A 'creator deity' is a
deity responsible for creating the
universe or specific aspects of the world. Creator deities are identified in nearly all
theistic religions.
Abrahamic religions
Christianity,
Judaism,
Sikhism and
Islam teach that
Creation is believed to be the origin of the universe by the action of
God. Even more particularly, every ''type'' of existence is believed to be result of God's act of creation.
Among
monotheists it has historically been most commonly believed that living things are God's creations, and are not the result of a process inherent in originally non-living things, unless this process is designed, initiated, or directed by God; likewise,
sentient and
intelligent beings are believed to be God's creation, and did not arise through the development of living but non-sentient beings, except by the intervention of God.
★
Rouvière, Jean-Marc, ''Brèves méditations sur la création du monde'' L'Harmattan, Paris (2006), ISBN 2-7475-9922-1.
Judaism
Orthodox Judaism affirms that one God is the creator of all things, and that a god created the first man and woman in his own image —
Adam and Eve.
Christianity
It is a tenet of Christian faith (Roman Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant) that God is the creator of all things from nothing ("from nothing" is usually understood in an absolute sense), and has made man in the image of God, who by direct inference is also the source of the human soul. Within this broad understanding, however, there are a number of views regarding exactly how this doctrine ought to be interpreted.
★ Some Christians, particularly
Young Earth creationists and
Old Earth creationists, interpret Genesis as an historical, accurate, and literal account of creation.
★ Others, in contrast to both of these views of acts of the Creator, may not understand any of these to be statements of historic fact, but rather, spiritual insights more vaguely defined.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being ... And the Word [Jesus Christ] became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth"
. "For by faith we understand the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible" . We are told that Jesus is the Word of God and that the word of God is living . All citations are from The Holy Bible, New American Standard Version, ISBN 0-7369-0018-7.
Together these two passages state that Jesus (1) is the Word of God, (2) was in the beginning and, thus, has always existed, (3) is God, (4) created all things that have ever come into being, (5) created everything using nothing but his word to speak everything into existence, and (6)is still living and active. People who follow Jesus are Christians, and they hold to the absolute truth that Jesus is both God and Creator of the Universe.
In summary, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" . Each day since creation, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands" . All citations are from The Holy Bible, New American Standard Version> ISBN 0-7369-0018-7.
Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church allows for both a literal and allegorical interpretation of Genesis, so as to allow for the possibility of Creation by means of an evolutionary process over great spans of time, otherwise known as theistic evolution.
It believes that the creation of the world is a work of a god through the ''Logos'', the Word (idea, intelligence, reason and logic):
: ''In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." The New Testament claims that God created everything by the eternal Word, his beloved Son. In him "all things were created, in heaven and on earth.. . all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.'' [1]
Surrounded by a pervasive culture of rationalism, relativism and secularism, the Catholic Church is questioning the validity of reason basing itself on an evolutionary origin of mere chance. In a 1999 lecture at the University of Paris, Benedict XVI said:
: ''The question is ... whether reason, being a chance by-product of irrationality and floating in an ocean of irrationality, is ultimately just as meaningless; or whether the principle that represents the fundamental conviction of Christian faith and of its philosophy remains true: "In principio erat Verbum" — at the beginning of all things stands the creative power of reason. Now as then, Christian faith represents the choice in favor of the priority of reason and of rationality. ''[''...'']'' there is no ultimate demonstration that the basic choice involved in Christianity is correct. Yet, can reason really renounce its claim to the priority of what is rational over the irrational, the claim that the Logos is at the ultimate origin of things, without abolishing itself?''
: ''Even today, by reason of its choosing to assert the primacy of reason, Christianity remains "enlightened," and I think that any enlightenment that cancels this choice must, contrary to all appearances, mean, not an evolution, but an involution, a shrinking, of enlightenment.''
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and others within Mormonism, believe that physical reality (space, matter and/or energy) is eternal, and therefore does not have an absolute origin. The Creator is an architect and organizer of pre-existent matter and energy, who constructed the present cosmos out of the raw material.
Islam
The fundamental concept in Islam is the oneness of God. Muslims believe that God (Arabic:Allah) is the creator of all living and non-living things in the universe. This monotheism is absolute, not relative or pluralistic in any sense of the word.
Sikhism
One of the biggest responsibilities in Sikhism is to worship god as "The Creator". The religion only takes after the belief in "One God for All". In Sikhism, God is commonly referred to as "Waheguru".
Hinduism
Hinduism holds that Brahman is the foundation of all being, and that the universe has a definite origin from Brahman; and yet at the ultimate level, all assertions of a distinction between Brahman, other gods and creation are meaningless (monism). This is not to say however, that in some more superficial sense the assertion is not true, that Brahman is distinct from the creation brought forth. Therefore, according to Upanishadic teaching, it is not false to speak of Hindu Creationism.
Classical Greece
Plato, in his dialogue Timaeus, describes a creation myth involving a being called the demiurge.
Buddhism
Some gods in Buddhism have the view that they are creators of the world. For example, Baka Brahma. However, Buddha pointed out to them that they do not know the whole extent of the universe (he said they have no knowledge of some of the highest heavens), and further, the spiritual power of the Buddha was greater than than the spiritual power of these gods who thought they created the world. One of the Suttas dealing with this subject is the Kevaddha Sutta.
Also, Buddha said (in DN1 - the Brahmajala Sutta or ''The Net of Views'') that their view of being the creator of the world is a misconception, and that these Brahma-gods actually have a cause which lead their origination (taking birth as a Brahma-god). Buddha even tells how the views concerning 'creator gods' originate in the world - through junior Brahma-gods (with a more limited life-span) who, on their passing away, get reborn as a human, and through practicing meditation are able to remember their previous life as a junior god to a Brahma god. Then, he starts to preach this view of a 'creator god' to others (see DN1 - the Brahmajala Sutta).
See also
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