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TheGreat Architect of the Universe (alsoGrand Architect of the Universe orSupreme Architect of the Universe) is aconception of God discussed by manyChristian theologians andapologists. As a designation it is used withinFreemasonry to represent thedeity neutrally (in whatever form, and by whatever name each member may individually believe in). It is also aRosicrucian conception of God, as expressed byMax Heindel.
The concept ofGod as the Great Architect of the Universe has been used many times withinChristianity. An illustration of God as the architect of the universe can be found in aBible from the Middle Ages[1] and the comparison of God to an architect has been used by Christian apologists and teachers.
Thomas Aquinas said in theSumma: "God, Who is the first principle of all things, may be compared to things created 'as the architect is to things designed' (ut artifex ad artificiata)."[2] Commentators have pointed out that the assertion that the Grand Architect of the Universe is the Christian God "is not evident on the basis ofnatural theology alone but requires an additional 'leap of faith' based on the revelation of the Bible".[3] However, the Aquinas' God was not neutral (He is interpreted as the Highest Good) and it has a specific form (He isanthropomorphic in the person of Jesus Christ God).
John Calvin, in hisInstitutes of the Christian Religion (1536), repeatedly calls the Christian God "the Architect of the Universe", also referring to his works as "Architecture of the Universe", and in his commentary onPsalm 19 refers to theChristian God as the "Great Architect" or "Architect of the Universe".
The concept of a Great Architect of the Universe also occurs inMartinism. Martinists hold that while it is possible to "invoke" him, it is not to adore him.[4] Wholeworship is traditionally reserved only to God, invocation can be also proper of anangel ordemon.
Masonic historians such as William Bissey[5] Gary Leazer (quotingCoil's Masonic Encyclopaedia),[6] andS. Brent Morris,[7] assert that "the Masonic abbreviation G.A.O.T.U., meaning the Great Architect of the Universe, continues a long tradition of using an allegorical name for the Deity." They trace how the name and the abbreviation entered Masonic tradition from theBook of Constitutions written in 1723 by the ReverendJames Anderson. They also note that Anderson, a Calvinist minister, probably took the term from Calvin's usage.
Christopher Haffner's own explanation of the Masonic concept of a Great Architect of the Universe, as a placeholder for the Supreme Being of one's choice, is given inWorkman Unashamed:
Now imagine me standing in lodge with my head bowed in prayer between Brother Mohammed Bokhary and Brother Arjun Melwani. To neither of them is the Great Architect of the Universe perceived as theHoly Trinity. To Brother Bokhary He has been revealed asAllah; to Brother Melwani He is probably perceived asVishnu. Since I believe thatthere is only one God, I am confronted with three possibilities:
- They are praying totheDevil whilst I am praying to God;
- They are praying tonothing, as their Gods do not exist;
- They are praying to thesame God as I, yet their understanding of His nature is partly incomplete (as indeed is mine —1 Cor 13:12)
It is without hesitation that I accept the third possibility..
— Christopher Haffner, Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Freemason, Lewis Masonic, 1989, p.39
TheSwedish Rite, which has the prerequisite of professing to Christian Faith, uses the form "TheThreefold Great Architect of the Universe".
The concept of the Great Architect of the Universe occurs inGnosticism. TheDemiurge is the Great Architect of the Universe, the God of Old Testament, in opposition to Christ andSophia, messengers of Gnosis of the True God.For example: Gnostics such as theNasoræans believe the Pira Rabba is the source, origin, and container of all things, which is filled by the Mânâ Rabbâ, the Great Spirit, from which emanates theFirst Life. The First Life prays for companionship and progeny, whereupon the Second Life, the Ultra Mkayyema or World-constituting Æon, the Architect of the Universe, comes into being. From this architect come a number ofæons, who erect the universe under the foremanship of theMandâ d'Hayye or gnôsis zoês, the Personified Knowledge of Life.[8]
The Great Architect may also be a metaphor alluding to the godhead potentiality of every individual. "(God)... That invisible power which all know does exist, but understood by many different names, such as God, Spirit, Supreme Being, Intelligence, Mind, Energy, Nature and so forth."[9]
In the Hindu mythology, LordVishvakarma is regarded as the “God of Architecture”. He is the supreme god of craftsmanship and perfect engineering.Viśvakarma (meaning "all creating" inSanskrit) is the deity of the creative power that holds the universe together according to theRigveda and is considered to be the original creator, architect, divine engineer of the universe from before the advent of time, also the root concept of the laterUpanishadic figures ofBrahman andPurusha in the historical Vedic religion.
Hindu scriptures describe many of Vishwakarma's architectural accomplishments. Through the fouryugas (aeons of Hindu mythology), he had built several towns and palaces for thegods. Among them were, in chronological order,Svarga (Heaven) inSatya Yuga,Lanka inTreta Yuga, andDwarka (Krishna's capital) inDvapara Yuga.
InMax Heindel's exposition, the Great Architect of the Universe is the Supreme Being, who proceeds from TheAbsolute, at the dawn of manifestation.
James Hopwood Jeans, in his bookThe Mysterious Universe, also employs the concept of a Great Architect of the Universe, saying at one point "Lapsing back again into the crudely anthropomorphic language we have already used, we may say that we have already considered with disfavour the possibility of the universe having been planned by a biologist or an engineer; from the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician."[10][11] To thatJinarajadasa adds his observation that the Great Architect is "also a Grand Geometrician. For in some manner or other, whether obvious or hidden, there seems to be a geometric basis to every object in the universe."[12]
