Editing Incarnation (section)

==Abrahamic religions==
{{main|God in Abrahamic religions}}

===Christianity===
[[File:Meister von Daphni 002.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Christ Pantocrator]], God incarnate in the [[Christianity|Christian faith]], shown in a mosaic from [[Daphni Monastery|Daphni]], [[Greece]], ca. 1080–1100.]]
{{main|Incarnation (Christianity)|}}
The incarnation of [[Christ]] (or Incarnation) is the central Christian doctrine that God became flesh, assumed of human nature, and became a man in the form of [[Jesus]], the [[Son of God]] and the second person of the [[Trinity]]. This foundational Christian position holds that the divine nature of the Son of God was perfectly united with human nature in one divine Person, [[Jesus]], making him both truly God and truly human. The theological term for this is [[hypostatic union]]: the second person of the Trinity, [[God the Son]], became flesh when he was miraculously conceived in the womb of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/284611/Incarnation|title=Incarnation|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Biblical passages traditionally referenced in connection with the doctrine of the Incarnation include {{Bibleverse|John|3:1-21}}, {{bibleverse||Colossians|2:9}}, and {{Bibleverse|Philippians|2:7-8}}.

===Druze faith===
{{See also|Druze#Beliefs}}
[[Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad]] is considered the founder of the [[Druze faith]] and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts,<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hendrix |editor1-first=Scott |editor2-last=Okeja |editor2-first=Uchenna |title=The World's Greatest Religious Leaders: How Religious Figures Helped Shape World History [2 volumes] |date=2018 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1440841385 |page=11}}</ref> he proclaimed that God had become human and taken the form of man, [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]].<ref name="Aga">{{cite book|title=The Aga Khans|author=Willi Frischauer|year=1970|publisher=Bodley Head|page=?}} (''Which page?'')</ref><ref name="Poonawala">{{cite journal|title=Review - The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning|author=Ismail K. Poonawala|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=119|issue=3|page=542|doi=10.2307/605981|jstor=605981}}</ref><ref>Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-expression - Page 95 by Mordechai Nisan</ref><ref>The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status - Page 41 by Nissim Dana</ref><ref>Encyclopaedic Survey of Islamic Culture - Page 94 by Mohamed Taher</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Bryer | first = David R. W. | title = The Origins of the Druze Religion | journal = [[Der Islam]] | year = 1975 | volume = 52 | issue = 1 | pages = 52–65 | doi = 10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 | s2cid = 201807131 | url = https://doi.org/10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 | issn = 1613-0928 | ref = {{harvid|Bryer|1975a}} | url-access = subscription }}</ref> [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]] is an important figure in the [[Druze]] faith whose eponymous founder [[ad-Darazi]] proclaimed him as the incarnation of God in 1018.<ref name="Aga"/><ref name="Poonawala"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|last1=Zaman|first1=Muhammad Qasim |last2=Stewart|first2=Devin J. |last3=Mirza|first3=Mahan |last4=Kadi|first4=Wadad|last5=Crone|first5=Patricia |last6=Gerhard |first6=Bowering|last7= Hefner|first7=Robert W.|last8= Fahmy|first8=Khaled|last9=Kuran|first9=Timur |year= 2013| isbn=9780691134840| pages =139–140|publisher=Princeton University Press|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Origins of the Druze Religion: An Edition of Ḥamza's Writings and an Analysis of His Doctrine|first=David |last=R. W. Bryer|year= 1979| isbn= 9780030525964| page =239|publisher=University of Oxford Press|quote=}}</ref>

Historian David R. W. Bryer defines the Druzes as ''[[ghulat]]'' of Isma'ilism, since they exaggerated the cult of the caliph [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]] and considered him divine; he also defines the Druzes as a religion that deviated from Islam.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bryer |first=David R. W. |title=The Origins of the Druze Religion |journal=[[Der Islam]] |year=1975 |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=52–65 |doi=10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 |s2cid=201807131 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 |issn=1613-0928 |ref={{harvid|Bryer|1975a}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref> He also added that as a result of this deviation, the Druze faith "seems as different from Islam as Islam is from Christianity or Christianity is from Judaism".<ref>{{cite journal | last = Bryer | first = David R. W. | title = The Origins of the Druze Religion (Fortsetzung) | journal = [[Der Islam]] | year = 1975 | volume = 52 | issue = 2 | pages = 239–262 | doi = 10.1515/islm.1975.52.2.239 | s2cid = 162363556 | url = https://doi.org/10.1515/islm.1975.52.2.239 | issn = 1613-0928 | ref = {{harvid|Bryer|1975b}} | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

Some scholars believe [[Christianity and Druze|Christian elements]] are deeply embedded in Druze beliefs, introduced through [[Isma'ilism|Isma’ili traditions]]. This is evident in the Druze creed, which deifies al-Hākim bi Amrillāh.<ref name="Mahmut 2023">{{cite journal |last1=Mahmut|first1=R. İbrahim|title=The Christian Influences in Ismaili Thought|journal=The Journal of Iranian Studies|date=2023|volume=7|issue=1|pages=83–99|doi=10.33201/iranian.1199758|doi-access=free}}</ref> The initiation text, "Mīthāq Walī al-Zamān" (Pact of Time Custodian), which begins with, “I rely on our Moula Al-Hakim the lonely God, the individual, the eternal,... Obedience of almighty Moulana Al-Hākim, exalted be him and that obedience is worship and that he does not have any partners ever, present or coming”,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hanna Batatu|title=Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics|date=17 September 2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4584-2|pages=15–16}}</ref> closely resembles Christian beliefs about [[Christology|Jesus' divinity]].<ref name="Mahmut 2023"/> The Druze also view figures like [[Jesus]], al-Hākim bi Amrillāh, and [[Hamza ibn Ali]] as the [[Messiah]] or [[Mahdi]]. They believe al-Hākim will return at the end of times to judge the world and establish his kingdom, while Hamza ibn Ali is considered a [[reincarnation]] of Jesus, the Universal Mind ''[['Aql]]'', closely associated with al-Hākim.<ref name="Mahmut 2023"/>

===Islam===
{{See also|Allah|God in Islam|Kalam|Tawhid|Tanzih}}
[[Islam]] completely rejects the doctrine of the incarnation (Mu'jassimā<ref>[[Muhammad Abu Zahra]], ''İslâm’da Siyâsî ve İ’tikadî Mezhepler Tarihi, [[History]] of [[Madhhab]]s in [[Islam]],'' pp: 257 - 259, [[:tr:Ethem Ruhi Fığlalı|Fığlalı, Ethem Ruhi]] and Osman Eskicioğlu translation to Turkish, Yağmur, İstanbul, 1970.</ref> / ''(Tajseem)'' Tajsīm) of God in any form, as the concept is defined as ''[[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]]''. In Islam, God is one and "neither begets nor is begotten".<ref>Quran, (112:1-4).</ref>

===Judaism===
{{main|God in Judaism}}
{{see also|Chabad-Lubavitch related controversies}}
According to many modern scholars, the [[Hebrew Bible|Biblical]] and [[Talmud]]ic view of God was anthropomorphic. God could sometimes appear in bodily form.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brand |first1=Ezra |title=Some Notes on the Anthropomorphization of God in the Talmud |url=https://www.ezrabrand.com/p/some-notes-on-anthropomorphization}}</ref> The [[Babylonian Talmud]] contains stories of earthly appearances of God, [[Elijah]], [[Satan]], and [[demon]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brand |first1=Ezra |title="He appeared to him as a [X]": Talmudic Stories of Incarnations of God, Eliyahu, Satan, and Demons |url=https://www.ezrabrand.com/p/he-appeared-to-him-as-a-x-talmudic |website=www.ezrabrand.com/ |access-date=10 January 2024}}</ref>

Since the time of [[Maimonides]], mainstream [[Judaism]] has mostly rejected any possibility of an incarnation of God in any form.<ref>L. Jacobs 1973 ''A Jewish Theology'' p. 24.  N.Y.: Berman House</ref>

However, some modern-day [[Hasidism|Hasidim]] believe in a somewhat similar concept. [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], a prominent [[Hasidism|Hasidic]] leader, said that the ''[[Rebbe]]'' is God's essence itself put into the body of a ''[[tzadik]]''.<ref>''Likkutei Sichos'', Vol. 2, pp. 510-511.</ref>

===Rastafari===
{{further|Rastafari}}
Rastas refer to God as Jah, a shortened name for God used in English translations of the Bible.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barrett |first=Leonard E. |title=The Rastafarians |date=2018 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-1039-6 |edition=Reprint |location=Boston, MaA |page=83}}</ref> Rastafari emphasises the [[immanence]] of Jah,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chevannes |first=Barry |date=1990-01-01 |title=Rastafari: towards a new approach |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nwig/64/3-4/article-p127_3.xml |journal=New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids |volume=64 |issue=3–4 |pages=127–148 (135) |doi=10.1163/13822373-90002020 |issn=1382-2373|doi-access=free }}</ref> who partially resides within every person,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fernández Olmos |first1=Margarite |title=Creole religions of the Caribbean: an introduction from Vodou and Santería to Obeah and Espiritismo |last2=Paravisini-Gebert |first2=Lizabeth |date=2011 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-6228-8 |edition=2nd |series=Religion, race, and ethnicity |location=New York |page=196}}</ref> in a manner similar to the Hindu concept of [[Brahman]].<ref name="Edmonds 2012" />{{rp|p=45}} The unity of divinity and humanity is often reflected in the saying "I and I", and the aphorism "God is man and man is God".<ref name="Edmonds 2012">{{Cite book |last=Edmonds |first=Ennis Barrington |title=Rastafari: a very short introduction |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-958452-9 |edition=1st |series=Very short introductions |location=Oxford}}</ref>{{rp|p=36}} Rastafari practices known as [[Livity (spiritual concept)|livity]], influenced by the [[Nazirite]] vow, are seen as a way to embrace this inner divinity.<ref name="Edmonds 2012" />{{rp|pp=43}}

[[Haile Selassie]] I, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, is traditionally seen by Rastas as the [[Second Coming]] of [[Jesus]] or Jah incarnate, and is sometimes referred to as "the living God".<ref name="Bedasse 2010">{{Cite journal |last=Bedasse |first=Monique |date=2010 |title=Rasta Evolution: The Theology of the Twelve Tribes of Israel |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021934708320135 |journal=Journal of Black Studies |language=en |volume=40 |issue=5 |pages=960–973 (961–8) |doi=10.1177/0021934708320135 |issn=0021-9347|url-access=subscription }}</ref> To others, he is a human who embodies the teachings of Christ, or a distinct human prophet who symbolises the divinity within humankind.<ref name="Edmonds 2012" />{{rp|pp=32–33}}<ref name="Bedasse 2010" /> Leonard Barrett has argued that many Rastas believe in a form of reincarnation, where Moses, Elijah, Jesus and then Haile Selassie are [[avatar]]s of Jah.<ref>Barrett, Leonard E. (2018). ''The Rastafarians'' (Reprint&nbsp;ed.). Boston, MaA: Beacon Press. p.&nbsp;112. {{ISBN|978-0-8070-1039-6}}.</ref> R. Matthew Charet has argued that ''Christ'' is a title for Rastas much as ''[[Buddha]]'' is for Buddhists, and that Christ's divine connection is not unique to Jesus but may be attained by all humans through a "discovery of the Christ-consciousness in us all".<ref name="Charet 1999">Charet, R. Matthew. "Jesus was a Dreadlocks: Rastafarian Images of Divinity." ''Sydney Studies in Religion'' (1999). p.126.</ref>