For other approaches to the study of the universe in its totality, see Cosmology. For other approaches to the origin of the Universe, see Cosmogony.
God rests with his creation. Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1860
Religious cosmology is an explanation of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe from a religious perspective. This may include beliefs on origin in the form of a creation myth, subsequent evolution, current organizational form and nature, and eventual fate or destiny. There are various traditions in religion or religious mythology asserting how and why everything is the way it is and the significance of it all. Religious cosmologies describe the spatial lay-out of the universe in terms of the world in which people typically dwell as well as other dimensions, such as the seven dimensions of religion; these are ritual, experiential and emotional, narrative and mythical, doctrinal, ethical, social, and material.[1]
Religious mythologies may include descriptions of an act or process of creation by a creator deity or a larger pantheon of deities, explanations of the transformation of chaos into order, or the assertion that existence is a matter of endless cyclical transformations. Religious cosmology differs from a strictly scientific cosmology informed by contemporary astronomy, physics, and similar fields, and may differ in conceptualizations of the world's physical structure and place in the universe, its creation, and forecasts or predictions on its future.
The scope of religious cosmology is more inclusive than a strictly scientific cosmology (physical cosmology and quantum cosmology) in that religious cosmology is not limited to experiential observation, testing of hypotheses, and proposals of theories; for example, religious cosmology may explain why everything is the way it is or seems to be the way it is and prescribing what humans should do in context. Variations in religious cosmology include Zoroastrian cosmology, those such as from India Buddhism, Hindu, and Jain; the religious beliefs of China, Chinese Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, Japan's Shintoisim and the beliefs of the Abrahamic faiths, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Religious cosmologies have often developed into the formal logics of metaphysical systems, such as Platonism, Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, Taoism, Kabbalah, Wuxing or the great chain of being.
^Tucker, Mary Evelyn (1998). "Religious Dimensions of Confucianism: Cosmology and Cultivation". Philosophy East and West. 48 (1): 5–45. doi:10.2307/1399924. ISSN 0031-8221. JSTOR 1399924.
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Religiouscosmology is an explanation of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe from a religious perspective. This may include beliefs...
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Greek cosmology, later Jewish cosmology, patristic cosmology, and Islamic cosmology. Until the modern era, variations of ancient near eastern cosmology survived...
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Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the Universe according to Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It consists of a temporal...
Zoroastrian or Iranian cosmology refers to the origins (cosmogony) and structure (cosmography) of the cosmos in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrian literature...
Mandaean cosmology is the Gnostic conception of the universe in the religion of Mandaeism. Mandaean cosmology is strongly influenced by ancient near eastern...
Early Greek cosmology refers to beliefs about the structure (cosmography) and origins (cosmogony) of the cosmos (Greek kosmos) primarily from the 8th...
mythology History of the center of the Universe Hyperborea North Pole Religiouscosmology Sacred natural site Taiji (philosophy) as a declined form in Latin...
remained a significant religious centre, housing the tomb and mummy of the regional deity. In ancient Egyptian religiouscosmology, as seen (for example)...
Abrahamic religions, the Third Heaven is a division of Heaven in religiouscosmology. In some traditions it is considered the abode of God, and in others...
Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow...
Mormon cosmology is the description of the history, evolution, and destiny of the physical and metaphysical universe according to Mormonism, which includes...
Jain cosmology is the description of the shape and functioning of the Universe (loka) and its constituents (such as living beings, matter, space, time...
which aligns with the ancient Seven Heavens religiouscosmology common to the major Eurasian religious traditions. It also follows the decreasing orbital...
Evolutionary origin of religion Mother goddess Origin myth Origin of death Religiouscosmology Theism Xirang An interpretation of the creation narrative from the...
Islamic cosmology is the cosmology of Islamic societies. Islamic cosmology is not a single unitary system, but is inclusive of a number of cosmological systems...
In mythological or religiouscosmology, the seven heavens refer to seven levels or divisions of the Heavens. The concept, also found in the ancient Mesopotamian...
reveals the deliberate integration of cosmological concepts into Egypt's built environment. Among the various religious groups which in the 9th and 10th centuries...
Papers or The Fifth Epochal Revelation) is a spiritual, philosophical, and religious book that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States sometime between...
ISBN 978-1-84465-053-8. White, Michael J. (2003). "Stoic Natural Philosophy (Physics and Cosmology)". In Inwood, Brad (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics. Cambridge...
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