Godhead is a Middle English variant of the word godhood, and denotes the Divine Nature or Substance of the Christian God, or the Trinity. Within some traditions such as Mormonism, the term is used as a nontrinitarian substitute for the term Trinity, denoting the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit not as a Trinity, but as a unified council of separate beings.
Contents |
The ending "-head", is not connected with the word "head". John Wycliffe introduced the term godhede into English Bible versions in two places, and, though somewhat archaic, the term survives in modern English because of its use in three places of the Tyndale New Testament (1525) and into the Authorized King James Version of the Bible (1611). In that translation, the word was used to translate three different Greek words:
| Verse | Greek | Romanization | Type | Translation | Reference | Vulgate 405 | Wycliffe 1395 | Tyndale 1525 | ESV 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 17:29 | θεῖον | theion | adjective | "divinity, deity" | [1] | divinum (adjective) | that godli thing | godhed | the divine being |
| Romans 1:20 | θειότης | theiotēs | noun | "divinity, divine nature" | [2] | divinitas | godhed | godhed | divine nature |
| Colossians 2:9 | θεότης | theotēs | noun | "deity" | [3] | divinitas | the Godhed | the godheed | deity |
In the later Neoplatonic mystical tradition (in Pseudo-Dionysius, for example), the term θεαρχία thearchia is used.[4]