Deus Otiosus

Throughout African and Aboriginal traditions, tribes acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Deity; but the given deity is absent from religious life. Typically, little can be known about the being, the mythos is limited and, generally, pure.

God is believed to have invented the universe and life, but soon abandoned and withdrew from the world where creation exists. Some tribes think that the Supreme Being never completed Creation and left it to another Divine Entity, its' subordinates or representative, to secure the task.





In totality, such a Supreme Being is known as Deus Otiosus.

One example would be Temáukel of the Seik'nam of Tierra del Fuego, also called one who "inhabits the sky" is an eternal, omniscient, omnipotent being, but its Creation was completed by a mystical Ancestor, who was also created by Temáukel who then retired to a place beyond the stars.

The Haush people believe that God lives apart from humanity, indifferent to what goes on in the world. Many African traditions believe that the Supreme Being has no image and no priests or holy men. They only revered and prayed to the Supreme Being in times of severe sickness, and offerings were sometimes made during stormy weather.

Another example is the Yorubas of West Africa. They believe in the Sky God called Olorum ["Lit, "Owner of the Sky"] who, after beginning the Creation of the world, left it to a lesser god, Obatala, to complete and govern the world. Olorum withdrew once and for all from humanity and the universe; and neither temples nor statues nor priests exist for the Supreme God who became Deus Otiosus.