| Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 1,506,815,972 visitors served. |
|
Dictionary/ thesaurus | Medical dictionary | Legal dictionary | Financial dictionary | Acronyms | Idioms | Encyclopedia | Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
Demiurge |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.06 sec. |
|
demiurge (dĕm`ēûrj') [Gr.,=workman, craftsman], name given by Plato in a mythological passage in the Timaeus to the creator God. In Gnosticism Gnosticism (nŏs`tĭsĭzəm), dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. ..... Click the link for more information. the Demiurge, creator of the material world, was not God but the Archon, or chief of the lowest order of spirits or aeons. According to the Gnostics, the Demiurge was able to endow man only with psyche (sensuous soul)—the pneuma (rational soul) having been added by God. The Gnostics identified the Demiurge with the Jehovah of the Hebrews. In philosophy the term is used to denote a divinity who is the builder of the universe rather than its creator. DemiurgeSubordinate god who shapes and arranges the physical world. In his dialogue Timaeus, Plato identified the Demiurge as the force that fashioned the world from the preexisting materials of chaos. In Gnosticism of the early Christian era, the Demiurge is regarded as an inferior deity who had created the imperfect, material world and who belonged to the forces of evil opposing the supreme God of goodness. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
|
| ? Mentioned in | ? References in periodicals archive | |
|---|---|---|
5) Salvation requires the recognition that we are better than the situation into which we have been cast, and "The goal of gnostic striving is the release of the 'inner man' from the bonds of [the] world and his return to his native realm of light"--often entailing "intentional violation of the demiurgical norms"; that is, the natural laws of a wicked creation. |
| Encyclopedia |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Browser extension |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|---|