God, From Concept to Models (On the distinction between the Concept, Conceptions and Images of God and the methodological Functions of Models)

The Starting point in this article is the distinction among three main terms “Concept of God”, “Conception of God” and “Image of God” that most of researches have not paid attention to it. In addition to semantic difference, each of these phrases belongs to an aspect of “God in our mind” differs from others; however, considering to this point could be so productive in a systematic research. There is only one “concept of God” that everybody conceives it in different ways; however “Conception of God” is a comprehensive phrase which includes all kinds of perceptions, without any limitation. Whenever we employ the phrase “image of God” implies imaginative elements such as metaphors, symbols and so on. In a systematic imaginative thought, some metaphors convert to the models that have allegorical relation to the concept of God, but they suggest new ways of understanding and conceiving God. Models of God could be evaluated according to pragmatism and coherentism, but not depending on objectivism.