Word for "of or relating to God"

Question

What is an objective, scientifically precise word meaning of or relating to God?

(To be clear, I mean scientific only in the context of having scientific precision, a word that would describe the phenomenon from an unbiased, if not objective, point of view.)

Theistic, as it implies the existence of a single deity only, while theodicy entails "the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil," which is too partial.

For example, what word would best fill the blank in the phrase "a series of ____ visits," meaning "a series of visits by God"?

Answer 1

Something "of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God or god" is divine.

Answer 2

Though you have chosen divine, I will put in my vote for godly—“a godly visit”. It can be capitalised if you mean to refer to a specific god, and to my eye Godly is less obtrusive than Divine, which looks a bit like the old convention of capitalising personified nouns.

Answer 3

Perhaps consider an alternative wording. Rather than "a series of _ visits", perhaps you're looking a "a series of theophanies".

Answer 4

"Divine" is "of or pertaining to gods or a god". So "a series of divine visits" would be a series of visits by a god. Which god might be implicit in the context. If you made clear that the context as being Christianity for instance then it would be clear that the god in question is Yahweh.

If you want a word that specifies a particular god distinct from any others as clearly as possible, then use the god's name in possessive form. "a series of Yahweh's visits" for instance would make it clear that the visits were by Yahweh rather than Ahura Mazda or Eris. I don't know if Yahweh worshippers consider "God" capitalized like that to be a name, but if not, you could use it the same way "a series of God's visits". A name in possession form is as much a word as any other word, and has the meaning of "belonging to or otherwise associated with [whatever the named thing is]"

Answer 5

Since you are asking about a term with a scientific orientation, you might consider supernatural.

of or relating to things that cannot be explained according to natural laws

This would indicate that the activities being discussed are outside the realm of scientific study (except perhaps the study of the individuals reporting the incidents). The term divine offered by others is a good choice, but suggests some level of acceptance of the power of a godlike being, which may not fit with the scientific approach to the study.

If however, the term is merely intended to reflect the views of some participant in the activity being characterized, then divine may be fine, as in

The scientists measured the level of euphoria in the devoted who reported what they considered to be divine visits.

Answer 6

Numinous, which means

having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity

This term was used by philosophy and religious studies professors when I was in college.

Answer 7

Though divine fills in your particular blank perfectly, here are a few other words that can be useful in this context:

immanent
adj
1. existing, operating, or remaining within; inherent
2. (Christianity / Ecclesiastical Terms) of or relating to the pantheistic conception of God, as being present throughout the universe Compare transcendent

celestial
adj.
1. Of or relating to the sky or the heavens: Planets are celestial bodies.
2. Of or relating to heaven; divine: celestial beings.
3. Supremely good; sublime: celestial happiness.
4. Celestial Of or relating to the Chinese people or to the former Chinese Empire.

supernal
adj.
1. Celestial; heavenly.
2. Of, coming from, or being in the sky or high above.

numinous
1. Of or relating to a numen; supernatural.
2. Filled with or characterized by a sense of a supernatural presence: a numinous place.
3. Spiritually elevated; sublime.

Answer 8

It depends on the denomination that you're referring to and the target demographic of your writing but typically in my experience people of a Christian background break things up into the "worldly" and the "spiritual"

So, you could say - ""a series of spiritual visits,".

Answer 9

Holy is the word you are looking for. Leviticus 11:44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

Answer 10

Let me begin by saying that 'theistic' does not imply the existence of a single deity only, that would be 'monotheistic'.

This brings me to the point that the best answer to your question depends on the God you're trying to explain. Are you looking for a term which encompasses all deities, or a particular deity; are you trying to include non-personified deities, or non-deific spiritual constructions too?

If you want to be inclusive, I'd opt for words like spiritual, which is nicely open-ended; Godly, which is a little awkward because of its use as an adjective for piety or devotion; or Divine.

"A series of deific visits" is good middle-ground... It doesn't specify a deity, but to go into any more detail would require tacking on ugly words like Judeo-Christean or Abrahamic before your adjective. I suppose you could take the slightly more specific wording, and call them "monotheistic visits", but that is awkward and only serves to draw attention to the fact that you're lacking a word to describe the particular deity.

If we were being poetical, rather than scientific with our naming, we could allude to a deity through that deities characteristics ie: 'a series of omniscient visits', but that implies that omniscience is part of the visits themselves (demonstrated through the occurrence of these visits, etc). This could perhaps work better with a word like transcendence; if the visits were perceived to have occurred outside of the realms of space and time. This also works for terms like celestial.

A third option (and probably the best) is to avoid the question entirely and simply specify your deity by re-ordering your sentence as "in a series of visits from ____".

Answer 11

How about deistic? Pertaining to god(s)?

Answer 12

The problem is that you're asking for a "scientifically precise word" relating to God. I doubt you'll find one.

Maybe "divine" might fit, but that word supposes the existence of a wide variety of gods.

More than that, there have been no God-visits since the Old Testament. (Jesus' arrival wasn't a "visit", as that implies a short stay.)

"Theistic", according to one dictionary, "adj., relating to theism or a person who believes in the doctrine of theism", so "theistic visit" wouldn't make sense.

Answer 13

To throw some more in the mix: You say you want something scientific . . .

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.

^ From Wikipedia

I thought of Ontology or Ontological from an example: the mathematician Godel published an "Ontological" argument which, to him, is a "proof" of the existence of "God", i.e. some supernatural property attached to everything. The proof.

Though the phrase "a series of ontological visits" doesn't really make sense, any ontological discussion surely is of a divine topic -- of concerning the existence and/or meaning of reality and/or our interaction with it.