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Concept
Deus otiosus
Summary
In the history of religion and philosophy, deus otiosus (Latin: "inactive god") is the belief in a creator God who has entirely withdrawn from governing the universe after creating it or is no longer involved in its daily operation. It is a central tenet of Deism.
In the Sumerian creation myth, the younger gods Enlil and Enki replace the deus otiosus Anu.
In Greek mythology, the older gods like Uranus and Gaia make way for Cronos and Rhea who in turn are succeeded by the Olympians Zeus and Hera and company.
In Baltic mythology, the primordial supreme god Dievas most probably was a deus otiosus.
In Christian theology, Protestant reformer Martin Luther used the notion of deus absconditus (Latin: "hidden god") in order to explain the mystery and remoteness of God.
God in Hinduism
In the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism as well as in the other ancient Indian schools of philosophy, early philosophical and cosmological theories were predominantly atheistic or non-theistic, which postulated that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to paramāṇu (atoms) of substances whose aggregations, combinations, and interactions explained the nature of the universe. In the 1st millennium CE, the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika school added the concept of Ishvara to its atomistic naturalism. These later Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika atomists retained their belief that substances are eternal, but included the belief in the existence of an Ishvara, which is regarded as the eternal Supreme Being who is also omniscient and omnipresent.
Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika atomists held that the world was created when order was imposed on pre-existing matter: the motion of atoms was ascribed to the agency of a Supreme Being, which did not create the universe out of nothing according to the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika school. In the 11th century CE, the organization of atoms was cited as a proof for the existence of God by some Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika atomists.
Official source
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