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Personal God

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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

A personal God is a supreme being with self-consciousness and will, capable of feeling, has the attributes and desires of a person, and enters into relationships with individuals and people groups. Although not all Christians believe in a personal God, the belief is integral to and most prevalent in Christianity. Atheists do not believe in God or gods. Agnostics believe that there is a God or gods but that they are unknowable, and Deists believe in an impersonal supreme God that exists and created the universe, but does not intervene it its normal operations. Other god or gods may have human characteristics and feelings that encompass the entire range of human attributes, emotions, and abilities but lack the holiness and relational attributes of the unique God of Judaism and Christianity.

A major survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life finds that six in ten adults in the United States believe in a personal God. However, to say that God is a person is to affirm the divine...

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Correspondence to Kenneth L. Nolen .

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Nolen, K.L. (2020). Personal God. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_503

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