Representations of God in the Three Main Religions

Historians often refer to a historical shift from polytheistic religions—whose gods were represented in human or animal form—to the single God who created the universe in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While they are not wrong, it is important to add that the transition was very gradual. There are several biblical passages, in which the God of Israel is considered the greatest and the most worshipful, but which do not deny the existence of other gods (Deut. 32:8–9; Ps. 29:1, 89:7; Job 1:6). Likewise, the Qur’an does not deny the existence of intermediate powers between heaven and earth, but categorically forbids any worship of them. On the other hand, a completely abstract God would be neither expressible nor conceivable. Men necessarily use language to express their belief in God. They describe God in human terms through concepts, comparisons, metaphors, and paradoxes. Their words are taken from and inspired by sacred texts (the Bible and Qur’an), or later theological texts. It is therefore entirely acceptable to speak about ‘representations of God’ and compare them.

The similarities between the evocations of God in the three monotheistic religions are fairly self-evident. The three religions do, a priori, speak of an identical God. They refer to a common sacred story whose elements are found in the Bible, continued and developed in the New Testament in Christianity, and then widely developed in the Qur’an. The story of the creation of Adam and the first woman, and their fall; stories featuring major biblical figures, such as the story of Noah and the flood; Abraham leaving his country, greeting the angels and preparing to sacrifice his own son to God; Joseph in Egypt; Moses receiving God’s revelation and transmitting it to the Sons of Israel; Jesus born of Virgin Mary and performing many miracles; and many other such stories are found in the texts shared by the three religions. God seems to speak through similar channels—patriarchs and prophets: they exhort men to abandon pagan forms of worship, devote themselves to worshipping a single God, and abide by certain morals. His foes are the same: idolatry and perversion. His aim appears to be similar: to be recognized and worshipped as the one and only true God.

The divine attributes are similar in the three traditions. God is described as an all powerful being, omniscient, wise, just, forgiving, and also harsh and even vengeful. He punishes the rebellious and wrongdoers, and loves and rewards the just believers. Several texts, in the Christian Bible and the Qur’an, affirm the resurrection of men and their eternal life with God as being an extension of this dispensation of justice. It is to be noted that all these texts describe human qualities when speaking about God. Forgiveness, mercy, and justice are all completely human notions. Thus, the monotheistic God makes Himself close to men and has a relationship with them. This is somewhat removed from the impersonal destiny of antiquity, or the indescribable Totality in Eastern wisdom. Even though monotheistic believers no longer represent God in a physical way, they continue to believe in a God who corresponds with their own moral life.

However, the differences between the representations of God in the three religions are no less evident. In Judaism God is linked to a specific people, ethnically speaking. Conversion to Judaism is not impossible. Nevertheless, the religion is founded on an alliance between God and an entire community committed to abiding by a very specific Law. The Jewish community therefore doesn’t feel that Christian and Muslim teachings, which are extraneous to the observance of this Law, apply to them. The Jewish God is both revealed in human terms (in the biblical texts) and as completely transcendent, and nameless. The primary link between God and men is expressed through the observance of a Law, not by an agreement with a creed or a theology. The prophets in the Bible are inspired men, but it is not just they who are inspired—the entire Jewish community ‘carries the message of the revelation’. In contrast, Islam distinguishes between men and prophets, who are the indispensable and irreplaceable intermediaries between God and men.

The Christian God is humanized, incarnate, and has come to the earth to share the destiny of the creatures. He transcends ethnic groups. He binds the community together in a spiritual way, and not through a Law: Saint Paul believes that while the Law makes men aware of sin, it also subjugates them by preventing them from reaching a truly spiritual state. Only ‘life in spirit’ frees man by linking him to God in Christ. The Christian God is a God of love, an act of love that He experiences within Himself: the dogma of the Trinity conveys an idea in which God is experienced through a relationship of love. Potentially, God’s Trinitarian relationship with the world exists in every human being. A large part of Christian tradition—Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity—accepts and encourages worshippers to respect religious images: since God has manifested His presence through Christ and the saints, it is acceptable to evoke them both through words and images. The denominations that emerged from the Protestant Reformation are much more reticent to accept figurative representations.

God’s message in the Qur’an challenges several Jewish ideas: God is universal; he speaks to all men and not to one specific community. The fact that Muhammad claims to be a follower of biblical tradition without being Jewish is therefore quite acceptable. A succession of prophets delivers the same message: worship one God, and avoid idolatry. The Qur’an says that this message is repeated continually over the course of time, in the missions of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. It can be argued in a way that Islam, as the most recent revelation, renders Judaism and Christianity null and void. Moreover, the Qur’an rejects the central elements of the Christian doctrine: the idea of the divine incarnation in Jesus, and the dogma of the Trinity. The God in the Qur’an wants to be honoured and obeyed through social practices—a little like Judaism—, but Islamic law differs considerably from biblical and rabbinical precepts. Most Muslim theologians affirm that it is impossible for man to know God. So, how can man know God and represent Him? Through what He says about Himself in the Qur’an, and the names and attributes He gives Himself. The exegete, grammarian, and specialist in tradition play an important role in the interpretation process. The people who are authorized to speak about God and His will are the scholars, i.e. those who have completely mastered the texts in the Qur’an, its language, and the teachings of Muhammad.

Is it possible to say that the believers in the three religions worship the ‘same’ God? What does the word ‘same’ mean here exactly? God isn’t an object of knowledge that can be identified. Certain translations of the Qur'an keep the name ‘Allah’ and do not translate it with the word ‘God’, ‘Dieu’, and so on. Translators argue that there is no connection between the Christian Trinitarian God and the vision of God in the Qur’an. Jewish translations of the Bible are even more reticent to translate the Hebrew names for God. Fundamentally, it’s a question of choice. The believer of religion X may consider that he worships ‘the same’ God as the believer of religion Y, but he may also consider that he does not. Will he accept the other believer’s prayer? Will the other believer be rewarded in the beyond? Each believer chooses their own theological response. It’s fair to say that the discourse on God is, ultimately, a discourse on man himself.

P. L.