What does it mean to see God as an abstract god?

Answer 1

A:In one sense, something is abstract if it is not concrete, and perhaps we can use this term to describe the supernatural or the spiritual. In another sense, something is abstract if it exists in thought rather than in reality. To see God as an abstract god in this sense is to understand that he is a product of human imagination, but not as a conscious fiction, rather as the result of generations in which people have sought to understand that which controls the world. The way in which the perception of God has changed over time suggests that he really is abstract in this sense.

We see in the Book of Genesis that God walked and talked to Adam, understood by the early Israelites to be so similar to ordinary humans. In the story of the Exodus, we see that he rode in the mercy seat mounted on top of the Ark of the Covenant. Archaeologists have found many early Hebrew artefacts that depict God in different ways but in human form just like any other Near Eastern god. By the late monarchy the Jews had apparently ceased depicting God in physical form, although a post-Exilic Jewish coin, now held in the British Museum, once again depicts a divinity that can only have been God.

Scholars say that the Hebrews believed in El, the West Semitic father of the gods, and in Yahweh (YHWH), who became the national god and was responsible for military success and national prosperity. Quite early in the monarchy, Yahweh became syncretised with El, and later took on the attributes of Baal. Initially a storm God in both Israel and Judah, Yahweh became the moon God in Israel but the sun God in Judah. By the late monarchy, Yahweh was becoming the familiar, transcendent God we are now familiar with.

These evolutions of God over a period of almost a thousand years suggest that he really is an abstract god, forged in the minds of generations of followers.

Answer 2

Viewing God as an abstract deity means perceiving a higher power as formless, transcendent, and beyond human comprehension. This perspective focuses on the philosophical essence of God rather than specific religious doctrines or representations. It can lead to a more inclusive and universal understanding of divine presence.