- Question
What is God?
When people speak of God, what do they actually mean — a supernatural power, an energy, a substance, a spiritual father, or something else? This entry maps the competing conceptions of God: the fundamental substance, a thought form, a king, and everything that is.
God is the fundamental substance
This position holds that God is the fundamental substance underlying reality. It argues that when people speak of God they mean the basic ground of being from which everything else arises—a formulation, it notes, that theologians have often defended over the centuries.
God is a thought form
This position holds that God is a thought form—a collective creation of human belief rather than an independent being. It argues that when people speak of God they refer to the accumulated weight of belief itself, and that religion's powers are fundamentally social.
God is a king
This position holds that God is best understood as a king. It argues that people typically conceive of God in anthropomorphic terms—a powerful, personal ruler who governs over humankind—a framing common across much philosophy and religious tradition.
God is Everything
God is the creation of everything; God is everything; God is time, God is eternity, God is life, love, birth, death.