God in Abrahamic religions

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Monotheism—the belief that there is only one deity—is the focus of the Abrahamic religions, which like-mindedly conceive God as the all-powerful and all-knowing deity[1] from whom Abraham received a divine revelation, according to their respective narratives.[2] The most prominent Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.[3] They, alongside Samaritanism, Druzism, the Baháʼí Faith,[3] and Rastafari,[3] all share a common core foundation in the form of worshipping Abraham's God, who is identified as Yahweh in Hebrew and called Allah in Arabic.[7] Likewise, the Abrahamic religions share similar features distinguishing them from other categories of religions:[8]

In the Abrahamic tradition, God is one, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and the creator of the universe.[1] God is typically referred to with masculine grammatical articles and pronouns only,[1][12] and is further held to have the properties of holiness, justice, omnibenevolence, and omnipresence. Adherents of the Abrahamic religions believe that God is also transcendent, meaning that he is outside of both space and time and therefore not subject to anything within his creation, but at the same time a personal God: intimately involved, listening to individual prayer, and reacting to the actions of his creatures.

With regard to Christianity, religion scholars have differed on whether Mormonism belongs with mainstream Christian tradition as a whole (i.e., Nicene Christianity), with some asserting that it amounts to a distinct Abrahamic religion in itself due to noteworthy theological differences.[13][14] Rastafari, the heterogenous movement that originated in Jamaica in the 1930s, is variously classified by religion scholars as either an international socio-religious movement, a distinct Abrahamic religion, or simply a new religious movement.[15]

  1. ^ a b c d e Christiano, Kevin J.; Kivisto, Peter; Swatos, William H. Jr., eds. (2015) [2002]. "Excursus on the History of Religions". Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments (3rd ed.). Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press. pp. 254–255. doi:10.2307/3512222. ISBN 978-1-4422-1691-4. JSTOR 3512222. LCCN 2001035412. S2CID 154932078.
  2. ^ a b c d Noort, Ed (2010). "Abraham and the Nations". In Goodman, Martin; van Kooten, George H.; van Ruiten, Jacques T.A.G.M. (eds.). Abraham, the Nations, and the Hagarites: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Perspectives on Kinship with Abraham. Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions. Vol. 13. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 3–33. doi:10.1163/9789004216495_003. ISBN 978-90-04-21649-5. ISSN 1388-3909.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Abulafia, Anna Sapir (23 September 2019). "The Abrahamic religions". www.bl.uk. London: British Library. Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Berlin 2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ben-Sasson 2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference EncyclopediaofIslam was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ [2][3][4][5][6]
  8. ^ a b c Bremer, Thomas S. (2015). "Abrahamic religions". Formed From This Soil: An Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 19–20. doi:10.1002/9781394260959. ISBN 978-1-4051-8927-9. LCCN 2014030507. S2CID 127980793.
  9. ^ a b Hughes, Aaron W. (2012). "What Are "Abrahamic Religions"?". Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 15–33. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199934645.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-993464-5. S2CID 157815976.
  10. ^ [1][2][3][8][9]
  11. ^ [1][2][3][8][9]
  12. ^ Upenieks, Laura; Bonhag, Rebecca (March 2024). "Masculine God Imagery and Sense of Life Purpose: Examining Contingencies with America's "Four Gods"". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 63 (1). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: 76–102. doi:10.1111/jssr.12881. ISSN 1468-5906. S2CID 265057828.
  13. ^ Shipps, Jan (2001). "Is Mormonism Christian? Reflections on a Complicated Question". In Eliason, Eric A. (ed.). Mormons and Mormonism: An Introduction to an American World Religion. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. pp. 76–98. ISBN 978-0-252-02609-6. S2CID 142892455.
  14. ^ Mason, Patrick Q. (3 September 2015). "Mormonism". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.75. ISBN 978-0-19-934037-8. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  15. ^ Chryssides, George D. (2001) [1999]. "Independent New Religions: Rastafarianism". Exploring New Religions. Issues in Contemporary Religion. London and New York: Continuum International. pp. 269–277. doi:10.2307/3712544. ISBN 978-0-8264-5959-6. JSTOR 3712544. OCLC 436090427. S2CID 143265918.