 | Abrahamic religion: Encyclopedia II - Abrahamic religion - The Supreme Deity
Abrahamic religion - The Supreme Deity
Judaism and Islam visualize God in strictly monotheistic terms as one being; Christianity believes likewise but for many Christians, God is at the same time an indivisible Trinity, with three distinct persons, a view not accepted in the other two religions.
Abrahamic religion - Judaism
Jewish theology is based on the Hebrew Bible, where the nature and commandments of the Jewish Supreme Being are revealed through the writings of Moses (the Torah, known in Christianity as the Pentateuch), and the writings of the prophets, psalmists and other ancient canonized scriptures, together with the Torah known as the Tanakh (known to Christians as the Old Testament). Additionally, it usually has a basis in its Oral Law, as recorded in the Mishnah and Talmud.
This Supreme Being is referred to in the Hebrew Bible in several ways, such as Elohim, Adonai or by the four Hebrew letters "Y-H-V(or W)-H" (the tetragrammaton), which Jews do not pronounce as a word, but which Christians generally recognize as "YAHWEH". The Hebrew words Eloheynu (Our God) and HaShem (The Name), as well as the English names "Lord" and "God", are also used in modern day Judaism. The latter is sometimes written "G-d" in reference to the taboo against pronouncing the tetragrammaton.
The word "Elohim" has the Hebrew plural ending "-īm", which some Biblical scholars have taken as support for the general notion that the ancient Hebrews were polytheists in the time of the patriarchs; however, as the word itself is used with singular verbs, this hypothesis is not accepted by most Jews. Jews point out other words in Hebrew that are used in the same manner according to the rule of Hebrew Grammar, and denotes respect, majesty and deliberation, similar to the royal plural in English and ancient Egyptian, and the use of the plural form "vous" for individuals of higher standing in modern French. Jewish Biblical scholars and historical commentary on the passage also suggest that Elohim in the plural form points to God in conjunction with the heavenly court, i.e. the angels.
Abrahamic religion - Christianity
Christians believe that the God worshipped by the faithful Hebrew people of the pre-Christian era has always revealed himself as he did through Jesus Christ; but this was never obvious until the Word of the Lord, the revelation of God, became flesh and dwelt among us (see John 1). Also, despite the fact that the Angel of the Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, it has always been only by the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to perceive afterward that they had been visited by God himself. After Jesus was raised from the dead—according to Christian scriptures—this ancient Hebrew witness of how God reveals himself as Messiah came to be seen in a very different light. It was then that Jesus' followers began to speak widely of him as God himself (see John 20:28), although this had already been revealed to certain individuals during his Ministry, eg., the Samaritan woman in Shechem, and his closest apostles.
This belief was gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity, which is the doctrine that God is a single holy God (YHWH), but that there is a real threeness in God's single being that has always been evident but not understood. This mysterious threeness has been described as, for want of better terms, hypostases in the Greek language (subsistences), and as "persons" in English. In the traditional Christian conception, God the Father has only ever been revealed through his eternal Word (who was born as Jesus, of the Virgin Mary), and his Spirit (who after the resurrection was given to men, establishing the Christian church).
Trinitarian theology is developed from the Christian Bible (comprised by the Old and New Testaments). As it was further elaborated by the early Church fathers, it was later codified by the Ecumenical councils at Nicea and Chalcedon. Another famous formulation is called the Athanasian Creed. Some Trinitarian churches, however, do not accept the Chalcedon council at all, in part because it claimed to have excommunicated them. These are known as 'non-Chalcedonian', or Oriental Orthodox Churches.
This "trinitarian monotheism" has been rejected by several Christian denominations and Christian-based religions, such as Arianism, Unitarianism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Strict unitarian Christians believe that God the Father is the only divine being, but the others believe that Jesus is a created deity. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, do not religiously worship the Logos (Jesus), but they believe that the Father created the worlds by means of the Logos.
Abrahamic religion - Islam
Allah is the standard Arabic translation for the word "God". Islamic tradition also describes the 99 Names of God.
Muslims believe that the Jewish God is the same as Allah and that Jesus is a divinely inspired prophet, but not a divinity. Thus, both the Torah and New Testament are accepted as divine texts, but Muslims believe them to have been corrupted (both accidentally through errors in transmission and intentionally by Jews and Christians over the years). Muslims revere the Qur'an as the final uncorrupted word of God brought through the last prophet, Muhammad, and Islam is viewed as a final correction of Judaism and Christianity.
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