The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (632 page)

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Authors: John Bowker

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Deus absconditus
(Lat., ‘hidden God’). The apparent absence of God from those who seek him, or from circumstances where the godly are in extreme trouble.
Deus ex machina
(Lat., ‘God out of the machine’). The device in classical theatre of bringing God on to the stage and into the action to resolve a problem in the plot; hence the introduction of an artificial solution to a problem.
Deus otiosus
(Lat., ‘inactive God’). God understood as removed or detached from activity in relation to humans or the created order.
Deus sive Natura
(God or Nature)
:
Deuterocanonical books
.
Biblical books belonging to a second or secondary
canon
, and specifically the books of the
Apocrypha
, accepted by the RC Church as belonging to the canon of the (Hebrew) Old Testament.
Deutero-Isaiah
(Isaiah 40–55)
:
see
ISAIAH
.
Deuteronomic history
.
The name given by scholars to the theory of history in the biblical books Deuteronomy-2 Kings: obedience to the commands of God leads to success, and disobedience to disaster.

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