Creating Positive, Negative, and Neutral God Concept Primes and Testing Their Impact on Scrupulosity Relevant Tasks and Symptoms

The Problem of Alternative Monotheisms: Another Serious Challenge to Theism

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion ◽

10.24204/ejpr.v10i1.1801 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 31-51

Author(s):

Raphael Lataster

Keyword(s):

Infinite Number ◽

Current Evidence ◽

God Concept ◽

Classical Theism ◽

The World ◽

Divine Transcendence ◽

Hiddenness Of God

Theistic and analytic philosophers of religion typically privilege classical theism by ignoring or underestimating the great threat of alternative monotheisms.[1] In this article we discuss numerous god-models, such as those involving weak, stupid, evil, morally indifferent, and non-revelatory gods. We find that theistic philosophers have not successfully eliminated these and other possibilities, or argued for their relative improbability. In fact, based on current evidence – especially concerning the hiddenness of God and the gratuitous evils in the world – many of these hypotheses appear to be more probable than theism. Also considering the – arguably infinite – number of alternative monotheisms, the inescapable conclusion is that theism is a very improbable god-concept, even when it is assumed that one and only one transcendent god exists.[1] I take ‘theism’ to mean ‘classical theism’, which is but one of many possible monotheisms. Avoiding much of the discussion around classical theism, I wish to focus on the challenges in arguing for theism over monotheistic alternatives. I consider theism and alternative monotheisms as entailing the notion of divine transcendence.

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The Meaning Of The Fear Of God Concept In The Mosaic Covenant

10.2986/tren.002-0014 ◽

1978 ◽

Author(s):

R. Dale Mcdaniels

Keyword(s):

God Concept ◽

Fear Of God

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Depictions of God in the Drawings of German-Muslim Children

Journal of Religion in Europe ◽

10.1163/18748929-20211501 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1-2) ◽

pp. 106-132

Author(s):

Yasemin Güleç

Keyword(s):

Human Life ◽

God Concept ◽

Empirical Inquiry ◽

The World ◽

Muslim Children ◽

Turkish German

Abstract This empirical inquiry aimed to examine the qualitative differences of the ‘God’ concept of Turkish-German Sunni Muslim children living in Germany. In this study, non-anthropomorphic drawings did not increase gradually with age. Anthromoporphic God depictions seem to be ontologically moving away from people with age. In the present study, indirect God depictions occurred six times more than the direct God depictions. ‘Religious-cultural drawings’ were the most common in the sample. The girls drew more aesthetic drawings that expressed an emotional bond with God. Boys depicted God more rationally and pragmatically in regard to human life and the world.

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Our Father Which Art in Heaven: Parataxic Distortions in the Image of God

Journal of Psychology and Theology ◽

10.1177/009164718201000206 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 120-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Daniel J. Heinrichs

Keyword(s):

Image Of God ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Object Relations Theory ◽

God Concept ◽

Relational Experiences ◽

Biblical History ◽

Object Relatedness ◽

Perceptions Of God ◽

The Image Of God

One's God-concept, herein referred to as the “image of God,” is a major determinant of the quality of one's personal relationship with God. In addition, the image of God one maintains may be observed to correlate with one's capacity for relational experiences with significant others. In this article object relations theory is applied to perceptions of God. The development of object relatedness in the child is discussed and the concept of parataxic distortions in the image of God is considered within the context of biblical history and childhood development. Parataxic distortions as found in the psychotherapeutic relationship are also briefly addressed, as is the psychotherapeutic resolution of distorted God-percepts.

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