DIETYCONCEPTS OF THE DIVINE & ULTIMATE REALITY

In a two-tiered view of reality; the divine & the profane the immanent & the transcendent the natural & the supernatural

In a unitary reality animism or there is no divinity

(a.k.a dualism)

(a.k.a monism)

POLYTHEISM & THE WORSHIP OF NATURE

Early man

Neanderthal hunters: revered the cave bear (burial chambers & rituals)

Paleolithic: rituals and sacrifices for the success of the hunt (magical)

Neolithic: Farming gods of Sun, Sky and Earth.

Dualism: male sky & female earth . Pleiades of Dodona (ancient Greek hymn): The Earth is our mother, the Sky is our father. The Sky fertilizes the Earth with rain, the Earth produces the grains and grasses.

THE SKY GOD:A PRIMAL MONOTHEISM/HENOTHEISMWilhelm Schmidt, ethnologist, found a sky god or high god almost universally in primal societies in Africa

High god is creator; far away and withdrawn (most of his work is done already)

Lower gods: deal with daily activities (the hunt, fertility etc)

THE ANCIENT POLYTHEISMS Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian

Sky god is creator and also sovereign; guarantees cosmic order.

Varuna is an all-seeing king in the Rg Veda (see p157)

IndoEuropean language group has similar names for the sky god: Persian

SanskritLatin

divdevadeus

Greek Zeus in Homer’s Illiad and Hesiod’s Theogony is a divine king. A pantheon of secondary gods are like the kings court.Different

manifestations of Zeus

Zeus Herkejos:Zeus Polieus:Zeus Katharsios:

household protectorprotects the city-state

purification

THE MOTHER GODDESS

Nearly universal, but especially prevalent in the ancient near east and Mediterranean.

Paleolithic female figurines. Fertility: exaggerated breasts, abdomen, thighs.

Venus of Willendorf

EgyptMesopotamia

Greece

Neolithic (farming) rituals connecting human life cycle with agricultural cycle. Goddess of life, death and rebirth Isis

IshtarDemeter

Isis is mother of Pharaohs.

Ishtar is a prostitute goddess.

Demeter is an earth – harvest goddess.

MOTHER & CHILD IMAGERY Comparisons between images of Isis and her child Horus and Mary and the infant Jesus are commonly made. The mother & child image is an archetype; widespread and emotionally evocative

Hindu: Kali (time) China: Bodhisattva Kuan

Yin R. Catholic: Virgin Mary

FEMALE RELIGIOUS IMAGES

2 SIDES TO THE MOTHER GODDESS

Pregnant …….. virginal.Chaste……..…..promiscuous.Protector……...demanding blood sacrifices.Creates…………..destroys.

DIVERSIFIVATION OF GODS

Local deities seem to be variant forms of universal gods .

Animism: a spirit in every tree, mountain, lake.

or Polytheism: a god of water, war,

love. Greek: Poseidon, Ares,

Aphrodite

THE AXIAL AGE

Karl Jaspers calls the 8th – 2nd century BC

This period sees big new ideas in religion appear independently in different

civilizations in many parts of the world.

Jaspers suggests man’s consciousness reached a new level of moral awareness.

Buddha

Upanishads

ZoroasterHebrew Prophets

Socrates/Plato/Aristotle

Confucius