Quotes from the Wikipedia Article, “God (word)”
“The English word god comes from the Old English god, which itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđán. Its cognates in other Germanic languages include guþ, gudis (both Gothic), guð (Old Norse), god (Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old Dutch), and got (Old High German)…
“The Proto-Germanic meaning of *ǥuđán [is] thought [to] derive from the root ǵʰeu̯- “to pour”…
“Godan was shortened to God over time and was adopted/retained by the Germanic peoples of the British Isles as the name of their deity, in lieu of the Latin word Deus used by the Latin-speaking Christian church, after conversion to Christianity…
“God entered English when the language still had a system of grammatical gender. The word and its cognates were initially neuter but underwent transition when their speakers converted to Christianity, “as a means of distinguishing the personal God of the Christians from the impersonal divine powers acknowledged by pagans.” However, traces of the neuter endured.”
“The Buddha explicitly rejected the idea of a singular, omnipotent creator. Instead, Buddhism teaches that the universe functions through natural laws such as karma and dependent origination, with no need for a divine overseer.”
— Wikipedia
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In the art of the Western Renaissance, God is often depicted as a muscular, wise, and caring gray-haired man. A classic example is Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling portrait of God reaching out to give the spark of life to Adam.
Black Elk, a Medicine Man of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation, might think of God as “Grandfather Spirit.”
Traditional Christians might think of God as “The Word,” “The Ultimate Truth,” or the “Holy Spirit” (Logos) aspect of the Trinity. And in the early Middle Ages, Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother, was elevated to high sainthood and represents the feminine aspect of godliness for Christians.
“Logos” is a Greek word, meaning pattern, order, logic, and reason. St. Paul translates “Logos” to “The Word,” and he writes, “In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God,” which connects Judaism and Christianity to Greek philosophy.
In Taoism, God is not seen as a person. Instead, the word Tao is the creative force, the creative flow of the universe, or simply, “The Way.” The Tao cannot be depicted or described.
In Hinduism, there are hundreds of Gods and Goddesses. But really, they are all aspects or faces of Brahman — the Godhead, or Ultimate Consciousness, or True Reality. Brahman is the supreme cause and sustenance of the universe, eternal and all-pervading.
According to the Ancient Greek Stoics, the Universe consists of passive matter and an “intelligent ether or primordial fire,” which can be called Fate or Universal Reason (Logos), which acts on the passive matter. Logos is the Active Reason (“anima mundi”) that pervades and animates the entire Universe. Humans, too, each possess a portion of the divine Logos, which is the primordial fire and reason that controls and sustains the Universe.
In the modern West, theologians and Secular-Spiritualists have argued that “God” is Ultimate Mind, Intelligence, the Ground of All Being, the Whole of All Wholes, the Process of all Processes, the Creative Force of the Universe, and Nature’s Continuing Creation. Almost none of them argue that God is a supernatural person.
— J.X. Mason