demiurge
/ˈdiːmɪəːdʒ
/ /ˈdɛmɪəːdʒ/noun
1A being responsible for the creation of the universe, in particular:
1.1(In Platonic philosophy) the Maker or Creator of the world.Interwoven with these references to an almost Platonic demiurge are appeals to the selecting power of an active ‘Nature’....
- A certain mystique attached to the word as a result of analogies often drawn between the creative activity of the artist and the creation of the world by the deity or by a Platonic demiurge in accordance with Ideas or prototypes.
- Western concepts of God have ranged from the detached transcendent demiurge of Aristotle to the pantheism of Spinoza.
1.2(In Gnosticism and other theological systems) a heavenly being, subordinate to the Supreme Being, that is considered to be the controller of the material world and antagonistic to all that is purely spiritual.The Gnostics thought that the God worshiped by most Christians was a demiurge or usurper....
- Call it the demiurge cycle, after the Gnostic notion that our world is governed by a mad ersatz God.
- Gnostic teaching distinguished between a perfect and remote divine being and an imperfect demiurge who had created suffering.
Derivatives
demiurgic
- He is here just a trace-copyist, a technician without a smudge of demiurgic imagination.
- Man is occasionally represented as having been framed out of a piece of the body of the Creator, or made by some demiurgic potter out of clay.
- Pluto is an intellectual demiurgic god, who frees souls from generation.
demiurgical
- Barney's demiurgical universe of the nearly normal and utterly bizarre makes viewers anxious for more.
- But the tree of life becomes a vehicle of bondage and dependence established by the demiurgical realm.
- It is easy to be impressed with our demiurgical abilities and to believe we can mold digital technology however we desire.
Origin
Early 17th century (denoting a magistrate in certain ancient Greek states): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek dēmiourgos 'craftsman', from dēmios 'public' (from dēmos 'people') + -ergos 'working'.