With regard to Christianity,religion scholars have differed on whetherMormonism 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 tonoteworthy theological differences.[13][14] Rastafari, the heterogenous movement that originated inJamaica in the 1930s, is variously classified by religion scholars as either an international socio-religious movement, a distinct Abrahamic religion, or anew religious movement.[15]
God is conceived as unique and perfect, free from all faults, deficiencies, and defects, and further held to beomnipotent,omnipresent,omniscient, and completelyinfinite in all of his attributes, who has no partner or equal, being the sole creator of everything in existence.[4][27][28][29] In Judaism,God is never portrayed in any image.[17][29] The idea of God as aduality ortrinity is heretical in Judaism—it's considered akin topolytheism.[4][17][29][30] The Torah specifically forbade ascribing partners to share his singular sovereignty,[4][17][27] as he is considered to be theabsolute one without a second, indivisible, and incomparable being, who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to him.[4][28] Thus, God is unlike anything in or of the world as to be beyond all forms of human thought and expression.[4][28]
God in Judaism is conceived asanthropomorphic,[4][26][30] unique, benevolent, eternal, the creator of the universe, and theultimate source of morality.[4][31] Thus, the termGod corresponds to an actual ontological reality, and is not merely a projection of the human psyche.[32] Traditional interpretations of Judaism generally emphasize that God ispersonal yet also transcendent and able to intervene in the world,[5] while some modern interpretations of Judaism emphasize that God is animpersonal force or ideal rather than a supernatural being concerned with the universe.[4][32]
Inmainstream Christianity, theology and beliefs about God are enshrined in the doctrine ofmonotheisticTrinitarianism, 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.[39][41][42] These mainstream Christian doctrines were largely formulated at theCouncil of Nicaea and are enshrined in theNicene Creed.[39][41][42] The Trinitarian view emphasizes thatGod has a will, and thatGod the Son has two natures, divine and human, though these are never in conflict but joined in thehypostatic union.[39][41][42]
InIslam, God (Allah) (Arabic:ٱللَّٰه,romanized: Allāh,IPA:[ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)]ⓘ, lit. "the God")[6] is the supreme being, all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe.[6][46][47] Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular (tawhid).[6][48] He is considered to be unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent.[6][49] According to theQuran, there are99 Names of God (al-asma al-husna, lit. meaning: "The best names") each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of God.[50][51] All these names refer to Allah, considered to be the supreme and all-comprehensive divine Arabic name.[6][52] Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Entirely Merciful" (al-Rahman) and "the Especially Merciful" (al-Rahim).[50][51]
Islam rejects the doctrine of theIncarnation and the notion of apersonal God asanthropomorphic, because it is seen as demeaning to thetranscendence of God. The Quran 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?" (19:65); "(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)" (42:11); "And there is none comparable unto Him" (112:4). Therefore, Islam strictly rejects all forms of anthropomorphism andanthropopathism of theconcept of God, and thus categorically rejects the Christian concept of theTrinity or division of persons in theGodhead.[53][54]
Muslims believe that Allah is the same God worshipped by the members of theAbrahamic religions that preceded Islam, i.e.Judaism andChristianity (29:46).[55] 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 Quran: "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things" (6:103).[47] Similarly to Jews, Muslimsexplicitly reject the divinity of Jesus and don't believe in him as the incarnated God or Son of God, but instead consider him ahuman prophet and thepromised Messiah sent by God, although the Islamic tradition itself is not unanimous on thequestion of Jesus' death and afterlife.[56][57][58]
Thewritings of theBaháʼí Faith describe amonotheistic, personal, inaccessible, omniscient, omnipresent, imperishable, and almighty God who is the creator of all things in the universe.[59][60]: 106 Theexistence of God and theuniverse is thought to be eternal, without a beginning or end.[61]
Though transcendent and inaccessible directly,[62]: 438–446 God is nevertheless seen as conscious of the creation,[62]: 438–446 with a will and purpose that is expressed through messengers recognized in the Baháʼí Faith as theManifestations of God[60]: 106 (all theJewish prophets,Zoroaster,Krishna,Gautama Buddha,Jesus,Muhammad, theBáb, and ultimatelyBaháʼu'lláh).[62]: 438–446 The purpose of the creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator,[60]: 111 through such methods asprayer,reflection, and being ofservice to humankind.[63] God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through his intermediaries, the prophets and messengers who have founded variousworld religions from thebeginning of humankind up to the present day,[60]: 107–108 [62]: 438–446 and will continue to do so in the future.[62]: 438–446
The Manifestations of God reflect divine attributes, which are creations of God made for the purpose of spiritual enlightenment, onto the physical plane of existence.[64] In the Baháʼí view, all physical beings reflect at least one of these attributes, and the humansoul can potentially reflect all of them.[65] The Baháʼí conception of God rejects allpantheistic,anthropomorphic, and incarnationist beliefs about God.[60]: 106
Rastafari refer to God asJah,[66][67][68] a shortened version of "Jehovah" in theKing James Bible.[69] Jah is said to beimmanent,[70] but is alsoincarnate in each individual.[71] This belief is reflected in the Rasta aphorism that "God is man and man is God".[72] Rastas describe "knowing" Jah, rather than simply "believing" in him.[73] In seeking to narrow the distance between humanity and divinity, Rastafari embracesmysticism.[74] Closeness to Jah may be accomplished throughLivity, a form of theNazirite creed.[75][76][77] The Rastafari conception of God has similarities with the Hinduātman.[78][79][80]Jesus is an important figure in Rastafari,[81] but practitioners reject the traditional Christian view of Jesus, and particularly thedepiction of him as a white European.[82] Many Rastas instead seeHaile Selassie I as the fulfilment of Psalm 68:31, and therefore theMessiah or Jah incarnate.[67]
^Although theSemitic godEl is indeed the most ancient predecessor to the Abrahamic god,[21][22][23][24] this specifically refers to the ancient ideasYahweh once encompassed in theAncient Hebrew religion, such as being astorm- andwar-god, living on mountains, or controlling the weather.[21][22][23][25][26] 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.
^abcAngelini, Anna (2021). "Les dieux des autres: entre «démons» et «idoles»".L'imaginaire du démoniaque dans la Septante: Une analyse comparée de la notion de "démon" dans la Septante et dans la Bible Hébraïque. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism (in French). Vol. 197.Leiden andBoston:Brill Publishers. pp. 184–224.doi:10.1163/9789004468474_008.ISBN978-90-04-46847-4.
^The term with its distinctive Mormon usage first appeared inLectures on Faith (published 1834), Lecture 5 ("We shall in this lecture speak of the Godhead; we mean the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."). The termGodhead also appears several times in Lecture 2 in its sense as used in theAuthorized King James Version, meaningdivinity.
^abMurrell, 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."
^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.
^Capparella, H., 2016. "Rastafari in the Promised Land."Antrocom: Online Journal of Anthropology, 12(1).
^Werden-Greenfield, A.Y., 2016. "Warriors and prophets of livity: Samson and Moses as moral exemplars in Rastafari." Temple University.
^Chakravarty, K.G., 2015. "Rastafari revisited: A four-point orthodox/secular typology."Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 83(1), pp.151-180.
^Stokke, C., 2021. "Consciousness development in Rastafari: A perspective from the psychology of religion."Anthropology of Consciousness, 32(1), pp.81-106.
^Chakravarty, K.G., 2015. "Rastafari revisited: A four-point orthodox/secular typology."Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 83(1), pp.151-180.
^Powell, Steven.Dread rites: an account of Rastafarian music and ritual process in popular culture (Thesis). 1989. pp. 31.
Clarke, Peter B. (1986).Black Paradise: The Rastafarian Movement. New Religious Movements Series. Wellingborough: The Aquarian Press.ISBN978-0-85030-428-2.
Fernández Olmos, Margarite; Paravisini-Gebert, Lizabeth (2011).Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santería to Obeah and Espiritismo (second ed.). New York and London:New York University Press.ISBN978-0-8147-6228-8.
Rubenstein, Hannah; Suarez, Chris (1994). "The Twelve Tribes of Israel: An Explorative Field Study".Religion Today.9 (2):1–6.doi:10.1080/13537909408580708.
Islam portal •Category
