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]] |pages=45–72 |isbn=978-90-5356-503-2 |oclc=33819403}} *{{cite book |author-last=Ratzinger |author-first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Ratzinger |year=2004 |orig-date=1968 |chapter=Part One: God – Chapter II: The Biblical Belief in God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJlkwvExekkC&pg=PA116 |title=[[Introduction to Christianity]] |location=[[San Francisco]] |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |edition=2nd Revised |pages=116–136 |isbn=9781586170295 |lccn=2004103523 |s2cid=169456327}} *{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Gabriel S. |author-link=Gabriel Said Reynolds |year=2020 |chapter=God of the Bible and the Qur'an |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxHPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA203 |title=Allah: God in the Qurʾān |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=203–253 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvxkn7q4 |isbn=978-0-300-24658-2 |jstor=j.ctvxkn7q4 |lccn=2019947014 |s2cid=226129509}} *{{cite book |last=Römer |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Römer |year=2015 |title=The Invention of God |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z59XCwAAQBAJ |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |doi=10.4159/9780674915732 |isbn=978-0-674-50497-4 |jstor=j.ctvjsf3qb |s2cid=170740919}} *{{cite journal |last1=Rubenstein |first1=Hannah |first2=Chris |last2=Suarez |year=1994 |title=The Twelve Tribes of Israel: An Explorative Field Study |journal=Religion Today |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1080/13537909408580708 }} *{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |author-link=Mark S. Smith |year=2017 |chapter=YHWH's Original Character: Questions about an Unknown God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LtGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |editor1-last=Van Oorschot |editor1-first=Jürgen |editor2-last=Witten |editor2-first=Markus |title=The Origins of Yahwism |location=[[Berlin]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |series=Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |volume=484 |pages=23–44 |doi=10.1515/9783110448221-002 |isbn=978-3-11-042538-3 |s2cid=187378834}} *{{cite book |last=Van der Toorn |first=Karel |author-link=Karel van der Toorn |year=1999 |chapter=God (I) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA352 |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |title=[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=352–365 |edition=2nd |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godi |isbn=978-90-04-11119-6}} *{{cite book |last=Van der Horst |first=Pieter W. |author-link=Pieter Willem van der Horst |year=1999 |chapter=God (II) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA365 |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |title=[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=365–370 |edition=2nd |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godii |isbn=978-90-04-11119-6}}
==External links== *{{cite web |last=Abulafia |first=Anna Sapir |author-link=Anna Abulafia |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-abrahamic-religions |title=The Abrahamic religions |website=www.bl.uk |publisher=[[British Library]] |location=[[London]] |access-date=25 February 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712150432/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-abrahamic-religions |archive-date=12 July 2020}} *{{cite web |last=Amzallag |first=Nissim |date=August 2018 |website=The Bible and Interpretation |publisher=[[University of Arizona]] |title=Metallurgy, the Forgotten Dimension of Ancient Yahwism |url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2018/08/amz428015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726101534/https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2018/08/amz428015 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=28 December 2020}} *{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gaster |first=Theodor H. |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Biblical Judaism (20th–4th century BCE) |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce |date=26 November 2020 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |access-date=28 December 2020}}
{{Theology}}
[[Category:Abrahamic religions]] [[Category:Conceptions of God]] [[Category:Creator gods]]