"Divine" redirects here. For other uses, see Divine (disambiguation) or Divinity (disambiguation)In
religious terms,
divinity is the state of things that come from a
supernatural power or
deity, such as a
god, or
spirit beings, and are therefore regarded as
sacred and
holy.
Such things are regarded as "divine" due to their
transcendental origins, and/or because their attributes or qualities are superior or supreme relative to things of the
Earth. Divine things are regarded as
eternal and based in
truth, while material things are regarded as
ephemeral and based in
illusion. Such things that may qualify as "divine" are
apparitions,
visions,
prophecies,
miracles, and in some views also the
soul, or more general things like
resurrection,
immortality,
grace, and
salvation. Otherwise what is or is not divine may be loosely defined, as it is used by different
belief systems.
The root of the word "divine" is literally "godlike" (from the Latin
deus, cf.
Dyaus, closely related to Greek
zeus,
div in
Persian and
deva in
Sanskrit), but the use varies significantly depending on which deity is being discussed. This article outlines the major distinctions in the
conventional use of the terms.
For specific related
academic terms, see
Divinity (academic discipline), or
Divine (Anglican).