Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

98

GNOSTICISM

Platonists, including attacks on the per-
ceived limits of scholasticism, an advocacy
for Cartesian philosophy, and a promo-
tion of the new scientific method of the
seventeenth century. In his later writings
Glanvill sought to prove the reality of the
spiritual world and its compatibility with
modern scientific discovery. Most contro-
versially, Glanvill used accounts of witch-
craft in support of this argument. His
works include The Vanity of Dogmatizing
(1666), Essays upon Several Important Sub-
jects in Philosophy and Religion (1676),
and Saducismus Triumphatus (1681).

GNOSTICISM. A religious movement
originating roughly at the same time as
Christianity, combining popular Platonist
beliefs with heterodox Jewish and Chris-
tian thought. A great deal of Gnostic
teaching affirmed that the material cre-
ation itself is not the work of God but of
a lesser being or a god of this world some-
times identified as Sophia (see DEMI-
URGE). We are souls trapped in this
world, not fully aware of our need for our
true home, which is in union with the
God beyond this world. Our salvation lies
partly in knowing this God and our jour-
ney to this God through ascetic practices
and knowledge.

GOD. In Abrahamic faiths, “God” func-
tions as a descriptive noun referring to
a supreme, powerful reality that is the
object of religious belief and practice. So,
in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, God

is the all good, necessarily existing creator

and sustainer of the cosmos. In these

traditions, “God” sometimes functions as

a proper name referring to the being who

is encountered in religious experience as

opposed to standing for the descriptive

role as, for example, the one who creates,

sustains, and redeems. Concepts of God

vary across cultures and traditions, some

of which are monotheistic while others

are polytheistic and pantheistic. Some

concepts of God maintain a clear distinc-

tion between God and the cosmos (God

is not the creation), while others identify

God and the natural world (Spinoza).

GOD, ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXIS-

TENCE OF. These include the ontological,

cosmological, and teleological arguments,

as well as arguments from religious experi-

ence and miracles.

GOD, CONCEPTS AND “ATTRIBUTES”

OF. As understood in traditional Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam, God is the Creator

of the cosmos, omnipotent, omniscient,

wholly good, omnipresent, everlasting or

eternal, necessarily existent, worthy of wor-

ship and incorporeal. Other attributes are

sometimes thought to be divine simplicity

(God is not made up of parts), immutabil-

ity (not subject to change), and impassabil-

ity (not subject to emotions or passions).

Theists in these traditions sometimes differ

in their treatment of the attributes: Is God

outside of time? Does omniscience include

knowledge of the future?