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Supreme Being

About: Supreme Being is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 192 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1615 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
C.R. Gaba1
TL;DR: Mawu is a generic symbol for deity and is freely applied to the lesser gods which the AilJ1 people particularly refer to as Tr3 as discussed by the authors, and whether Mawu originated from its use for the Supreme Being or from its generic usage for deity in general is not easy to say.
Abstract: Mawu is the ABlb name for the Supreme Being. This same word is used by other Eue neighbours to designate their Supreme Beings. In a wider sense Mawu is generic symbol for deity and is freely applied to the lesser gods which the AilJ1 people particularly refer to as Tr3. Whether Mawu originated from its use for the Supreme Being or from its generic usage for deity in general is not easy to say. However the A1l1 people believe that the lesser gods have taken on some divine attributes because the Supreme Being created them and delegated divine authority to them to represent him in the world of men. This belief and A1J31 attempts at etymological solution seem to support the view that Mawu originated with the Supreme Being and was later adopted as generic symbol for deity. Many attempts have been made to solve the etymological riddle of Mawu. The commonest among the AIl3 people themselves is Ema ye wu, "this is the One who surpasses all." Others think Mawu is rather a combination of two particles: a negative ma and a superlative wu. Wu for others is the Eve for the verb "kill." Thus Mawu in AI319 thought is, on the one hand, "the One who surpasses all," "the Omnipotent" and, on the other, "the One who does not kill," the bountiful, the merciful. Some other researches into the etymology of Mawu appear rather wild guesses which may safely be ignored here. 1) But one fact which emerges from all these attempts is that Mawu is a proper name and like some other proper names, its real etymology is long lost in the mists of time. Perhaps this is the outcome of the same unqualified reverence for the divine name that still makes a riddle of the Tetragrammaton of Judaism. However, all these suggested etymological solutions

6 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Mar 1997-Sophia
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that attempts to justify theism are futile, since all would-be success is neutralized by the corresponding support that is thereby provided for antitheism.
Abstract: I propose that reasons advanced in support of theism serve just as well, or can be modified to serve just as well, as reasons for believing that there exists a wholly evil supreme being (‘antitheism’). Accordingly, I suggest that attempts to justify theism are futile, since all would-be success is neutralized by the corresponding support that is thereby provided for antitheism.

6 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Besinnung as discussed by the authors is a work dating from 1938-1939, one among the "unpublished treatises" in Part III of Heidegger's Gesamtausgabe, and it follows the Beitrage zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) (1936-1938), taking up the same themes as that work.
Abstract: The article deals with the recently published Besinnung, a work dating from 1938–1939, one among the “unpublished treatises” in Part III of Heidegger's Gesamtausgabe. It follows the Beitrage zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) (1936–1938), taking up the same themes as that work, such as the last God, the first and the other beginning, etc. But whereas the earlier work, especially the notion of the last God, relates more to Schelling, this one muses on Kierkegaard. The article sets Besinnung within the context of related works of the same period, not only the Beitrage but also Metaphysik und Nihilismus and Geschichte des Seyns. However, Besinnung also breaks new ground, finding a deeper ontological distinction between Seyn and Sein as the basis for the earlier “ontological difference” between being and beings. The work is part and parcel with Heidegger's destructuring of metaphysics, which he sees as really a freeing up of the beginning, as also the issue of onto-theology. Thus it is integral with Heidegger's program of getting God out of metaphysics and being out of theology. It is in virtue of the meaning he attaches to Seyn (Logos) in Da-sein that it is possible for him not only to retrieve the meaning of the other beginning, the en-owning (Er-eignis) of Da-sein, and with it the meaning of the first beginning (in the two senses the phrase has in this work), but also thereby to recover the forgotten meaning of being (Sein). The approach to Seyn, with Kierkegaard, is not through the thinking (Denken) that thinks being, which cannot really get beyond beings and/or the Supreme Being of metaphysics, but through a thinking, a musing, that thinks through to (Er-denkt) Seyn. The article concludes with some reflections on the significance of Heidegger as theo-logian.

6 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A number of British judges have made a number of statements in which they have accepted the centrality of faith in the lives of those bringing such claims before them, recognising that in view of religion's association with the transcendental, the divine and the eternal, it is the most important thing for many people as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Human rights claims are often motivated by weighty considerations. But few motivating factors are arguably as powerful as those which typically underpin claims involving the right to freedom of religion and belief under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In such cases litigants often consider that they have a sacred duty to act (or refrain from acting) in a particular way, believing that failure to do so may displease a supreme being or even lead to dire consequences in an afterlife, perhaps for all eternity. To date the courts have acknowledged, in express terms, the unparalleled and existential significance of particular manifestations of religious belief to believers themselves. British judges have made a number of statements in which they have accepted the centrality of faith in the lives of those bringing such claims before them, recognising that in view of religion's association with the transcendental, the divine and the eternal, it is the most important thing for many people.

6 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A survey conducted by Hynds et al. as discussed by the authors explored demographic questions about religion editors and reporters as well as their qualifications, experience, and job satisfaction, and looked at changes in the newspapers' coverage of religion stories and issues.
Abstract: Thirty years ago Louis Cassels, religion editor of United Press International, identified several broad categories of religion(1) news that he said needed more and better attention in the press. These included coverage of institutional activities such as pastoral changes and revivals; coverage of controversies such as doctrinal disputes and church involvement in social and political issues; and most significantly perhaps, coverage of humans' never-ending quest for a confident faith to live by. Cassels said people want to know if God exists, if the Resurrection actually took place, and if there is life after death. He said newspapers should cover religion issues as fairly, dispassionately and fearlessly as they do other controversies.(2) Improvements in religion coverage didn't come overnight, but by the late 1980s serious religion coverage was being provided in many of the nation's larger newspapers and some of the others. News magazines expanded their coverage of religion in the 1990s, and some television news people began to take a more in-depth look at the subject. Increasing numbers of editors began to realize that religion, or faith in a supreme being, is important to most readers and that most want more and better coverage than has been provided. The public interest in religion, or faith, has been continually affirmed by the Gallup Poll, which has been measuring public opinion regarding religion in the United States since the 1930s. Gallup's polls have documented the remarkable vitality of faith in the United States, but they also have revealed declining support for organized religion. It was reported in 1996, for example, that while more than 90 percent of Americans believe in God, only about 40 percent attend weekly religion services.(3) The Freedom Forum, "a non-partisan, international organization dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people," has sponsored two studies in the 1990s of religion and the news media. One in 1993 was part of a series conducted by the Forum's First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University to look at alienation between the news media and institutions covered by the media. This study conducted by John Dart, a veteran journalist whose specialty is religion, and Jimmy Allen, a noted Baptist minister and communicator, found "a chasm of misunderstanding and ignorance separates those who pursue careers in the secular news-media field and those whose careers are in the field of religion." It made a number of recommendations including media recognition of the importance of religion to readers.(4) The Forum's Media Studies Center issued a report in 1994 on a national conference it sponsored in New York in the fall of 1993 for nearly 150 theologians, journalists and leaders from religion and the media in the United States. Its purpose was to call attention to the public's interest in religion and explore ways in which the media could improve their coverage. This study also recognized the need for better understanding between members of the news media and those in organized religion.(5) A few studies have been done to look specifically at what newspapers have been doing, if anything, to improve their coverage of religion. In a survey of the nation's metropolitan dailies, Hynds explored demographic questions about religion editors and reporters as well as their qualifications, experience, and job satisfaction, and looked at changes in the newspapers' coverage of religion stories and issues.(6) The current study is in large part a replication of that study. Some new questions have been added in response to perceived changes in newspapers and religion coverage, but the broad replication makes it possible to report not only on what's taking place in religion coverage today but also explore how that coverage has changed in the past decade. Method A four-page questionnaire, composed mostly of multiple-choice and short-answer questions, was mailed together with a short cover letter and stamped return envelope to religion editors of all newspapers with 100,000 or more circulation listed in the 1997 Editor & Publisher Yearbook. …

6 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20213
20206
20197
20185
20172
20167