Distinct character's island god embracing holy work (8)
I believe the answer is:
identity
'distinct character's' is the definition.
'identity' can be an answer for 'character's' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'distinct' bit.
'island god embracing holy work' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'island' could be 'i' (geographical abbreviation) and 'i' is found in the answer.
'god' could be 'd' (abbreviation in various Latin phrases) and 'd' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'entity' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for identity that I've seen before include "One's sometimes mistaken" , "Individuality providing recognition" , "Sameness - individuality" , "The question of who one is" , "equation" .)