deity

Also known as god, goddess, God, deities

A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to have authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life, with many also being considered as sacred and worthy of worship. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life".

AI overview

A deity is a supernatural being believed to have special powers over some part of the world or human life, and many religions consider deities sacred and worthy of worship. Deities matter because they play central roles in religious and cultural systems worldwide, shaping how people understand the divine, find meaning, and relate to forces beyond ordinary human experience.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Image: Maler der Grabkammer der Nefertari 001.jpg

Show 5 more facts

female form of label: богиня
male form of label: dievas
Commons category: Deities
equivalent class: dbpedia.org/ontology/Deity
name in kana: かみ

Sources (1)

wikidata.org

via Wikidata · CC0

~43 min read

Article

36 sections

Contents

Etymology
Definitions
Prehistoric
Religions and cultures
Sub-Saharan African
Ancient Near Eastern
Egyptian
Levantine
Mesopotamian
Indo-European
Germanic
Greek
Roman
Native American
Inca
Maya and Aztec
Polynesian
Abrahamic
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Mandaeism
Asian
Anitism
Buddhism
Hinduism
Shinto
Taoism
Jainism
Zoroastrianism
Local, regional, and universal deities
Skeptical interpretations
See also
References
Sources
Further reading

Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as "God"), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity, but may accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being.