Where most polytheistic religions are?
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The problem is, the origin of religion lies in pre-history. We're not sure precisely when religion begin. The earliest written records we have for religion are about 5,000 years old. The earliest religious archeological complexes, like Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük, are 10,000 years old. The first intentional burials we've found (indicating some belief in life after death, some belief in transcendence) are about 100,000 years old. All we know is that in general in most non-Western and Western pre-Monotheism, sacred entities are plural. This might not take the form of an explicit pantheon, and there might be a strong sense of a single creator, as there are in many traditional North American and Sub-Saharan African religions, but it's still not the monotheistic (or dualistic) jealous Gods we start to see with Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Even in these cases, monotheism isn't always "pure". The Hebrew Bible is full of examples of the 'am ha'eretz, the people of the land, still worshipping other gods (Asherah is the most obvious and famous example). One of the perennial critiques of Christianity by Muslims and Jewish apologists is that that Trinity isn't really monotheistic (I don't think it's a particularly compelling case when you look at it from inside Christian theology, but there's always the question of how much the Christian "people of the land" actually understand about the theology). Islam is staunchly monotheistic, but still has jinn. By these standards, arguably, we could say that henotheism, monoaltry, kathenotheism, etc. are like monotheism in many ways and they're more widely found.
That still doesn't explain why the sacred is most often found in the multiple, rather than the singular. Like I said, I don't know any serious modern scholar who's touched this issue because we have literally no evidence on the matter, 19th century scholars based their whole theories of religion around the question. Max Müller proposed naturism, the idea that gods were abstracted from natural phenomenon, so thunder become Thunder the god. E. B. Tylor proposed animism, his theory that man originally attributed souls, anima, to natural objects like trees and rocks and religion developed from there. Emile Durkheim proposed that totemism was the basic form of religion that all others originated from, and that totemism derives from groups being identified with names (the parrot clan, the turtle clan) and then eventually these ideas getting abstracted as society began to "worship itself".
Even in these cases, monotheism isn't always "pure". The Hebrew Bible is full of examples of the 'am ha'eretz, the people of the land, still worshipping other gods (Asherah is the most obvious and famous example). One of the perennial critiques of Christianity by Muslims and Jewish apologists is that that Trinity isn't really monotheistic (I don't think it's a particularly compelling case when you look at it from inside Christian theology, but there's always the question of how much the Christian "people of the land" actually understand about the theology). Islam is staunchly monotheistic, but still has jinn. By these standards, arguably, we could say that henotheism, monoaltry, kathenotheism, etc. are like monotheism in many ways and they're more widely found.
That still doesn't explain why the sacred is most often found in the multiple, rather than the singular. Like I said, I don't know any serious modern scholar who's touched this issue because we have literally no evidence on the matter, 19th century scholars based their whole theories of religion around the question. Max Müller proposed naturism, the idea that gods were abstracted from natural phenomenon, so thunder become Thunder the god. E. B. Tylor proposed animism, his theory that man originally attributed souls, anima, to natural objects like trees and rocks and religion developed from there. Emile Durkheim proposed that totemism was the basic form of religion that all others originated from, and that totemism derives from groups being identified with names (the parrot clan, the turtle clan) and then eventually these ideas getting abstracted as society began to "worship itself".
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Polytheism (from Greek πολυθεϊσμός, polytheismos) is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. In most religions which accept polytheism, the different gods and goddesses are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles, and can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanationsof a creator deity or transcendental absolute principle (monistic theologies), which manifests immanently in nature (panentheistic and pantheistic theologies).[1]Most of the polytheistic deities of ancient religions, with the notable exceptions of the Ancient Egyptian[2] and Hindu deities, were conceived as having physical bodies.
Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity. Other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times.
Polytheism was the typical form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions, the latter of which enforced strict monotheism. It is well documented in historical religions of Classical antiquity, especially ancient Greek religion and ancient Roman religion, and after the decline of Greco-Roman polytheism in tribal religions such as Germanic paganism or Slavic paganism.
Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, Santeria, and various neopagan faiths.
Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity. Other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times.
Polytheism was the typical form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions, the latter of which enforced strict monotheism. It is well documented in historical religions of Classical antiquity, especially ancient Greek religion and ancient Roman religion, and after the decline of Greco-Roman polytheism in tribal religions such as Germanic paganism or Slavic paganism.
Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, Santeria, and various neopagan faiths.
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