The Energy God and Other Alternatives to the Theistic View of God and Spirituality

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to invite you submit an original research article to this Special Issue. The aim of this Special Edition is to collate articles that share an alternate theology and/or practice compared to Theism, highlighting ‘minority theology/practice’ among diverse religious traditions. Submissions will be refereed and published upon final acceptance.

Authors are invited to focus on the alternate theology arising in a particular tradition, on the practices based on a conception of God as an unseen energy, or both. Potential contributors are encouraged to contact the editor early in the process. Submissions may be written singly or in collaboration with other authors.

While most believers practicing traditional religions adhere to the theistic conception of a theistic, ‘person-like’ deity or deities, there is often an alternative theology which does not imagine God as a person-like being, but rather as an energy, or energies, underlying all existence.

This perspective informs religious practices that reject or downplay traditional worship services, which provide praise and other offerings to the deity, in favor of more spiritual or mystical ways of deepening one’s relation to a divine energy. Examples include, but are not limited to, early philosophical Daoism, early Buddhism, various forms of Greek mystery religions, Sufism, Gnostic Christianity, some traditional African spiritualities, Kabbalah, Christian mysticism with its view the Ground of Being, the Pre-Socratics’ First Principle, and Nirguna Brahman forms of Hinduism.

The aim of this Special Edition is to collate articles that share an alternate theology and/or practice compared to Theism, highlighting ‘minority theology/practice’ among diverse religious traditions. Articles must fit the overall theme but may discuss any place or time period. 

Articles will normally be in the range of 5000 to 20,000 words.

The deadline for submitting articles for this special edition is 31 August 2024. Articles submitted and accepted before that will appear upon final acceptance, even if that is well before the deadline.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Roy C. Amore
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• mysticism
• spirituality
• dao
• ground of being
• brahman
• kabbalah
• sufism
• nirvana
• panentheism