God
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4.The unity of God and the plurality of gods
4a.Monotheism against idolatry and false gods
See also: Prophecy 1a · Religion 11d
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 254God incomparable among heavenly beings, ruler of sea, creator of heavens and earth, throne founded on righteousness and justice.read · scan
- p. 263–264Jehovah is great King above all gods, maker of sea and land, and judge of the world; other gods are idols.read · scan
- p. 265–266Jehovah reigns, his throne founded on righteousness and justice, exalted above all gods, great in Zion, holy.read · scan
Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 500Idols are nothing; there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 453Paul tells the crowd to turn from vain things to a living God, creator who gave rains and seasons.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 904–905Abraham affirms the Lord of the worlds who creates, guides, feeds, heals and raises the dead, against the powerless idols.read · scan
- p. 924–925Joseph preaches the one dominant God against manifold lords; judgment belongs only to God.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 104A crier commands the people to worship the Almighty King instead of fire.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 182–184The pagans revile and beat their gods for failing them, contrasted with Christian blessing in God's name.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 107Ascribing eternity to heavenly bodies would revive pagan multiplicity of godsread · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 400–401Swearing by kings attributes divine honour to them; a lawful covenant binds in God's sight without an oath.read · scan
- p. 415–416The true God is personated by Moses, Christ and the Holy Ghost; pagan idols are nothing and cannot be authors.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 94–95Polyeucte names Jehovah, King of kings, and trusts God for strength.read · scan
- p. 95Pagan gods of stone and clay are contrasted with the God for whom they fight.read · scan
- p. 99Polyeucte proclaims Jehovah sole ruler of earth, heaven, battle and peace, and denounces Jupiter and Mars as vain.read · scan
- p. 111Polyeucte contrasts the deaf pagan gods with Jehovah, the Father who hears prayers and gives victory.read · scan
- p. 117–119Jehovah stands as one absolute ruler, contrasted with quarrelling pagan gods, so many masters provoking revolt.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 90They forsake the invisible glory of the Creator; Jehovah thunders from Sion, affronted by rival shrines.read · scan
- p. 90Idols set against the house and altar of the Living God, who defeats worshipers of false gods.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4
- p. 395Christ asserts only God is to be worshipped and the kingdoms were given by the King of kings, not Satan.read · scan
John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4
- p. 415Contest between God and Dagon; Samson trusts God will assert his name against the idol.read · scan
- p. 415Samson argues gods needing ungodly deeds are contradictions and cannot be gods.read · scan
- p. 415Samson trusts the Living God as source of his strength, challenges Dagon to a test of whose god is strongest.read · scan
- p. 415God sends a spirit of frenzy on the Philistines who prefer their idol to the Living Dread of Israel.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 239Challenge to false gods to foretell the future to prove they are gods.read · scan
- p. 239The Lord will not give his glory to another; false gods are nothing.read · scan
- p. 240The Lord alone saves and does wonders; Israel are witnesses that he is God, creator and Holy One.read · scan
- p. 240–241There is none like the Lord; his counsel shall stand.read · scan
- p. 288–289That one God alone must be loved needs no miracles to prove.read · scan
Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40
- p. 427Men, mourning dead patriarchs, looked to one great first father and adored him; simple reason sought but one God.read · scan
Lord Byron, ManfredVol. 18
- p. 431–432Manfred appeals to the Maker who made even Arimanes not for worship.read · scan
George Gordon, Lord Byron, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 785–787The Assyrian might melts like snow at the glance of the Lord; Baal's idols are broken.read · scan
4b.The Trinity and the divinity of Christ
See also: Angel 4b · Religion 6b · Theology 4a · Sin 9b
Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 506–507One Spirit, Lord and God work all gifts, apportioning to each as he wills.read · scan
Paul, The Second Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 521–522God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 354The Son of the Most High, power overshadowing Mary; no word from God is void of power.read · scan
- p. 361–362A voice from heaven declares Jesus God's beloved Son; the Spirit descends.read · scan
- p. 375The healed man is told to declare what God has done for him; Jesus is called Son of the Most High God.read · scan
- p. 379The transfiguration: a voice from the cloud declares Jesus God's chosen Son; onlookers are astonished at the majesty of God.read · scan
- p. 412–413Council asks whether he is the Son of God; he answers he will sit at God's right hand.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 423Risen Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God and the Father's authority over times and seasons; the Holy Spirit promised.read · scan
- p. 425God pours forth his Spirit upon all flesh in the last days.read · scan
- p. 426–427God approved Jesus by mighty works, foreknew his death, raised and exalted him to his right hand.read · scan
Hymns of the Christian Church: Greek HymnsVol. 45
- p. 541–543Praise of God the Father and Christ as holy Lord, Word and King, with Holy Ghost.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 55The true Life came down, bore our death and called men back; the world was made by Him.read · scan
- p. 106–108God is eternal, merciful, and humbles the proud; His Word became flesh to teach humility.read · scan
- p. 108The Son is co-eternal, unchangeable and of the same substance as the Father, yet humbled himself to become man.read · scan
- p. 114He glimpses That Which Is, then seeks strength in Christ the Mediator, the Word made flesh.read · scan
- p. 116–117God is savior, guardian and the way; Christ was begotten co-eternal.read · scan
- p. 156–157Our merits are only God's gifts; Christ intercedes as the medicine of our wounds.read · scan
- p. 196–197Christ as true Mediator, equal to God as Word yet mortal as man; God's love in giving his Son.read · scan
Hymns of the Christian Church: Latin HymnsVol. 45
- p. 546Praise of God the Father everlasting, Son and Holy Ghost, as Lord and King of Glory.read · scan
- p. 547–549Hymn invokes the Creator Spirit and Trinity, source of light and grace, to be adored.read · scan
- p. 549–552Christ as the all-in-all who saves those who seek him.read · scan
- p. 554–556Christ as true God eternal, begotten uncreated, the Word made flesh; loved for himself.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 324The Father with the Son and the Love breathing from both eternally orders all creation.read · scan
- p. 339–340The Trinity is sung; all light in human nature is infused by the creator through Adam and Christread · scan
- p. 344The Trinity, unbounded and bounding all, is sung as the Supreme Good whose grace increases lightread · scan
- p. 387Dante professes one eternal unmoved God who moves heaven by love, in three Persons, one essence.read · scan
- p. 423Dante is borne into the ray of sovereign light; the Maker did not scorn to become his own creation.read · scan
- p. 423Dante sees the eternal light and three orbs of triple hue in one bound, the Trinity, all the universe gathered in love.read · scan
John Calvin, Dedication of the Institutes of the Christian ReligionVol. 39
- p. 29–30Christ is constituted King by the Father with dominion to the ends of the earth; the doctrine is the living God's.read · scan
A Sweet Lullaby; Preparations; The Unfaithful ShepherdessVol. 40
- p. 199–200Christ as King of Heaven is treated as a stranger.read · scan
Robert Southwell, The Burning BabeVol. 40
- p. 218–219The infant Christ appears as fire, with love as furnace, to save mankind.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 367Dying, he converses with God as angels do, seeing the Son of Man at God's right hand.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 402True God worshipped against idols; one God in three persons, glorified without end.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 262–263Browne treats the Trinity as the triple unity of God, compares it to the soul's faculties, and sees the visible world as a picture of the invisible divinity.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 123Polyeucte adores the God who made him and gave his Son for man's redemption, Christ as the Life, Truth and Way.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 7–9Christ, Son of Heaven's eternal King, lays aside majesty of the Trinal Unity to take mortal flesh and bring redemption.read · scan
- p. 13–16The infant Christ shows his Godhead by controlling the pagan gods; Jehovah's wonders praised as God of gods.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 136God, throned in the Empyrean, views his works with the Son at his right hand while angels receive beatitude.read · scan
- p. 136The Father accepts the Son's offer, ordains his incarnation as Man, and makes him head of mankind.read · scan
- p. 180God decrees his Son's exaltation as head over the angels and threatens disobedience with eternal exileread · scan
- p. 220The Son answers the Father, accepts power, and the Father's chariot of glory appears in majesty.read · scan
- p. 220Messiah returns triumphant to his Father's throne.read · scan
- p. 292The Father manifests glory in the Son, who descends as Judge and Intercessor to Eden.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4
- p. 359The Father's voice from heaven declares Jesus his beloved Son at baptism.read · scan
- p. 359The Father's voice declares the Son at baptism; the Son trusts God to reveal what he needs to know.read · scan
- p. 405Satan probes what it means that Jesus is Son of God, a phrase 'of no single sense'; all men are sons of God.read · scan
- p. 405Satan tests whether Jesus is Son of God by challenging him to trust divine protection.read · scan
- p. 405Christ hailed as true image of the Father and Son of the Most High, queller of Satan.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 101God made Himself man to unite to corrupt men.read · scan
- p. 178Christ speaks: He has agonized for us and acts in those who let Him guide them.read · scan
- p. 180Christ says 'I am God in all' and guides through counsel when the director cannot speak.read · scan
- p. 273Christ by glory is all that is great, being God, and by mortal life all that is poor, so as to be the model of all conditions.read · scan
- p. 275Christ comes in the glory of His own order of holiness, humble and without worldly pomp or kingship.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 367–369Only God can create and re-create the soul; Christ is his image and the expression of his substance.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 56–57The Lord of the Hill as warrior who slew Death, stripped himself of glory and makes beggars princes.read · scan
- p. 142–143Christ is described as the mighty God who died for others.read · scan
- p. 212–213Christ's Godhead and Manhood united in one person fitted for the office of Mediator.read · scan
Hymns of the Christian Church: Modern HymnsVol. 45
- p. 559–561Incarnate Deity, Prince of Peace, born to raise men.read · scan
- p. 564–566Praise of the holy Trinity, perfect in power, love and purity.read · scan
- p. 571–572Almighty Word commanded chaos; Trinity of Wisdom, Love, Might invoked.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 300–302Jesus's life and death are those of a God; humbly bow before the Supreme Being who alone knows truth.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Education of the Human RaceVol. 32
- p. 200–202God's unity as transcendental, including plurality; his perfect self-conception is necessarily real, like a true reduplication, the Son begotten from eternity.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 50–51She sees the Trinity in fire and splendour, and touching its light turns her finger golden.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The PoetVol. 5
- p. 163Trinity of Father, Spirit, Son cited as a theological name for the three children; Beauty as creator, not particular beautiful things.read · scan
4c.The Islamic insistence on God's oneness
See also: Theology 4b · Charity 8a · Punishment 10b
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 881–882There is no god but He, Lord of east and west, forgiving and merciful, measuring night and day.read · scan
- p. 883God is one, eternal, neither begetting nor begotten, without equal.read · scan
- p. 894Unbelievers are challenged: did they create the heavens, or own God's treasures, or have another god beside God?read · scan
- p. 912–913The Merciful takes no son; every creature comes to Him as a servant, numbered and counted.read · scan
- p. 917–918God alone has power; false gods cannot remove distress, and He shows mercy or torment as He pleases.read · scan
- p. 921–922God is called by many best names; He has no son or partner in His kingdom and is to be magnified.read · scan
- p. 930God as the one deity, to be believed without associating other gods; His signs are in heavens and earth.read · scan
- p. 931–932God alone is sovereign, judge and knower of hidden things; other gods decide nothing.read · scan
- p. 938–939God is Lord and creator of everything, the one and dominant; other patrons cannot create or control profit or harm.read · scan
- p. 950–951God bears witness to His unity with angels and men of knowledge standing for justice.read · scan
- p. 954–955There is no god but God, the mighty and wise; Jesus' creation likened to Adam's by the word BE.read · scan
- p. 976–977There is no God but He; He will assemble all on resurrection day; He guides or leads astray.read · scan
- p. 984God is only one God, who begets no son; Jesus is His apostle and Word, a servant like the angels.read · scan
- p. 999–1000God is sole judge and guide; revelation confirms earlier scripture, and believers must take God, his Apostle and the faithful as patrons.read · scan
- p. 1001–1002Insists on God's oneness, rejecting the Trinity and the divinity of the Messiah; God is forgiving and merciful.read · scan
- p. 1006–1007Jesus denies telling men to worship him and his mother; God is watcher, knower of the unseen, mighty and wise, ruler of heaven and earth.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 322Creed declares no deity but God, who has no partner and holds dominion and praise.read · scan
4d.The polytheistic gods of the poets and peoples
See also: Religion 5d
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 81–82Olympus is described as the untroubled everlasting seat of the blessed gods.read · scan
- p. 94–95Alcinous suspects the stranger a god, since the Phaeacians are near of kin to gods who appear at their feasts.read · scan
- p. 121–122Zeus is described as god of the stranger and avenger of suppliants, while the Cyclopes deny divine power.read · scan
- p. 150–151Poseidon and Zeus lie with mortal women, begetting heroes such as Heracles.read · scan
Aeschylus, The FuriesVol. 8
- p. 122–123Lineage of the gods who held the shrine, Apollo's speaking for Zeus.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 241–242The chorus sings hymnically to Phoebus and speculates on divine parentage of Oedipus among Pan, Apollo and Bacchus.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 24–26Myth of Zeus hiding behind a ram's head explains the ram-faced image of Amun.read · scan
- p. 27Herodotus argues Heracles is an ancient Egyptian god, not a Greek import, from the antiquity of his worship.read · scan
- p. 27Concludes Heracles is an ancient god, rightly honored by Greeks with separate temples as immortal god and as dead hero.read · scan
- p. 28–29Pan counted among the eight gods older than the twelve; gods represented in animal form.read · scan
- p. 30Names of nearly all the gods came to Greece from Egypt; Pelasgians first called them gods as orderers of all things.read · scan
- p. 30–32Homer and Hesiod gave the Greeks their theogony, the titles, honours and forms of the gods.read · scan
- p. 71Priests report no god appeared in human form throughout this long span.read · scan
- p. 71–72Egyptians deny descent from gods; gods once ruled apart from men, and Herodotus argues Greek gods like Dionysos and Pan are ancient Egyptian gods borrowed late.read · scan
- p. 78Myth of Leto, one of the eight first gods, preserving Apollo son of Osiris from Typhon.read · scan
- p. 78–79Egyptian genealogy of Apollo, Artemis, Isis and Demeter equates them with Oros, Bubastis and others; Aeschylus borrowed this.read · scan
Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8
- p. 368–369Dionysus declares his divine birth from Zeus and comes to Thebes to be manifest as a god.read · scan
- p. 371–373The myth of Dionysus's birth from Semele and Zeus's second gestation of him in his thigh.read · scan
- p. 378–379Teiresias defends Dionysus's greatness, reinterprets the birth myth, and says the god gives prophecy and war-panic.read · scan
- p. 384–385Dionysus is a heavenly god who loves earthly mirth, gives wine to all, and is angry only at those who spurn joy.read · scan
- p. 425–427The chorus praises Dionysus as wise chase-god who preys with his band.read · scan
Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2
- p. 14–15Belief in sun and moon as gods is called the common creed; Socrates is said to call sun stone.read · scan
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 47Socrates imagines Aesop's fable of God trying to reconcile pleasure and pain and fastening their heads together.read · scan
- p. 51–52Socrates expects to go to other wise and good gods after death.read · scan
- p. 105–107On the upper earth gods dwell in temples and converse with men, giving answers.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 287Apollo and the Roman gods defeat the Egyptian monster gods such as Anubis.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 115The goddess Herthum is believed to interpose in human affairs and visit countries.read · scan
Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49
- p. 361–363Odin lends Dag his spear and is blamed for loosing strife among kindred.read · scan
- p. 431–433Borgny invokes Freyia and the gods to bless Oddrun.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 260–262The one-eyed stranger, evidently Odin, gives the sword as a gift and vanishes.read · scan
- p. 283–284Odin appears as an old man and counsels Sigurd in choosing the horse Grani.read · scan
- p. 284–286Odin, Loki and Hoenir kill Otter unknowing and must pay ransom.read · scan
- p. 299–300Brynhild hails the Aesir and Asyniur, and Odin's power punished her with sleep.read · scan
- p. 347–348Hogni will give thanks to the Gods if Atli falls to ill.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 379–380Gentiles deified nearly everything, and Abraham, Moses and Christ derived the laws of God's kingdom.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 11–13Pagan gods and spirits flee and mourn as the true God's coming displaces them.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 46–47Gods with proper offices, attendants and patronage (Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Venus) act in the epic.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 329–331Caledonia's divine descent from northern deities like Odin.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, WorshipVol. 5
- p. 273–274Jove is the near, oldest power, deaf to prayers yet flooding blessings; the line between human and divine is blurred.read · scan
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 922–923The gods sigh for the cost of their music; Pan is half a beast.read · scan
Giuseppe Mazzini, Byron and GoetheVol. 32
- p. 386–387Goethe is called a polytheist artist making divinities of nature's fragments; Mosaic and Christian heaven are veiled to him.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1126–1128Gods hymn the Father of all things, then Immortals and action of men.read · scan
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