Such natural phenomena as lightning, floods, storms, other 'acts of God', and miracles are attributed to them, and they may be thought to be the authorities or controllers of every aspect of human life such as birth or the afterlife.
Some deities are asserted to be the directors of time and fate itself, to be the givers of human law and morality, to be the ultimate judges of human worth and behaviour, and to be the designers and creators of the Earth or the universe.
Some of these 'gods' have no power at all—they are simply worshipped. Etymology The English word deity is derived from the Latin word deus , meaning 'god'. Related are words for the sky: Latin dies , day, divum , the open sky, Sanskrit div , diu , sky, day, shine. Also related are divine or divinity from Latin divinus from divus.
The English word god is from the Anglo-Saxon, and similar words are found in many Germanic languages e. Relation with humanity Some are thought to be invisible or inaccessible to humans— to dwell mainly in otherworldly, remote or secluded and holy places, such as Heaven, Hell, the sky, the under-world, under the sea, in the high mountains, or deep forests, or in a supernatural plane or a celestial sphere—choosing but rarely to reveal or manifest themselves to humans, and to make themselves known mainly through their effects.
While a monotheistic God one god is thought of as dwelling in Heaven, such a God is also said to be omnipresent, though invisible. Often people feel an obligation to their god. There are others however that treat their god as something that serves them. Folk religions usually contain active and worldly deities.
In polytheism many gods , gods are conceived of as a counterpart to humans. In the reconstructed and hypothetical Proto-Indo-European, humans were described as tkonion , "earthly", as opposed to the gods which were deivos , "celestial". This almost symbiotic relationship is present in many later cultures: humans are defined by their station subject to the gods, nourishing them with sacrifices, and gods are defined by their sovereignty over humans, punishing and rewarding them, but also dependent on their worship.
Time Traveler for deity The first known use of deity was in the 14th century See more words from the same century. From the Editors at Merriam-Webster. Phrases Related to deity the Deity. Style: MLA. More Definitions for deity. Kids Definition of deity. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! The pairs considered are: 1.
Along the way, several other possible pairs are also mentioned and commented upon. How is it even possible for a deity that is everywhere and at all times to be conscious of anything and to think?
Here is an examination of that issue. Abstract: It has been argued that God is omnipresent, that is, present in all places and in all times. Omnipresence is also implied by God's knowledge, power, and perfection. A Kantian argument shows that in order to be self-aware, apply concepts, and form judgments, in short, to have a mind, there must be objects that are external to a being that it can become aware of and grasp itself in relationship to.
There can be no external objects for an omnipresent God, so he cannot have a mind. Abstract: When God is conceived of as an all-powerful and all-loving deity, many arguments for his nonexistence can be raised. In what follows, I shall provide precise formulations of those two arguments, make some comments about them, and then try to refute the main defenses of God's existence that might be put forward against ANB, which I consider the stronger of the two.
I take ANB to be a sound argument establishing the proposition that God conceived of in a certain way does not exist. There are those thinkers who hold that it is not possible for the human mind to comprehend the nature of a deity, let alone a single Supreme Being. Even within theology there are those who think it presumptuous of humans to believe that the human mind could capture the nature of a divine being.
This Ultimate Concern could be expressed in a variety of ways, including that of a Supreme Being. These ideas will be revisited as this examination moves deeper into the examination of religious beliefs. Additionally, faith in and surrender to the Ultimate promises total completion regardless of what must be sacrificed in the name of faith. God, asserts Tillich, is present as the subject and object of ultimate faith while at the same time is transcendent beyond both subject and object.
Tillich warns that there are finite things that claim infinity, such as the nation or state. For instance, a stop sign points to the command to stop the movement of a vehicle. Similarly letters refer to sounds and meanings. However, unlike signs, symbols play a part in that which they represent and cannot be easily replaced. Tillich also asserts that symbols allow us to experience other levels of reality that are normally off limits to us. For instance art creates a symbol for a plane that we cannot move toward by science alone.
Another characteristic of a symbol is that it cannot be manufactured. Symbols arise from the unconscious and must be accepted on that level before conscious acceptance. Finally, since symbols cannot be intentionally produced, they come about and cease to exist in due time. In essence, they are borne out of a need and they perish when they no longer generate a reaction within the group that originally used them for expressive purposes.
Tillich then goes on to assert that anything that achieves ultimate concern for man is elevated to the status of god. However, when things like a nation or success become elevated to the level of ultimacy, they are merely false or idolatrous symbols of ultimate concern. Tillich also discusses that myths are an integral part of our ultimate concern. While a myth must be recognized as a myth much like how a symbol must be recognized as a symbol , Tillich argues that any attempt to remove the mythological from our consciousness will be unsuccessful because myths signify a collection of symbols which stand for our ultimate concern.
However, Tillich also warns that one cannot simply accept myths as literal truths because they then loose their symbolic meaning and rob God of his standing as the ultimate.
Tillich, Paul. Dynamics of Faith. HarperCollins, There are other philosophers and theologians who have attempted to alter the conception of the deity or that which is of our ultimate concern so as to avoid the inconsistencies of the traditional ideas about a deity. Vhaeraun, the lesser drow deity of thievery, tried to kill the comatose Lolth , which Selvetarm, the drow demigod of battle prowess, [20] tried to hinder, leading to an open frontal battle between the two.
This competition of battle prowess ended with Vhaeraun, the god with the second largest following among the drow faiths, [21] being driven off, effectively with Selvetarm's, whose church was so small to the point of practical nonexistence, [20] victory. Deities of a higher rank gained increasing magical powers, both in terms of strength and potency. A deity grew in its mastery of its skills with increased divine rank, [23] and from demigod status upwards, learned to rapidly conduct actions that had something to do with its portfolio.
The number and complexity of these actions increased with its rank. With increasing rank, it became more and more difficult to hit a deity with a physical attack, [23] and even when hit, deities were resistant to attacks made by weapons that weren't enchanted with, from mortal perspective, exceedingly strong magic. With increasing rank, spells had a decreasing likelihood to work against them, [26] and even if they did, they were less and less likely to work because a deity's physical resilience, reflexes, and strength of will increased with its rank.
In the 14 th century DR , deities of specific ranks had specific immunities. A quasi-deity was immune to effects that forced alteration of its physical form, tried to sap vitality, temporarily or permanently decrease its physical and mental capabilities, or addled their minds. These immunities were effective no matter what the enemy against various physical disabling effects and sources such as poison , diseases, sleep, stunning and paralysis, disintegration, and magical effects that could kill them if not for the immunity.
A lesser deity was also immune to any magic that was directed at binding or imprisoning it. A deity generally moved fast. They could move through the earth, could swim and also climb but not necessarily fly.
A deity was capable of granting divine spells and special abilities called domain abilities, once they were at demigod status. This process was more efficient when they also had the theoretic knowledge to create the item in question. A deity's ability to sense things extended to a length counted in miles from demigod status and upwards.
This ability to sense remote things functioned by centring their sense around something dedicated to them, a shrine or other sites or a follower of the spying deity. This ability could be used only a limited number of time, and deities could use this ability to block the senses of lower ranking deities [24] or to send omens and telepathic messages to their followers. A demigod was only able to sense it when a thousand or more were somehow associated with the event, a lesser deity when five hundred or more, intermediate and greater deities sensed every event regardless of scale.
A lesser and intermediate deity was able to continuously sense an event a number of weeks in the past, greater deities could actually sense future happenings.
A deity had some kind of place it called its own, where it was at its strongest and had some control over it. They could fill the place with sensory environmental impressions, sound, smells and so on, a lesser deity even with sounds that held a meaning.
Intermediate deities and upwards were capable of creating buildings and alterations to the landscape by will alone. Even more profound ability to change started with lesser deity status. A lesser deity could manipulate its realm's ties to the Astral Plane and could bar or limit magical travel inside it. From intermediate status onwards, a deity could strengthen or weaken certain magic of its choosing while greater deities could even change gravity and time.
A pantheon was a grouping of deities, often with overlapping worshipers. All of them were based on races or cultures, usually with strong geographic ties. Some, however, remained distinct, such as the Mulhorandi pantheon [34] and the Chultan pantheon. Vanished human pantheons included the Talfiric pantheon , the Netherese pantheon , [41] which was worshiped by the middle and lower classes of Netheril; the Jhaamdathan pantheon , from what would later be called the Vilhon Reach and the Dragon Coast ; the Coramshite pantheon , based in ancient Coramsham which became Calimshan ; and the Untheric pantheon , which was of similar source as the Mulhorandi pantheon, but lost all but two of its members during the Time of Troubles.
It was composed primarily of native deities, and was the result of millennia of cultural blending of various other pantheons to bring out a moderately unified whole. There were remnants of other human pantheons that had been combined into a single pantheon as their source cultures blended, merged, and conquered one another. Only two of the old Untheric deities survived, Assuran as Hoar , and Tiamat ; the others died during or before the Time of Troubles.
The Talfiric pantheon was worshiped in contemporary of Netheril , and was the source of at least Garagos , who lost in the clash with Tempus and was reduced to demigod status. Members of the Mulhorandi pantheon. The Mulhorandi pantheon was a group of interloper deities that followed their people when the wizards of the ancient Imaskari Empire brought legions of slaves through gates from another world.
At first, the gods could not reach their worshipers directly, and were compelled to create manifestations to contain a portion of their divine power. Those manifestations walked among their mortal followers, guiding, protecting, or dominating according to their natures until the Time of Troubles.
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