This page groups religions by how they conceive of the divine, since traditions disagree sharply about whether there is one god, many, or none in the usual sense. Wikipedia notes that Hinduism's many deities, "Deva (masculine) and Devi (feminine)," are often understood as aspects of "the same Ultimate Reality called Brahman," a very different picture from the strict monotheism of the Abrahamic faiths. Browsing by conception of the divine lets a visitor compare how differently two religions answer the same basic question.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingChinese traditions built on a philosophical account of how the world works - the Dao, the interplay of yin and yang, the movement of qi - which developed alongside it a full religious apparatus of deities, liturgy, ordained priesthood and alchemical practice. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryContested: the division of Daoism into a philosophical strand and a religious one is a later convention that specialists now largely reject as a way of splitting the tradition, which did not develop as two things. 3 Learn More
Chinese philosophical-religious tradition
This group gathers a Chinese tradition classed as philosophical-religious, one that began as a philosophy of the natural way and developed into an organised religion with deities, priesthood and liturgy. Taoism is the paradigm, spanning the classic texts of the Dao and the later temple religion alike.
The browser will find the tradition the atlas classes here. The entries describe it across both dimensions, philosophical and religious, which the tradition itself holds together.
Conception of the Divine
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Daoism Handbook
Livia Kohn (ed.), Brill, 2000
3. The Encyclopedia of Taoism
Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.), Routledge, 2008s.v. Daojia; s.v. DaojiaoView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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