The Nature of the Divine

Abstract

There are two basic ways in which the ultimate reality which is the goal of religion may be viewed. One is the concept of a deity, of God, in which this ultimate reality is seen as personal; the other is the concept of the Absolute, in which it is seen as impersonal. It is often thought that these two different ways of thinking are the Christian and the Hindu views respectively, but this is to paint too simple a picture. Not only are there occasional trends within Christian thought which make use of the idea of the Godhead as transcending the personality of the Trinity, but the concept of Brahman, though widely current in more intellectual forms of Hinduism, is by no means as important at the more popular level as the concept of Īśvara, the supreme deity conceived personally and so as an object of devotion.