In the Platonic, Middle Platonic, Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term "demiurge". Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not the same as the creator figure in the monotheistic sense, because the demiurge itself and the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are both considered to be consequences of something else. Depending on the system, they may be considered to be either uncreated and eternal or the product of some other entity; the word "demiurge" is an English word derived from demiurgus, a Latinised form of the Greek δημιουργός or dēmiurgós. It was a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but came to mean "producer", "creator"; the philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written c. 360 BC, where the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe. The demiurge is described as a creator in the Platonic and Middle Platonic philosophical traditions.

In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school, the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, but is still not itself "the One". In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good. According to some strains of Gnosticism, the demiurge is malevolent, as it is linked to the material world. In others, including the teaching of Valentinus, the demiurge is ignorant or misguided. Plato, as the speaker Timaeus, refers to the Demiurge in the Socratic dialogue Timaeus, c. 360 BC. The main character refers to the Demiurge as the entity who "fashioned and shaped" the material world. Timaeus describes the Demiurge as unreservedly benevolent, so it desires a world as good as possible. Plato's work Timaeus is a philosophical reconciliation of Hesiod's cosmology in his Theogony, syncretically reconciling Hesiod to Homer. In Numenius's Neo-Pythagorean and Middle Platonist cosmogony, the Demiurge is second God as the nous or thought of intelligibles and sensibles.

Plotinus and the Platonists worked to clarify the Demiurge. To Plotinus, the second emanation represents an uncreated second cause. Plotinus sought to reconcile Aristotle's energeia with Plato's Demiurge, which, as Demiurge and mind, is a critical component in the ontological construct of human consciousness used to explain and clarify substance theory within Platonic realism. In order to reconcile Aristotelian with Platonian philosophy, Plotinus metaphorically identified the demiurge within the pantheon of the Greek Gods as Zeus; the first and highest aspect of God is described by Plato as the source, or the Monad. This is the God above the Demiurge, manifests through the actions of the Demiurge; the Monad emanated the demiurge or Nous from its "indeterminate" vitality due to the monad being so abundant that it overflowed back onto itself, causing self-reflection. This self-reflection of the indeterminate vitality was referred to by Plotinus as the "Demiurge" or creator; the second principle is organization in its reflection of the nonsentient force or dynamis called the one or the Monad.

The dyad is energeia emanated by the one, the work, process or activity called nous, mind, consciousness that organizes the indeterminate vitality into the experience called the material world, cosmos. Plotinus elucidates the equation of matter with nothing or non-being in The Enneads which more is to express the concept of idealism or that there is not anything or anywhere outside of the "mind" or nous. Plotinus' form of Platonic idealism is to treat the Demiurge, nous as the contemplative faculty within man which orders the force into conscious reality. In this, he claimed to reveal Plato's true meaning: a doctrine he learned from Platonic tradition that did not appear outside the academy or in Plato's text; this tradition of creator God as nous, can be validated in the works of pre-Plotinus philosophers such as Numenius, as well as a connection between Hebrew and Platonic cosmology. The Demiurge of Neoplatonism is the Nous, is one of the three ordering principles: Arche – the source of all things, Logos – the underlying order, hidden beneath appearances, Harmonia – numerical ratios in mathematics.

Before Numenius of Apamea and Plotinus' Enneads, no Platonic works ontologically clarified the Demiurge from the allegory in Plato's Timaeus. The idea of Demiurge was, addressed before Plotinus in the works of Christian writer Justin Martyr who built his understanding of the Demiurge on the works of Numenius; the Neoplatonist Iamblichus changed the role of the "One" altering the role of the Demiurge as second cause or dyad, one of the reasons that Iamblichus and his teacher Porphyry came into conflict. The figure of the Demiurge emerges in the theoretic of Iamblichus, which conjoins the transcendent, incommunicable “One,” or Source. Here, at the summit of this system, the Source and Demiurge coexist via the process of henosis. Iamblichus describes the One as a monad whose first principle or emanation is intellect, while among "the many" that follow it there is a second, super-existent "One", the producer of intellect or soul; the "One" is further separated into spheres of intelligence.

Christening in Tanum Church is an oil on canvas painting by the Norwegian artist Harriet Backer. The painting was exhibited at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo during 1892. Harriet Backer subsequently exhibited this painting at the Chicago World Exposition in 1893, it is on display at the National Museum of Art and Design. The painting shows a scene at Tanum Church in Baerum. In the background are the open doors. In the doorway stands a group of people about to enter the church; this painting shows a young woman holding a child. In the foreground to the right, a woman sitting on the bench at the back of the church turns to look toward the entrance. Beside her sits another woman in the dark. Harriet Backer studied in Munich in 1874–78. Between 1878 and 1888 she lived in Paris. In 1888 she moved back to Norway to settle at Sandvika in Bærum. There she began to make a series of paintings based upon local themes; this painting is one of a series of paintings. Backer painted another work featuring Tanum Church entitled Entrance Wives.

This painting shows a traditional local custom where mothers were blessed before attending church services after having given birth. It was painted in the same year and is meant to be seen as a pendant of her Christening; the subdued palette emphasizes the difference between the women bowed in front of a clergyman as opposed to the explosion of colors with the focus on life outside the church. Christening in Tanum Church | Harriet Backer Christening in Tanum Church

Thomas John Cardell Martyn was a British flying ace and publisher who founded Newsweek in 1933. Martyn's father was a British soldier. Martyn graduated from Oxford University joined the Royal Air Force, where he served as a squadron commander, he lost a leg during World War I. He was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of his service, he stated in a 1925 Time magazine article about how he and fellow pilots respected and admired the famous German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen. Von Richthofen was well thought of by the British aviators as a clean fighter and a man who did not know what fear was Martyn told a story told to him by one of his fellow British Airmen, as Martyn describes: As an example of Richthofen's fine sportsmanship, Major Patrick told me that he once had a fight with Richthofen and that his ammunition ran out. Richthofen, being in a faster machine, had Patrick at his mercy, but when he knew that Patrick was unable to fire he flew close to him, waved his hand and turned back to his own lines.

Time co-founder Henry Luce hired Martyn as a foreign news editor at Time based on the recommendation of journalist John Franklin Carter. Martyn did not have much journalism experience, but he was fluent in French and German and knowledgeable about European politics. Martyn was the highest-paid staff member at the time. Martyn resigned in 1925 after a dispute over expenses associated with the magazine's temporary move to Cleveland, Ohio. Martyn worked at the New York Times for several years before raising capital to start News-Week, he raised $2.25 million and published the first edition February 17, 1933. After losing money for four years, Martyn declared bankruptcy for the company and sold his interests in the magazine. According to Isaiah Wilner, Martyn separated from his first wife and lived as a houseguest of Time co-founder Briton Hadden. In 1930, Martyn married Helen Cheney, daughter of silk magnate Howell Cheney, whose family helped bankroll Newsweek, they had Howell Cheney Martyn and Laura Martyn Johnson.

Helen died in Hartford, Connecticut in 1958. Martyn remarried and lived with his wife Mary Irmgard Martyn in Agrolândia, where he is buried. History of Newsweek via The Daily Beast Grave of Thomas J. C. Martyn on YouTube