The phrase personal God is religious term used far more often by laypeople than by theologians due to its numerous connotations. Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ...

Definitions

The broadest definition of this term is a God who is a person, i.e. a being with a personality, including the capacity to reason and feel love. Alternately, God may be a group of persons, in the case of the Christian belief in the Trinity. This view is intended to challenge the concept of a deity who is merely a guiding principle, a blind creative force or a philosophical ideal. The term God is ordinarily used to designate a singular, universal Supreme Being. ... The term Christian means belonging to Christ and is derived from the Greek noun Χριστός Khristós which means anointed one, which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach (Hebrew: משיח, also written Messiah), (and in Arabic it is pronounced Maseeh مسيح). ... This article concerns the Holy Trinity of Christianity and related religious denominations. ...

A narrower interpretation of a personal God is a deity who takes a personal interest in the world in general and worshippers in particular. This view is intended to challenge a deistic outlook. Deism is belief in a God or first cause based on reason and experience rather than on faith or revelation, and thus a form of theism in opposition to fideism. ...

A still narrower definition would be a God whose personal interest in His worshippers is so great that the deity communicates directly with them and actively intervenes in their lives through miracles. According to many religions, a miracle is an intervention by God in the universe. ...

The most restrictive interpretation of a personal God is a deity that is solely concerned with his worshippers, having pity at best and animosity at worst towards non-believers. Jehovah, the jealous God of the Torah, was the personal God of the Jews. Most modern denominations believe that they have the clearest understanding of what God wants, but some modern fundamentalists suggest that those who are not members of their church will experience damnation. You might find the information you seek in any of the following pages: Tetragrammaton, a page about the history, religious significance and possible pronunciations (Jehovah, Yahweh) of the explicit name of God in Judaism and Christianity; The names of God in Judaism, a more general page discussing various names of... Torah, (תורה) is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or especially Law. ... Fundamentalism is a movement to maintain strict adherence to founding principles. ... A church building is a building used in Christian worship. ... In Western Christian traditions, damnation to hell is the punishment of the Christian God for persons with unredeemed sin. ...

Past and Present Views

In medieval theology, God was frequently envisioned as behaving like a king, haughty and unconcerned with the fate of his vassals. Puritan theologians sometimes depicted God as a minister, openly disgusted with the sinfulness of his creations. By the twentieth century, however, most Modernist Christian denominations, shaped by Christian humanism, advocated belief in a personal God according to the second or third defintion, depicting Him as loving and caring. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... For the head of state, see Monarch. ... The Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. ... Modernism, modernist Christianity, and liberalism are labels applied to proponents of a school of Christian thought which rose as a direct challenge to more conservative traditional Christian orthodoxy. ... Christian humanism, as a philosophical tendency that has been traced back to the 12th century at least, is grounded in the mystery of God as present in history as a human being, Jesus, and secondly, on several teachings of Jesus, as found in the New Testament. ...

Some critics have derided this phenomenon as pandering to an increasingly choosy and self-interested market; worshippers who don't feel God loves them back will look elsewhere for what the rock band Depeche Mode cynically referred to as a "Personal Jesus." The bandmembers of Depeche Mode circa 1993. ...