Like all religions, Odinani is the vehicle used by its practitioners to understand their World ( called " Uwa "), or more specifically, the part of the World that affects them — which is to say the dry Land on which the Igbo live and gather sustenance — and it is from this that the belief acquires its names: " Ọ di " () + n '( na-) + " Ani " ( or the Earth goddess ) in the Northern Igbo dialects and also " O me " () + n '( na-) + " Ala " ( or the physical manifestation of the Earth goddess as dry land ) as used primarily in the Southern Igbo dialects.

Thus, Odinani rarely deals directly with the force that is Chukwu.

In Odinani, it is believed that the dead ancestors are invisible members of the community ; their role in the community, in conjunction with Ala, is to protect the community from epidemics and strife such as famine and small pox.

Ala ( also known as Ani, Ana, Ale, and Ali in varying Igbo dialects ) is the female Alusi ( deity ) of the earth, morality, fertility and creativity in Odinani.

Although a semi-pantheon exists in the belief system, as it does in many indigenous African and Eastern religions, the lesser deities prevalent in Odinani expressly serve as elements of Chukwu the central deity.

Many other spirits and forces also exist in Odinani belief and folklore.

There are lesser deities in Odinani, each of whom are responsible for a specific aspect of nature or abstract concept.

In Odinani, Ala rules over the underworld which holds the deceased ancestors in her womb.

Christianity and Odinani.

In the panentheistic model of process philosophy and theology the writers Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne rejected that the universe was made of substance, instead reality is composed of living experiences ( occasions of experience ).

In the 1960s, theologian Charles Hartshorne scrupulously examined and rejected both deism and pandeism ( as well as pantheism ) in favor of a conception of God whose characteristics included " absolute perfection in some respects, relative perfection in all others " or " AR ", writing that this theory " is able consistently to embrace all that is positive in either deism or pandeism ", concluding that " panentheistic doctrine contains all of deism and pandeism except their arbitrary negations ".

Neoplatonism is polytheistic and panentheistic.

Earliest reference to panentheistic thought in Hindu philosophy is in a creation myth contained in the later section of Rig Veda called the Purusha Sukta, which was compiled before 1100 BCE.

The relationship between Brahman and the creation is often thought to be panentheistic.

Many schools of Hindu thought espouse monistic theism, which is thought to be similar to a panentheistic viewpoint.

Caitanya's Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which elucidates the doctrine of Acintya Bheda Abheda ( inconceivable oneness and difference ), is also thought to be panentheistic.

While mainstream Rabbinic Judaism is classically monotheistic and follows in the footsteps of the Aristotelian theologian Maimonides, the panentheistic conception of God can be found in certain Jewish mystical currents.

There is some debate as to whether Lurianic Kabbalah, with its doctrine of Tzimtzum, can be regarded as panentheistic.

Ọdịnala is a panentheistic faith, having a strong central deity at its head.

The foundation-stone of Hasidism as laid by Besht is a strongly marked panentheistic conception of God.

It is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane.

Creation is panentheistic ( taking place fully " within God "), and acosmic ( Illusionary ) from the Divine perspective.

It is a syncretic, henotheistic and panentheistic religion, which worships God under the name of Tenchi Kane No Kami, the Golden God of Heaven and Earth.

Old Man is not an anthropomorphic and anthropopathic god like Jesus, nor a panentheistic deity as in Brahmanism out of which the whole fabric of existence is derived.

I must confess that I prefer the Liberal who is personally affected, who is willing to send his own children to a mixed school as proof of his faith.

not only loathing of captivity, but a faith, a hope that is even stronger.

One who invites such trials of character is either foolhardy, overconfident or too simple and childlike in faith in mankind to see the danger.

When their faith in civil liberties is tested against strong pressures of social expediency in specific issues, e.g., suppression of `` dangerous ideas '', many waver and give in.

Considering then the optimism which has permeated science fiction for so long, what is really remarkable is that during the last twelve years many science-fiction writers have turned about and attacked their own cherished vision of the future, have attacked the Childhood's End kind of faith that science and technology will inevitably better the human condition.

Independence Day is the appropriate date as a symbolical reminder of the American article of faith that governments are instituted among men to secure to them certain inalienable rights, the first of which is life, and when any government becomes subversive of that end, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

Nonetheless, although few in number they are a stubborn crew, as tenacious of life as the Hardshell Baptists, which suggests that there is some kind of vital principle embodied in their faith.

In any event, the yearly sacrifice of 40,000 victims is a hecatomb too large to be justified by the most ardent faith.

He says that if he were to express to you, once again, his own profound determination to go to the Mainland, and his faith that that return is feasible, he would merely sound redundant.

When the budget goes to trustees for approval it is the president's budget, to which his faith and credit are committed ; ;

The feeling of individual inferiority, defeat, or humilation growing out of various social situations or individual deficiencies or failures is compensated for by communion in worship or prayer with a friendly, but all-victorious Father-God, as well as by sympathetic fellowship with others who share this faith, and by opportunities in religious acts for giving vent to emotions and energies.

The reaffirmation of American faith in the comprehensive high school, as expressed in the Conant study, is another indication of the liveliness of the ideal of maximizing opportunity through the equalizing of educational opportunity.

As Simmel ( 1908 ) and Dilthey ( 1922 ) indicated, questions of whether the value of life is individual or social are not questions, but assertions of faith made to appear as legitimate questions.

Religious faith can be considered a necessary condition of membership in a congregation, since the decision to join a worshiping group requires some motive force, but faith is not a sufficient condition for joining ; ;

If the content of faith is to be presented today in a form that can be `` understanded of the people '' -- and this, it must not be forgotten, is one of the goals of the perennial theological task -- there is no other choice but to abandon completely a mythological manner of representation.

The statement is often made that when Bultmann argues in this way, he `` overestimates the intellectual stumbling-block which myth is supposed to put in the way of accepting the Christian faith ''.

'' A hymn often to be heard in Catholic churches is `` Faith Of Our Fathers '', which glories in England's ancient faith that endured persecution, and which proclaims: `` Faith of our Fathers: Mary's prayers Shall win our country back to thee ''.