Monotheism - Forms

Forms

  • Deism posits the existence of a single god, the Designer of the designs in Nature. Some Deists believe in an impersonal god that does not intervene in the world, while other Deists believe in intervention through Providence.
  • Trinitarian monotheism is the Christian doctrine of belief in one God who is three distinct persons; God the Father (Yahweh), God the Son (Christ Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost).
  • Monotheism is often contrasted with theistic dualism (ditheism). However, in dualistic theologies such as that of Gnosticism, the two deities are not of equal rank, and the role of the Gnostic demiurge is closer to that of the Devil in Christian trinitarian theology than a diarch on equal terms with God (who is represented in pantheistic fashion, as Pleroma).
  • Henotheism involves devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. Though similar, it contrasts drastically with monotheism, the worship of a single deity independent of the ontological claims regarding that deity. Hinduism is sometimes overgeneralized to as henotheistic.
  • Monism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism, encompassing pantheism and panentheism, and at the same time the concept of a personal god.
  • Pantheism holds that the universe itself is God. The existence of a transcendent being extraneous to nature is denied.
  • Panentheism is a form of monistic monotheism which holds that God is all of existence, containing, but not identical to, the Universe. The one God is omnipotent and all-pervading, the universe is part of God, and God is both immanent and transcendent.
  • Substance monotheism, found in some indigenous African religions, holds that the many gods are different forms of a single underlying substance.
  • TawhÄ«d is a rigorous form of monotheism practiced by Muslims that God is a single, indivisible being, with none being equal or related to him.

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