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159-485: A creator deity or creator god is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth , world , and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism , the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a secondary creator from a primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator. Initiated by Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti around 1330 BCE, during

318-556: A demiurge out of a primordial state of matter (known in religious studies as chaos after the Greek term used by Hesiod in his Theogony ). Jewish thinkers took up the idea, which became important to Judaism. According to Islam , the creator deity, God, known in Arabic as Allah , is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator, Sustainer, Ordainer, and Judge of the universe. Creation is seen as an act of divine choice and mercy, one with

477-503: A pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being. Although most monotheistic religions traditionally envision their god as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent , and eternal , none of these qualities are essential to the definition of a "deity" and various cultures have conceptualized their deities differently. Monotheistic religions typically refer to their god in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in

636-480: A conscious and immaterial entity like God cannot create a material entity like the universe. Furthermore, according to the Jain concept of divinity, any soul who destroys its karmas and desires achieves liberation. A soul who destroys all its passions and desires has no desire to interfere in the working of the universe. Moral rewards and sufferings are not the work of a divine being, but a result of an innate moral order in

795-422: A creator God or transcendental absolute principle ( monistic theologies), which manifests immanently in nature. Henotheism accepts the existence of more than one deity, but considers all deities as equivalent representations or aspects of the same divine principle, the highest. Monolatry is the belief that many deities exist, but that only one of these deities may be validly worshipped. Monotheism

954-595: A different god or goddess is the secondary creator at the start of each cosmic cycle ( kalpa , aeon). Brahma is a "secondary creator" as described in the Mahabharata and Puranas , and among the most studied and described. Born from a lotus emerging from the navel of Vishnu , Brahma creates all the forms in the universe, but not the primordial universe itself. In contrast, the Shiva -focused Puranas describe Brahma and Vishnu to have been created by Ardhanarishvara , that

1113-574: A few of them, particularly Dumuzid , Geshtinanna , and Gugalanna were said to have either died or visited the underworld. Both male and female deities were widely venerated. In the Sumerian pantheon, deities had multiple functions, which included presiding over procreation, rains, irrigation, agriculture, destiny, and justice. The gods were fed, clothed, entertained, and worshipped to prevent natural catastrophes as well as to prevent social chaos such as pillaging, rape, or atrocities. Many of

1272-598: A grand purpose: "And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play." Rather, the purpose of humanity is to be tested: "Who has created death and life, that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving;" Those who pass the test are rewarded with Paradise: "Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfilment of (the heart's) desires;" According to

1431-572: A letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's orchard ( pardes ), that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city". In these examples, pardes clearly means 'orchard' or 'park', but in the Jewish apocalyptic literature and in the Talmud paradise gains its associations with the Garden of Eden and its heavenly prototype,

1590-569: A meaning also present in the New Testament . Italian historian Mario Liverani argues that the Garden of Eden was modeled on Persian royal gardens, while John Day argues that linguistic and other evidence indicates that the yahwistic Eden story was composed before the Persian period. US archaeologist Lawrence Stager posits that the biblical Eden narrative drew from aspects of Solomon's palace and temple compound and Jerusalem . In

1749-531: A moral agent. The second account, in contrast to the regimented seven-day scheme of Genesis 1, uses a simple flowing narrative style that proceeds from God's forming the first man through the Garden of Eden to the creation of the first woman and the institution of marriage. In contrast to the omnipotent God of Genesis 1 creating a god-like humanity, the God of Genesis 2 can fail as well as succeed. The humanity he creates

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1908-655: A pantheon of deities, the chief of whom was the god El , who ruled alongside his consort Asherah and their seventy sons . Baal was the god of storm, rain, vegetation and fertility, while his consort Anat was the goddess of war and Astarte , the West Semitic equivalent to Ishtar , was the goddess of love. The people of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah originally believed in these deities, alongside their own national god Yahweh. El later became syncretized with Yahweh , who took over El's role as

2067-406: A pledge of eternal life," but man was only able to dwell there for a short time because he soon fell from grace. In the poem, the Garden of Eden is both human and divine: while it is located on earth at the top of Mt. Purgatory, it also serves as the gateway to the heavens . Much of Milton's Paradise Lost occurs in the Garden of Eden. The first act of Arthur Miller's 1972 play Creation of

2226-496: A prehistoric female deity. A number of probable representations of deities have been discovered at 'Ain Ghazal and the works of art uncovered at Çatalhöyük reveal references to what is probably a complex mythology. Diverse African cultures developed theology and concepts of deities over their history. In Nigeria and neighboring West African countries , for example, two prominent deities (locally called Òrìṣà ) are found in

2385-613: A presiding deity, who inspired social rituals, special trading markets and community festivals. A deity with aspects similar to Kulkulkan in the Aztec culture has been called Quetzalcoatl . However, states Timothy Insoll, the Aztec ideas of deity remain poorly understood. What has been assumed is based on what was constructed by Christian missionaries . The deity concept was likely more complex than these historical records. In Aztec culture , there were hundred of deities, but many were henotheistic incarnations of one another (similar to

2544-442: A secondary creator from the primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator. According to Gaudiya Vaishnavas , Brahma is the secondary creator and not the supreme. Vishnu is the primary creator. According to Vaishnava belief Vishnu creates the basic universal shell and provides all the raw materials and also places the living entities within the material world, fulfilling their own independent will. Brahma works with

2703-555: A solemn prayer hymned by Jonathan , Nehemiah and the Priest of Israel , while making sacrifices in honour of God: "O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who art fearefull, and strong, and righteous, and mercifull, and the onely, and gracious king". The Prologue to the Gospel of John begins with: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same

2862-407: A specific and flawed personality. They were not omnipotent and could be injured in some circumstances. Greek deities led to cults, were used politically and inspired votive offerings for favors such as bountiful crops, healthy family, victory in war, or peace for a loved one recently deceased. The Roman pantheon had numerous deities, both Greek and non-Greek. The more famed deities, found in

3021-413: A variety of ways—male, female, hermaphroditic , or genderless. Many cultures—including the ancient Mesopotamians , Egyptians , Greeks , Romans , and Germanic peoples —have personified natural phenomena , variously as either deliberate causes or effects. Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions , deities have been envisioned as manifesting within

3180-603: A walled enclosure was not preserved in most Iranian usage, and generally came to refer to a plantation or other cultivated area, not necessarily walled. For example, the Old Iranian word survives as pardis in New Persian, as well as its derivative pālīz (or jālīz ), which denotes a vegetable patch. The word entered the Hebrew language with the meaning of pardes ( פַּרְדֵּס ), 'orchard', appearing thrice in

3339-494: Is 'walled (enclosure)', from pairi- 'around' (cognate with the Greek περί and the English peri- , of identical meaning), and -diz , "to make, form (a wall), build" (cognate with the Greek τεῖχος , 'wall'). The word's etymology is ultimately derived from a Proto-Indo-European root , *dheigʷ , 'to stick and set up (a wall)', and *per , 'around'. By the 6th/5th century BCE, the Old Iranian word had been borrowed into

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3498-529: Is a creation ex nihilo . Traditional interpreters argue on grammatical and syntactical grounds that this is the meaning of Genesis 1:1, which is commonly rendered: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." However, other interpreters understand creation ex nihilo as a 2nd-century theological development. According to this view, church fathers opposed notions appearing in pre -Christian creation myths and in Gnosticism —notions of creation by

3657-486: Is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed. Hinduism is sometimes referred to as henotheistic (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others), but any such term is an overgeneralization. The Nasadiya Sukta ( Creation Hymn ) of the Rigveda is one of the earliest texts which "demonstrates a sense of metaphysical speculation" about what created

3816-585: Is created from the love of Elohim and Eden, but evil later is brought into the universe when Elohim learns of the existence of the Good above him and ascends trying to reach it. One of oldest depictions of Garden of Eden is made in Byzantine style in Ravenna , while the city was still under Byzantine control. A preserved blue mosaic is part of the mausoleum of Galla Placidia . Circular motifs represent flowers of

3975-587: Is deemed to be a full deity with the Christian cross as his icon. The theological examination of Jesus Christ, of divine grace in incarnation, his non-transferability and completeness has been a historic topic. For example, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE declared that in "one person Jesus Christ, fullness of deity and fullness of humanity are united, the union of the natures being such that they can neither be divided nor confused". Jesus Christ, according to

4134-455: Is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan , from PIE *ghut- , which means "that which is invoked". Guth in the Irish language means "voice". The term *ghut- is also the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo ("to call"), Sanskrit huta- ("invoked", an epithet of Indra ), from the root *gheu(e)- ("to call, invoke."), An alternate etymology for the term "god" comes from

4293-405: Is divided into seven compartments. The compartments are not described, though it is implied that each compartment is greater than the previous one and is joined based on one's merit. The first compartment is for Jewish martyrs, the second for those who drowned, the third for "Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples," the fourth for those whom the cloud of glory carried off, the fifth for penitents,

4452-596: Is exemplified by Adam and his spouse in the Quran (Q. 7:23 "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers"), in contrast to Iblis (Satan) who blames God for leading him astray (Q. 15:37). Followers of the Latter Day Saint movement believe that after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden they resided in a place known as Adam-ondi-Ahman , located in present-day Daviess County, Missouri . It

4611-462: Is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator. In Mandaeism , Hayyi Rabbi (lit=The Great Life), or 'The Great Living God', is the supreme God from which all things emanate . He is also known as 'The First Life', since during the creation of the material world, Yushamin emanated from Hayyi Rabbi as the "Second Life." "The principles of the Mandaean doctrine: the belief of

4770-584: Is half Shiva and half Parvati; or alternatively, Brahma was born from Rudra , or Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma creating each other cyclically in different aeons ( kalpa ). Thus in most Puranic texts, Brahma's creative activity depends on the presence and power of a higher god. In other versions of creation, the creator deity is the one who is equivalent to the Brahman , the metaphysical reality in Hinduism. In Vaishnavism , Vishnu creates Brahma and orders him to order

4929-473: Is impossible to conclusively identify any prehistoric figurines as representations of any kind of deities, let alone goddesses. Nonetheless, it is possible to evaluate ancient representations on a case-by-case basis and rate them on how likely they are to represent deities. The Venus of Willendorf , a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted by some as an exemplar of

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5088-456: Is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah , where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon ; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris ; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates . Suggestions for

5247-509: Is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi . Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea . In Old Persian , daiva- means " demon , evil god", while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the "heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones". The closely linked term " god " refers to "supreme being, deity", according to Douglas Harper, and

5406-470: Is not god-like, but is punished for acts which would lead to their becoming god-like (Genesis 3:1-24) and the order and method of creation itself differs. "Together, this combination of parallel character and contrasting profile point to the different origin of materials in Genesis 1:1 and Gen 2:4, however elegantly they have now been combined." An early conflation of Greek philosophy with the narratives in

5565-525: Is one, and material monism which holds that everything including all material reality is one and the same thing. Buddhism denies a creator deity and posits that mundane deities such as Mahabrahma are misperceived to be a creator. Jainism does not support belief in a creator deity. According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents—soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion have always existed (a static universe similar to that of Epicureanism and steady state cosmological model ). All

5724-530: Is only with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed."). Islam teaches that God as referenced in the Qur'an is the only god and the same God worshipped by members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism. One of the biggest responsibilities in the faith of Sikhism is to worship God as "The Creator", termed Waheguru , who is shapeless, timeless, and sightless, i.e., Nirankar , Akal, and Alakh Niranjan . The religion only takes after

5883-674: Is recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants that Adam blessed his posterity there and that he will return to that place at the time of the final judgment in fulfillment of a prophecy set forth in the Bible. Numerous early leaders of the Church, including Brigham Young , Heber C. Kimball , and George Q. Cannon , taught that the Garden of Eden itself was located in nearby Jackson County, but there are no surviving first-hand accounts of that doctrine being taught by Joseph Smith himself. LDS doctrine

6042-527: Is seen as the origin of life and a force of motion. The Bakongo believe that life requires constant change and perpetual motion. Nzambi Mpunga is also referred to as Kalûnga, the God of change. Similarities between the Bakongo belief of Kalûnga and the Big Bang Theory have been studied. Nzambi is also said to have created two worlds. As Kalûnga filled mbûngi, it created an invisible line that divided

6201-452: Is strictly monotheistic and the first statement of the shahada , or Muslim confession of faith, is that "there is no ʾilāh (deity) but Allah (God)", who is perfectly unified and utterly indivisible. Garden of Eden The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries. Various suggestions have been made for its location: at the head of

6360-655: Is the Subtle, the Acquainted." God in Islam is not only majestic and sovereign, but also a personal God: "And indeed We have created man, and We know what his ownself whispers to him. And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (by Our Knowledge)." Allah commands the believers to constantly remember Him ("O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance") and to invoke Him alone ("And whoever invokes besides Allah another deity for which he has no proof—then his account

6519-414: Is the belief that divinity pervades the universe, but that it also transcends the universe. Agnosticism is the position that it is impossible to know for certain whether a deity of any kind exists. Atheism is the non-belief in the existence of any deity. Scholars infer the probable existence of deities in the prehistoric period from inscriptions and prehistoric arts such as cave drawings , but it

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6678-429: Is the belief that only one deity exists. A monotheistic deity, known as "God", is usually described as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent and eternal . However, not all deities have been regarded this way and an entity does not need to be almighty, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent or eternal to qualify as a deity. Deism is the belief that only one deity exists, who created

6837-542: Is the creator of the world. Deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over the universe, nature or human life. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess , or anything revered as divine . C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness , beyond

6996-460: Is the superstitious man who fears the gods, while the truly religious person venerates them as parents. Cicero, in his Academica , praised Varro for this and other insights. According to Varro, there have been three accounts of deities in the Roman society: the mythical account created by poets for theatre and entertainment, the civil account used by people for veneration as well as by the city, and

7155-489: Is typically seen as male . In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities. There is no universally accepted consensus on what a deity is, and concepts of deities vary considerably across cultures. Huw Owen states that the term "deity or god or its equivalent in other languages" has a bewildering range of meanings and significance. It has ranged from "infinite transcendent being who created and lords over

7314-464: Is unclear as to the exact location of the Garden of Eden, but tradition among Latter-Day Saints places it somewhere in the vicinity of Adam-ondi-Ahman, or in Jackson County. The 2nd-century Gnostic teacher Justin held that there were three original divinities, a transcendental being called the Good, an intermediate male figure known as Elohim and Eden who is an Earth-mother . The world

7473-504: Is unclear what these sketches and paintings are and why they were made. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals. It was once common for archaeologists to interpret virtually every prehistoric female figurine as a representation of a single, primordial goddess, the ancestor of historically attested goddesses such as Inanna , Ishtar , Astarte , Cybele , and Aphrodite ; this approach has now generally been discredited. Modern archaeologists now generally recognize that it

7632-544: Is zoomorphic and is most often found in Middle Eastern archaeological remains depicted as a "snake-dragon" or a "human-animal hybrid". In Germanic languages , the terms cognate with ' god ' such as Old English : god and Old Norse : guð were originally neuter but became masculine, as in modern Germanic languages, after Christianisation due their use in referring to the Christian god . In Norse mythology , Æsir (singular áss or ǫ́ss ) are

7791-571: The Akkadian edinnu , from a Sumerian word edin meaning ' plain ' or ' steppe ' , closely related to an Aramaic root word meaning ' fruitful, well-watered ' . Another interpretation associates the name with a Hebrew word for ' pleasure '; thus the Vulgate reads paradisum voluptatis in Genesis 2:8, and the Douay–Rheims Bible , following, has the wording "And

7950-481: The Akkadian language as pardesu , 'domain'. It subsequently came to indicate the expansive walled gardens of the First Persian Empire , and was later borrowed into a number of languages: into Greek as παράδεισος ( parádeisos ), 'park for animals', cf. Anabasis , the most famous work of Xenophon ; into Aramaic as pardaysa , 'royal park'; and into Hebrew (see below). The idea of

8109-751: The First Council of Nicaea in the fourth century, which declared that all three persons of the Trinity are equal. Christians regard the universe as an element in God's actualization and the Holy Spirit is seen as the divine essence that is "the unity and relation of the Father and the Son". According to George Hunsinger, the doctrine of the Trinity justifies worship in a Church, wherein Jesus Christ

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8268-633: The Israelite people's belief in one God . The first major comprehensive draft of the Pentateuch (the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy ) was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE (the Jahwist source) and was later expanded by other authors (the Priestly source ) into a work very similar to Genesis as known today. The two sources can be identified in

8427-488: The Latin deitatem (nominative deitas ) or "divine nature", coined by Augustine of Hippo from deus ("god"). Deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin to *deiwos . This root yields the ancient Indian word Deva meaning "to gleam, a shining one", from *div- "to shine", as well as Greek dios " divine " and Zeus ; and Latin deus "god" ( Old Latin deivos ). Deva

8586-640: The Latin paradisus, paradisum , from the Greek parádeisos ( παράδεισος ). The Greek, in turn, was derived from an Old Iranian form, itself from the Proto-Iranian *parādaiĵah- , 'walled enclosure', which was derived from the Old Persian 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶 (p-r-d-y-d-a-m, /paridaidam/ , whence from the Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌⸱𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀 , pairi-daêza- . The literal meaning of this word

8745-567: The New Kingdom period in ancient Egyptian history. They built an entirely new capital city ( Akhetaten ) for themselves and worshippers of their sole creator god in a wilderness. His father used to worship Aten alongside other gods of their polytheistic religion. Aten, for a long time before his father's time, was revered as a god among the many gods and goddesses in Egypt. Atenism was countermanded by later pharaoh Tutankhamun , as chronicled in

8904-483: The New Testament , is the self-disclosure of the one, true God, both in his teaching and in his person; Christ, in Christian faith, is considered the incarnation of God. Ilah , ʾIlāh ( Arabic : إله ; plural: آلهة ʾālihah ), is an Arabic word meaning "god". It appears in the name of the monotheistic god of Islam as Allah ( al-Lāh ). which literally means "the god" in Arabic. Islam

9063-768: The Persian Gulf , in southern Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea; in Armenia , and even in Jackson County, Missouri . Others theorize that Eden was the entire Fertile Crescent or a region of "considerable size" in Mesopotamia , where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such as Telassar . Like the Genesis flood narrative , the Genesis creation narrative and

9222-527: The Septuagint (3rd–1st centuries BCE), the Greek παράδεισος ( parádeisos ) was used to translate both the Hebrew פרדס ( pardes ) and גן ( gan ), meaning 'garden' (e.g. Genesis 2:8 , Ezekiel 28:13 ): it is from this usage that the use of paradise to refer to the Garden of Eden derives. In the New Testament paradise becomes the realm of the blessed (as opposed to the realm of

9381-727: The Tanakh : in the Song of Solomon ( 4:13 ), Ecclesiastes ( 2:5 ), and Nehemiah ( 2:8 ). The word pardes occurs three times in the Hebrew Bible, but always in contexts other than a connection with Eden: in the Song of Solomon 4:13 : "Thy plants are an orchard ( pardes ) of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard"; Ecclesiastes 2:5 : "I made me gardens and orchards ( pardes ), and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits"; and in Nehemiah 2:8 : "And

9540-559: The Vanir went to war , according to the Nordic sources. The account in Ynglinga saga describes the Æsir–Vanir War ending in truce and ultimate reconciliation of the two into a single group of gods, after both sides chose peace, exchanged ambassadors (hostages), and intermarried. The Norse mythology describes the cooperation after the war, as well as differences between the Æsir and

9699-584: The Vanir which were considered scandalous by the other side. The goddess Freyja of the Vanir taught magic to the Æsir , while the two sides discover that while Æsir forbid mating between siblings , Vanir accepted such mating. Temples hosting images of Germanic gods (such as Thor , Odin and Freyr ), as well as pagan worship rituals, continued in Scandinavia into the 12th century, according to historical records. It has been proposed that over time, Christian equivalents were substituted for

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9858-528: The Yoruba religion , namely the god Ogun and the goddess Osun . Ogun is the primordial masculine deity as well as the archdivinity and guardian of occupations such as tools making and use, metal working, hunting, war, protection and ascertaining equity and justice. Osun is an equally powerful primordial feminine deity and a multidimensional guardian of fertility, water, maternal, health, social relations, love and peace. Ogun and Osun traditions were brought into

10017-442: The avatar concept of Hinduism). Unlike Hinduism and other cultures, Aztec deities were usually not anthropomorphic, and were instead zoomorphic or hybrid icons associated with spirits, natural phenomena or forces. The Aztec deities were often represented through ceramic figurines, revered in home shrines. The Polynesian people developed a theology centered on numerous deities, with clusters of islands having different names for

10176-415: The basimbi , bakisi and bakita. Oral tradition accounts that in the beginning, there was only a circular void ( mbûngi ) with no life. Nzambi Mpungu summoned a spark of fire ( Kalûnga ) that grew until it filled the mbûngi. When it grew too large, Kalûnga became a great force of energy and unleashed heated elements across space, forming the universe with the sun, stars, planets, etc. Because of this, Kalûnga

10335-539: The cosmos ; a self-regulating mechanism whereby the individual reaps the fruits of his own actions through the workings of the karmas. Through the ages, Jain philosophers have adamantly rejected and opposed the concept of creator and omnipotent God and this has resulted in Jainism being labeled as nāstika darsana or atheist philosophy by the rival religious philosophies . The theme of non-creationism and absence of omnipotent God and divine grace runs strongly in all

10494-451: The "lower Gan Eden" ( gan meaning garden). The second is envisioned as being celestial, the habitation of righteous, Jewish and non-Jewish, immortal souls, known as the "higher Gan Eden". The rabbis differentiate between Gan and Eden. Adam is said to have dwelt only in the Gan , whereas Eden is said never to be witnessed by any mortal eye. According to Jewish eschatology ,

10653-537: The "waters below", and day three the sea from the land. In each of the next three days these divisions are populated: day four populates the darkness and light with sun, moon, and stars; day five populates seas and skies with fish and fowl; and finally, land-based creatures and mankind populate the land. The first (the Priestly story ) was concerned with the cosmic plan of creation, while the second (the Yahwist story ) focuses on man as cultivator of his environment and as

10812-548: The Americas on slave ships . They were preserved by the Africans in their plantation communities, and their festivals continue to be observed. In Southern African cultures , a similar masculine-feminine deity combination has appeared in other forms, particularly as the Moon and Sun deities. One Southern African cosmology consists of Hieseba or Xuba (deity, god), Gaune (evil spirits) and Khuene (people). The Hieseba includes Nladiba (male, creator sky god) and Nladisara (females, Nladiba's two wives). The Sun (female) and

10971-433: The Christian faith, followed by the statement that God is the First Being, the First Mover, and is Pure Act. The deuterocanonical 2 Maccabees has two relevant passages. At chapter 7, it narrows about the mother of a Jewish proto-martyr telling to her son: "I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind also"; at chapter 1, it refers

11130-552: The East Semitic Ishtar, became popular, with temples across Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian mythology of the first millennium BCE treated Anšar (later Aššur ) and Kišar as primordial deities. Marduk was a significant god among the Babylonians. He rose from an obscure deity of the third millennium BCE to become one of the most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon of the first millennium BCE. The Babylonians worshipped Marduk as creator of heaven, earth and humankind, and as their national god . Marduk's iconography

11289-428: The Father , God the Son , and the Holy Spirit . The first person to describe the persons of the Trinity as homooúsios ( ὁμοούσιος ; "of the same substance") was the Church Father Origen. Although most early Christian theologians (including Origen ) were Subordinationists , who believed that the Father was superior to the Son and the Son superior to the Holy Spirit, this belief was condemned as heretical by

11448-451: The Garden of Eden and Adam narrative. Their reconstructed texts talk about the creator deity El , who lived in a vineyard or garden together with his wife Asherah on Mount Ararat . Another god, Horon , tries to depose El and when thrown down from the mountain, he transforms the Tree of Life from the garden into a Tree of Death. Horon also spreads around a poisonous fog, Adam is sent from

11607-478: The Garden of Eden", and there are connections between paradise, the Garden of Eden and the forests of Lebanon (possibly used symbolically) within prophetic writings. Edward Lipinski and Peter Kyle McCarter have suggested that the garden of the gods , the oldest Sumerian analog of the Garden of Eden, relates to a mountain sanctuary in the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges . Some religious groups have believed

11766-506: The Geon (Gehon) as the Nile . In Ezekiel 28:12–19, the prophet Ezekiel the "son of man" sets down God's word against the king of Tyre: the king was the "seal of perfection", adorned with precious stones from the day of his creation, placed by God in the garden of Eden on the holy mountain as a guardian cherub. However, the king sinned through wickedness and violence, and so he was driven out of

11925-616: The Germanic deities to help suppress paganism as part of the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples . Worship of the Germanic gods has been revived in the modern period as part of the new religious movement of Heathenry . The ancient Greeks revered both gods and goddesses. These continued to be revered through the early centuries of the common era, and many of the Greek deities inspired and were adopted as part of much larger pantheon of Roman deities. The Greek religion

12084-660: The Greek pantheon were the Twelve Olympians : Zeus, Hera , Poseidon , Athena , Apollo , Artemis , Aphrodite, Hermes , Demeter , Dionysus , Hephaestus , and Ares . Other important Greek deities included Hestia , Hades and Heracles . These deities later inspired the Dii Consentes galaxy of Roman deities. Besides the Olympians, the Greeks also worshipped various local deities. Among these were

12243-469: The Hebrew Bible came from Philo of Alexandria (d. 50 CE), writing in the context of Hellenistic Judaism . Philo equated the Hebrew creator-deity Yahweh with Aristotle 's unmoved mover ( First Cause ) in an attempt to prove that the Jews had held monotheistic views even before the Greeks. A similar theoretical proposition was demonstrated by Thomas Aquinas , who linked Aristotelian philosophy with

12402-547: The Inca people have corresponded to elements of nature. Of these, the most important ones have been Inti ( sun deity ) responsible for agricultural prosperity and as the father of the first Inca king, and Mama Qucha the goddess of the sea, lakes, rivers and waters. Inti in some mythologies is the son of Viracocha and Mama Qucha . Inca Sun deity festival Oh creator and Sun and Thunder, be forever copious, do not make us old, let all things be at peace, multiply

12561-716: The Islamic teachings, God exists above the heavens and the creation itself. The Quran mentions, "He it is Who created for you all that is on earth. Then He Istawa (rose over) towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All-Knower of everything." At the same time, God is unlike anything in creation: "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing." and nobody can perceive God in totality: "Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He

12720-465: The Jewish concept of the Garden of Eden, and by the 16th century a larger intellectual association was made in the Cranach painting. By studying late-13th-century BCE clay tablets from Ugarit , Hebrew Bible scholars M.J.A. Korpel and J.C. de Moor reconstructed close Canaanite parallels, which they posit as being the origin of the biblical creation myth from the first chapters of Genesis including

12879-526: The Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure". The second part of the Genesis creation narrative , Genesis 2:4–3:24, opens with YHWH - Elohim (translated here "the L ORD God") creating the first man ( Adam ), whom he placed in a garden that he planted "eastward in Eden": And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in

13038-536: The Moon (male) deities are viewed as offspring of Nladiba and two Nladisara . The Sun and Moon are viewed as manifestations of the supreme deity, and worship is timed and directed to them. In other African cultures the Sun is seen as male, while the Moon is female, both symbols of the godhead. In Zimbabwe , the supreme deity is androgynous with male-female aspects, envisioned as the giver of rain, treated simultaneously as

13197-521: The Proto-Germanic Gaut , which traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to- ("poured"), derived from the root *gheu- ("to pour, pour a libation "). The term *gheu- is also the source of the Greek khein "to pour". Originally the word "god" and its other Germanic cognates were neuter nouns but shifted to being generally masculine under the influence of Christianity in which the god

13356-615: The Quran), four interpretations of the location of the garden prevailed among early Muslims: According to T. O. Shanavas however, contextual analysis of Quranic verses suggests the Garden of Eden could not have been in Paradise and must have been on earth. (For example, a sahih hadith reports Muhammad said: "Allah says: I have prepared for my righteous servants that which has neither been seen by eyes, nor heard by ears, nor ever conceived by any man." i.e. no man has ever seen Paradise. Since Adam

13515-483: The Sumerian deities were patron guardians of city-states . The most important deities in the Sumerian pantheon were known as the Anunnaki , and included deities known as the "seven gods who decree": An , Enlil , Enki , Ninhursag , Nanna , Utu and Inanna . After the conquest of Sumer by Sargon of Akkad , many Sumerian deities were syncretized with East Semitic ones. The goddess Inanna, syncretized with

13674-712: The account of the Tower of Babel , the story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the tree of life . Scholars note that the Eden narrative shows parallels with aspects of Solomon’s Temple and Jerusalem , attesting to its nature as a sacred place. Mentions of Eden are also made in the Bible elsewhere in Genesis, in Isaiah 51:3, Ezekiel 36:35, and Joel 2:3; Zechariah 14 and Ezekiel 47 use paradisical imagery without naming Eden. The name derives from

13833-554: The artifact, the Restoration Stela. Despite different views, Atenism is considered by some scholars to be one of the frontiers of monotheism in human history. The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity . The narrative is made up of two stories, roughly equivalent to the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis . In the first, Elohim (the Hebrew generic word for God ) creates

13992-419: The beginning there was nothing in the universe except a formless chaos . However this chaos began to coalesce into a cosmic egg for eighteen thousand years. Within it, the perfectly opposed principles of yin and yang became balanced and Pangu emerged (or woke up) from the egg. Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant with horns on his head and clad in furs. Pangu set about the task of creating

14151-466: The belief in "One God for All" or Ik Onkar . In the Baháʼí Faith God is the imperishable, uncreated being who is the source of all existence. He is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient , omnipresent and almighty ". Although transcendent and inaccessible directly, his image is reflected in his creation. The purpose of creation

14310-496: The biblical account, the Quran mentions only one tree in Eden, the tree of immortality, from which God specifically forbade Adam and his spouse. Some exegesis added an account, about Satan , disguised as a serpent to enter the Garden, repeatedly told Adam to eat from the tree, and eventually both Adam and his spouse did so, resulting in disobeying God. These stories are also featured in the hadith collections, including al-Tabari . Quranic verses Q. 2:35–38, are believed to tell

14469-516: The bushes and forests; his bones the valuable minerals; his bone marrows sacred diamonds; his sweat fell as rain; and the fleas on his fur carried by the wind became human beings all over the world. The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms period. Shangdi is another creator deity, possibly prior to Pangu; sharing concepts similar to Abrahamic faiths. According to Kazakh folk tales, Jasagnan

14628-400: The circle in half. The top half represents the physical world ( Ku Nseke or nsi a bamôyo ), while the bottom half represents the spiritual world of the ancestors ( Ku Mpèmba ). The Kalûnga line separates these two worlds, and all living things exists on one side or another. After creation, the line and the mbûngi circle became a river, carrying people between the worlds at birth and death. Then

14787-456: The constituents and actions are governed by universal natural laws . It is not possible to create matter out of nothing and hence the sum total of matter in the universe remains the same (similar to law of conservation of mass ). Similarly, the soul of each living being is unique and uncreated and has existed since beginningless time. The Jain theory of causation holds that a cause and its effect are always identical in nature and therefore

14946-404: The creation narrative: Priestly and Jahwistic. The combined narrative is a critique of the Mesopotamian theology of creation: Genesis affirms monotheism and denies polytheism . Robert Alter described the combined narrative as "compelling in its archetypal character, its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends". The Abrahamic creation narrative is made up of two stories, roughly equivalent to

15105-651: The cursed) among those who have already died, with literary Hellenistic influences. The same usage as in the Septuagint also appears in Arabic and in the Quran as firdaws فردوس . In the Talmud and the Jewish Kabbalah , the scholars agree that there are two types of spiritual places called "Garden in Eden". The first is rather terrestrial, of abundant fertility and luxuriant vegetation, known as

15264-582: The dawn, for instance, is cognate to Indic Ushas , Roman Aurora and Latvian Auseklis . Zeus , the Greek king of gods, is cognate to Latin Iūpiter , Old German Ziu , and Indic Dyaus , with whom he shares similar mythologies. Other deities, such as Aphrodite , originated from the Near East . Greek deities varied locally, but many shared panhellenic themes, celebrated similar festivals, rites, and ritual grammar. The most important deities in

15423-399: The deity is a principle or reality such as the idea of "soul". The Upanishads of Hinduism, for example, characterize Atman (soul, self) as deva (deity), thereby asserting that the deva and eternal supreme principle ( Brahman ) is part of every living creature, that this soul is spiritual and divine, and that to realize self-knowledge is to know the supreme. Theism is the belief in

15582-542: The demiurge represents the second cause or dyad , after the monad . In Gnostic dualism , the demiurge is an imperfect spirit and possibly an evil being, transcended by divine Fullness ( Pleroma ). Unlike the Abrahamic God, Plato's demiurge is unable to create ex-nihilo . Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism , polytheism , panentheism , pantheism , pandeism , monism , and atheism among others; and its concept of creator deity

15741-490: The dwelling place of Adam . The Quran refers frequently over various Surah about the first abode of Adam and his spouse (told to be Hawwa or Eve, Quran never named her), including surat Sad , which features 18 verses on the subject (38:71–88), surat al-Baqara , surat al-A'raf , and surat al-Hijr although sometimes without mentioning the location. The narrative mainly surrounds the resulting expulsion of Adam and his spouse after they were tempted by Iblis (Satan). Despite

15900-408: The existence of one or more deities. Polytheism is the belief in and worship of multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses , with accompanying rituals . In most polytheistic religions, the different gods and goddesses are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles , and can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanations of

16059-464: The formation of an Egyptian state under the Pharaohs and their treatment as sacred kings who had exclusive rights to interact with the gods, in the later part of the 3rd millennium BCE. Through the early centuries of the common era, as Egyptians interacted and traded with neighboring cultures, foreign deities were adopted and venerated. The ancient Canaanites were polytheists who believed in

16218-640: The four most prominent beasts, namely the Turtle , the Qilin , the Phoenix , and the Dragon . After eighteen thousand years had elapsed, Pangu was laid to rest. His breath became the wind ; his voice the thunder ; left eye the sun and right eye the moon ; his body became the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood formed rivers; his muscles the fertile lands; his facial hair the stars and milky way; his fur

16377-567: The full range of his attributes. If humans were not to live on earth, God could not express his love, forgiveness, and power to his creation. Further, if humans were not to experience suffering, they could neither long for paradise nor appreciate its delights. Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006–1088) describes Adam and his spouse's expulsion as ultimately caused by God. Nonetheless, despite the paradoxical notion that man has no choice but to comply to God's will, this does not mean that humans should not blame themselves for their "sin" of complying. This

16536-409: The garden and thrown to the earth, where now he is consumed by God's fire: "All those who knew you in the nations are appalled at you, you have come to a horrible end and will be no more." (Ezekiel 28:19). The location of Eden is described in Genesis 2:10–14: And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. The name of the first is Pishon ; that

16695-565: The garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden motifs most frequently portrayed in illuminated manuscripts and paintings are the "Sleep of Adam" ("Creation of Eve"), the "Temptation of Eve" by the Serpent, the " Fall of Man " where Adam takes the fruit, and the "Expulsion". The idyll of "Naming Day in Eden" was less often depicted. Michelangelo depicted a scene at the Garden of Eden on the Sistine Chapel ceiling . For many medieval writers,

16854-454: The garden to prevent them from eating of the tree of life, and thus living forever. Cherubim were placed east of the garden, "and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree of life". Genesis 2:10–14 lists four rivers in association with the garden of Eden: Pishon , Gihon , Tigris (Hiddekel in Hebrew), and the Euphrates (Perath in Hebrew). It also refers to

17013-796: The goat-legged god Pan (the guardian of shepherds and their flocks), Nymphs ( nature spirits associated with particular landforms), Naiads (who dwelled in springs), Dryads (who were spirits of the trees), Nereids (who inhabited the sea), river gods, satyrs (a class of lustful male nature spirits), and others. The dark powers of the underworld were represented by the Erinyes (or Furies), said to pursue those guilty of crimes against blood-relatives. The Greek deities, like those in many other Indo-European traditions, were anthropomorphic. Walter Burkert describes them as "persons, not abstractions, ideas or concepts". They had fantastic abilities and powers; each had some unique expertise and, in some aspects,

17172-870: The god of darkness and light and is called Mwari Shona . In the Lake Victoria region, the term for a deity is Lubaale , or alternatively Jok . Ancient Egyptian culture revered numerous deities. Egyptian records and inscriptions list the names of many whose nature is unknown and make vague references to other unnamed deities. Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, whereas Christian Leitz offers an estimate of "thousands upon thousands" of Egyptian deities. Their terms for deities were nṯr (god), and feminine nṯrt (goddess); however, these terms may also have applied to any being – spirits and deceased human beings, but not demons – who in some way were outside

17331-501: The goddess Meretseger represented parts of the earth, and the god Sia represented the abstract powers of perception. Deities such as Ra and Osiris were associated with the judgement of the dead and their care during the afterlife. Major gods often had multiple roles and were involved in multiple phenomena. The first written evidence of deities are from early 3rd millennium BCE, likely emerging from prehistoric beliefs. However, deities became systematized and sophisticated after

17490-501: The great happenings and processes of nature. The post-Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of cosmogony , many involving Brahma . These include Sarga (primary creation of universe) and Visarga (secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels of reality, one primary that is unchanging ( metaphysical ) and other secondary that is always changing ( empirical ), and that all observed reality of

17649-484: The grounded preoccupations of ordinary life". Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as " God "), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity , but may accept

17808-1047: The head of the pantheon, with Asherah as his divine consort and the "sons of El" as his offspring. During the later years of the Kingdom of Judah , a monolatristic faction rose to power insisting that only Yahweh was fit to be worshipped by the people of Judah. Monolatry became enforced during the reforms of King Josiah in 621 BCE. Finally, during the national crisis of the Babylonian captivity , some Judahites began to teach that deities aside from Yahweh were not just unfit to be worshipped, but did not exist. The "sons of El" were demoted from deities to angels . Ancient Mesopotamian culture in southern Iraq had numerous dingir (deities, gods and goddesses). Mesopotamian deities were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. They were generally immortal, but

17967-611: The heavens and the Earth, the animals, and mankind in six days, then rests on, blesses and sanctifies the seventh (i.e. the Biblical Sabbath ). In the second story, God, now referred to by the personal name Yahweh , creates Adam , the first man, from dust and places him in the Garden of Eden , where he is given dominion over the animals. Eve , the first woman, is created from Adam and as his companion. It expounds themes parallel to those in Mesopotamian mythology , emphasizing

18126-450: The higher Gan Eden is called the "Garden of Righteousness". It has been created since the beginning of the world, and will appear gloriously at the end of time. The righteous dwelling there will enjoy the sight of the heavenly chayot carrying the throne of God. Each of the righteous will walk with God, who will lead them in a dance. Its Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants are "clothed with garments of light and eternal life, and eat of

18285-584: The higher Gan Eden. For some Christians, especially in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Eden is considered a reality outside of empirical history that affects the entire history of the universe as seen in the idea of an atemporal fall which separates humanity's current reduced form of time from the divine life enjoyed in Eden. This idea of an atemporal separation from Eden has been most recently defended by theologians David Bentley Hart , John Behr , and Sergei Bulgakov as well as having roots in

18444-535: The image of the Garden of Eden also creates a location for human love and sexuality , often associated with the classic and medieval trope of the locus amoenus . In the Divine Comedy , Dante Alighieri places the Garden at the top of Mt. Purgatory . Dante, the pilgrim, emerges into the Garden of Eden in Canto 28 of Purgatorio . Here he is told that God gave the Garden of Eden to man "in earnest, or as

18603-515: The imposition of Christianity during Spanish colonialism , the Inca people retained their original beliefs in deities through syncretism , where they overlay the Christian God and teachings over their original beliefs and practices. The male deity Inti became accepted as the Christian God, but the Andean rituals centered around Inca deities have been retained and continued thereafter into

18762-541: The land of Cush —translated/interpreted as Ethiopia , but thought by some to equate to Cossaea , a Greek name for the land of the Kassites . These lands lie north of Elam , immediately to the east of ancient Babylon, which, unlike Ethiopia, does lie within the region being described. In Antiquities of the Jews , the first-century Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Pishon as what "the Greeks called Ganges " and

18921-509: The latter is in an endless repeating cycle of existence, that cosmos and life we experience is continually created, evolved, dissolved and then re-created. The primary creator is extensively discussed in Vedic cosmogonies with Brahman or Purusha or Devi among the terms used for the primary creator, while the Vedic and post-Vedic texts name different gods and goddesses as secondary creators (often Brahma in post-Vedic texts), and in some cases

19080-848: The location is in Jerusalem . On his third voyage to the Americas in 1498, Christopher Columbus thought he may have reached the Earthly Paradise upon first seeing the South American mainland. In his book The Creation, the Garden of Eden and the Origin of the Chinese , Tse Tsan-tai argued that the Garden of Eden was located in modern-day Xinjiang . Scholars have identified and proposed connections to similar concepts from ancient religions and mythologies, and have studied

19239-543: The location of Eden include the head of the Persian Gulf , as argued by Juris Zarins , in southern Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea; and in the Armenian Highlands or Armenian National Plateau. British archaeologist David Rohl locates it in Iran , and in the vicinity of Tabriz , but this suggestion has not been adopted by mainstream academia. Others theorize that Eden

19398-600: The location of the garden to be local to them, outside of the Middle East. Some early leaders of Mormonism held that it was located in Jackson County, Missouri . The 20th-century Panacea Society believed it was located at the site of their home town of Bedford , England, while preacher Elvy E. Callaway believed it was on the Apalachicola River in Florida, near the town of Bristol . Some suggested that

19557-462: The lower Gan Eden in order to reach the higher Gan Eden. The way to the garden is the Cave of Machpelah that Adam guards. The cave leads to the gate of the garden, guarded by a cherub with a flaming sword. If a soul is unworthy of entering, the sword annihilates it. Within the garden is a pillar of fire and smoke that extends to the higher Gan Eden, which the soul must climb in order to reach

19716-513: The materials provided by Vishnu to actually create what are believed to be planets in Puranic terminology, and he supervises the population of them. Monism is the philosophy that asserts oneness as its fundamental premise, and it contradicts the dualism-based theistic premise that there is a creator God that is eternal and separate from the rest of existence. There are two types of monism, namely spiritual monism which holds that all spiritual reality

19875-413: The midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The man was free to eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , which was taboo . Last of all, God made a woman ( Eve ) from a rib of the man to be a companion for the man. In Genesis 3, the man and the woman were seduced by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit , and they were expelled from

20034-643: The modern era by the Inca people. In Maya culture , Kukulkan has been the supreme creator deity , also revered as the god of reincarnation , water, fertility and wind. The Maya people built step pyramid temples to honor Kukulkan , aligning them to the Sun 's position on the spring equinox . Other deities found at Maya archaeological sites include Xib Chac —the benevolent male rain deity, and Ixchel —the benevolent female earth, weaving and pregnancy goddess. The Maya calendar had 18 months, each with 20 days (and five unlucky days of Uayeb ); each month had

20193-520: The mountain to restore life on earth, Horon takes the shape of a large serpent and bites him, which leads to Adam and his wife losing their immortality. However, John Day argues that these stories are not explicitly attested in the Ugaritic texts but are reconstructed on the basis of speculative and dubious suppositions. The word "paradise" entered English from the French paradis , inherited from

20352-452: The mythologies and the 2nd millennium CE European arts, have been the anthropomorphic deities syncretized with the Greek deities. These include the six gods and six goddesses: Venus, Apollo, Mars, Diana, Minerva, Ceres, Vulcan, Juno, Mercury, Vesta, Neptune, Jupiter (Jove, Zeus); as well Bacchus, Pluto and Hercules. The non-Greek major deities include Janus, Fortuna, Vesta, Quirinus and Tellus (mother goddess, probably most ancient). Some of

20511-650: The natural account created by the philosophers. The best state is, adds Varro, where the civil theology combines the poetic mythical account with the philosopher's. The Roman deities continued to be revered in Europe through the era of Constantine, and past 313 CE when he issued the Edict of Toleration. The Inca culture has believed in Viracocha (also called Pachacutec ) as the creator deity . Viracocha has been an abstract deity to Inca culture, one who existed before he created space and time. All other deities of

20670-508: The nature of existence, guardians in daily lives as well as during wars, natural phenomena, good and evil spirits, priestly rituals, as well as linked to the journey of the souls of the dead. Christianity is a monotheistic religion in which most mainstream congregations and denominations accept the concept of the Holy Trinity . Modern orthodox Christians believe that the Trinity is composed of three equal, cosubstantial persons: God

20829-578: The non-Greek deities had likely origins in more ancient European culture such as the ancient Germanic religion, while others may have been borrowed, for political reasons, from neighboring trade centers such as those in the Minoan or ancient Egyptian civilization. The Roman deities, in a manner similar to the ancient Greeks, inspired community festivals, rituals and sacrifices led by flamines (priests, pontifs), but priestesses (Vestal Virgins) were also held in high esteem for maintaining sacred fire used in

20988-402: The only one great God, Hayyi Rabbi, to whom all absolute properties belong; He created all the worlds, formed the soul through his power, and placed it by means of angels into the human body. So He created Adam and Eve , the first man and woman." Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner. Monolatristic traditions would separate

21147-505: The original uncreated creator, with power of life, with nothing outside or beyond him. Other deities in the Polynesian pantheon include Tangaloa (god who created men), La'a Maomao (god of winds), Tu-Matauenga or Ku (god of war), Tu-Metua (mother goddess), Kane (god of procreation) and Rangi (sky god father). The Polynesian deities have been part of a sophisticated theology, addressing questions of creation,

21306-434: The people, and let there be food, and let all things be fruitful. —Inti Raymi prayers Inca people have revered many male and female deities. Among the feminine deities have been Mama Kuka (goddess of joy), Mama Ch'aska (goddess of dawn), Mama Allpa (goddess of harvest and earth, sometimes called Mama Pacha or Pachamama ), Mama Killa ( moon goddess ) and Mama Sara (goddess of grain). During and after

21465-416: The philosophical dimensions of Jainism, including its cosmology , karma , moksa and its moral code of conduct. Jainism asserts a religious and virtuous life is possible without the idea of a creator god. In polytheistic creation, the world often comes into being organically, e.g. sprouting from a primal seed, sexually, by miraculous birth (sometimes by parthenogenesis ), by hieros gamos , violently, by

21624-514: The post-scriptural evolution of the concept in religion and arts. A number of parallel concepts to the biblical Garden of Eden exist in various other religions and mythologies. Dilmun in the Sumerian story of Enki and Ninhursag is a paradisaical abode of the immortals, where sickness and death were unknown. The garden of the Hesperides in Greek mythology was also somewhat similar to

21783-580: The principal group of gods, while the term ásynjur (singular ásynja ) refers specifically to the female Æsir . These terms, states John Lindow, may be ultimately rooted in the Indo-European root for "breath" (as in "life giving force"), and are cognate with Old English : os (a heathen god) and Gothic : anses . Another group of deities found in Norse mythology are termed as Vanir , and are associated with fertility. The Æsir and

21942-477: The process repeats and a person is reborn. A simbi (pl. bisimbi) is a water spirit that is believed to inhabit bodies of water and rocks, having the ability to guide bakulu , or the ancestors, along the Kalûnga line to the spiritual world after death. They are also present during the baptisms of African American Christians , according to Hoodoo tradition . Pangu can be interpreted as another creator deity. In

22101-713: The rest of universe. In Shaivism , Shiva may be treated as the creator. In Shaktism , the Great Goddess creates the Trimurti. The Bakongo people traditionally believe in Nzambi Mpungu , the Creator God, whom the Portuguese compared to the Christian God during colonization. They also believe his female counterpart called Nzambici , the ancestors ( bakulu ) as well as guardian spirits, such as Lemba,

22260-545: The same idea. There are great deities found across the Pacific Ocean. Some deities are found widely, and there are many local deities whose worship is limited to one or a few islands or sometimes to isolated villages on the same island. The Māori people , of what is now New Zealand, called the supreme being as Io , who is also referred elsewhere as Iho-Iho , Io-Mataaho , Io Nui , Te Io Ora , Io Matua Te Kora among other names. The Io deity has been revered as

22419-454: The sixth for youths who have never sinned; and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah. In chapter two, Legends of the Jews gives a brief description of the lower Gan Eden. The tree of knowledge is a hedge around the tree of life, which is so vast that "it would take a man five hundred years to traverse a distance equal to the diameter of the trunk". From beneath

22578-416: The slaying of a primeval monster , or artificially, by a divine demiurge or "craftsman". Sometimes, a god is involved, wittingly or unwittingly, in bringing about creation. Examples include: Plato , in his dialogue Timaeus , describes a creation myth involving a being called the demiurge ( δημιουργός "craftsman"). Neoplatonism and Gnosticism continued and developed this concept. In Neoplatonism,

22737-639: The sphere of everyday life. Egyptian deities typically had an associated cult, role and mythologies. Around 200 deities are prominent in the Pyramid texts and ancient temples of Egypt, many zoomorphic . Among these, were Min (fertility god), Neith (creator goddess), Anubis , Atum , Bes , Horus , Isis , Ra , Meretseger , Nut , Osiris , Shu , Sia and Thoth . Most Egyptian deities represented natural phenomenon, physical objects or social aspects of life, as hidden immanent forces within these phenomena. The deity Shu , for example represented air;

22896-606: The story of Adam disobeying God's command and eating the Forbidden Fruit, and of God ordered him out of the Garden. One translation (the Clear Quran) that indicates that the Garden of Eden was in Heaven goes: Quranic verses describe Adam was being expelled from al-Jannah , "the garden", which is the commonly used word for paradise in Islam. However, according to Ibn Kathir (d. 1372) and Ar-Razi (d. 1209), (exegetes of

23055-407: The temple of every living being's body, as sensory organs and mind. Deities are envisioned as a form of existence ( Saṃsāra ) after rebirth , for human beings who gain merit through an ethical life, where they become guardian deities and live blissfully in heaven , but are also subject to death when their merit is lost. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité ,

23214-429: The tree of life" (Enoch 58,3) near to God and his anointed ones. This Jewish rabbinical concept of a higher Gan Eden is opposed by the Hebrew terms gehinnom and sheol , figurative names for the place of spiritual purification for the wicked dead in Judaism, a place envisioned as being at the greatest possible distance from heaven . Some modern Orthodox Jews believe that history will complete itself and

23373-409: The trees flow all the world's waters in the form of four rivers: Tigris, Nile, Euphrates, and Ganges. After the fall of man, the world was no longer irrigated by this water. While in the garden, though, Adam and Eve were served meat dishes by angels and the animals of the world understood human language, respected mankind as God's image, and feared Adam and Eve. When one dies, one's soul must pass through

23532-401: The two first chapters of the Book of Genesis . The first account (1:1 through 2:3) employs a repetitious structure of divine fiat and fulfillment, then the statement "And there was evening and there was morning, the [ x ] day," for each of the six days of creation. In each of the first three days there is an act of division: day one divides the darkness from light, day two the "waters above" from

23691-434: The ultimate destination will be when all mankind returns to the Garden of Eden. In the 1909 book Legends of the Jews , Louis Ginzberg compiled Jewish legends found in rabbinic literature . Among the legends are ones about the two Gardens of Eden. Beyond Paradise is the higher Gan Eden, where God is enthroned and explains the Torah to its inhabitants. The higher Gan Eden contains three hundred and ten worlds and

23850-591: The universe" (God), to a "finite entity or experience, with special significance or which evokes a special feeling" (god), to "a concept in religious or philosophical context that relates to nature or magnified beings or a supra-mundane realm", to "numerous other usages". A deity is typically conceptualized as a supernatural or divine concept, manifesting in ideas and knowledge, in a form that combines excellence in some or all aspects, wrestling with weakness and questions in other aspects, heroic in outlook and actions, yet tied up with emotions and desires. In other cases,

24009-434: The universe, but does not usually intervene in the resulting world. Deism was particularly popular among western intellectuals during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Pantheism is the belief that the universe itself is God or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent deity. Pandeism is an intermediate position between these, proposing that the creator became a pantheistic universe. Panentheism

24168-414: The universe, the concept of god(s) and The One, and whether even The One knows how the universe came into being. The Rig Veda praises various deities, none superior nor inferior, in a henotheistic manner. The hymns repeatedly refer to One Truth and Reality. The "One Truth" of Vedic literature, in modern era scholarship, has been interpreted as monotheism, monism, as well as a deified Hidden Principles behind

24327-490: The votive rituals for deities. Deities were also maintained in home shrines ( lararium ), such as Hestia honored in homes as the goddess of fire hearth. This Roman religion held reverence for sacred fire, and this is also found in Hebrew culture (Leviticus 6), Vedic culture's Homa, ancient Greeks and other cultures. Ancient Roman scholars such as Varro and Cicero wrote treatises on the nature of gods of their times. Varro stated, in his Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum , that it

24486-404: The world: he separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin ) and the Sky (clear Yang ). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. This task took eighteen thousand years, with each day the sky grew ten feet higher, the Earth ten feet wider, and Pangu ten feet taller. In some versions of the story, Pangu is aided in this task by

24645-441: The writings of several early church fathers, especially Origen and Maximus the Confessor . The term jannāt ʿadni ("Gardens of Eden" or "Gardens of Perpetual Residence") is used in the Quran for the destination of the righteous. There are several mentions of "the Garden" in the Quran, while the Garden of Eden, without the word ʿadn , is commonly the fourth layer of the Islamic heaven and not necessarily thought as

24804-425: Was a man, he could not have seen paradise, therefore he could not have lived there.) Islamic exegesis does not regard Adam and his spouse's expulsion from paradise as punishment for disobedience or a result from abused free will on their part. Instead, ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) writes, God's wisdom ( ḥikma ) destined humanity to leave the garden and settle on earth. This is because God wants to unfold

24963-441: Was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Christianity affirms the creation by God since its early time in the Apostles' Creed ("I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.", 1st century CE), that is symmetrical to the Nicene Creed (4th century CE). Nowadays, theologians debate whether the Bible itself teaches if this creation by God

25122-407: Was merely a region of "considerable size" in Mesopotamia , where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such as Telassar , based on verses such as Isaiah 37:12. Or that it encompassed the entire Fertile Crescent. According to Terje Stordalen, the Book of Ezekiel places Eden in Lebanon. "[I]t appears that the Lebanon is an alternative placement in Phoenician myth (as in Ez 28,13, III.48) of

25281-414: Was polytheistic, but had no centralized church, nor any sacred texts. The deities were largely associated with myths and they represented natural phenomena or aspects of human behavior. Several Greek deities probably trace back to more ancient Indo-European traditions, since the gods and goddesses found in distant cultures are mythologically comparable and are cognates . Eos , the Greek goddess of

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