|
Systems of Religious and Spiritual
Belief
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Polytheism, the belief in many gods,
characterizes virtually all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,
which share a common tradition of monotheism, the belief in one God. Sometimes
above the many gods a religion will have a supreme creator and focus of
devotion, as in certain phases of Hinduism (there is also the tendency to
identify the many gods as so many aspects of the Supreme Being); sometimes the
gods are considered as less important than some higher goal, state, or saviour,
as in Buddhism; sometimes one god will prove more dominant than the others
without attaining overall supremacy, as Zeus in Greek religion. Typically,
polytheistic cultures include belief in many demonic and ghostly forces in
addition to the gods, and some supernatural beings will be malevolent; even in
monotheistic religions there can be belief in many demons, as in New Testament
Christianity. Polytheism can bear various relationships to other beliefs. It can
be incompatible with some forms of theism, as in the Semitic religions; it can
coexist with theism, as in Vaisnavism; it can exist at a lower level of
understanding, ultimately to be transcended, as in Mahayana
Buddhism; it can exist as a tolerated adjunct to belief in transcendental
liberation, as in Theravada Buddhism. |
|
|
|
|
|
In the course of analyzing and recording
various beliefs connected with the gods, historians of religions have used
certain categories to identify different attitudes toward the gods. Thus, in the
latter part of the 19th century, the terms henotheism
and kathenotheism were used to refer to the exalting of a particular god as
exclusively the highest within the framework of a particular hymn or ritual; e.g.,
in the Vedic hymns (the ancient sacred texts of India). This process often
consisted in loading other gods' attributes on the selected focus of worship.
Within the framework of another part of the same ritual tradition, another god
may be selected as supreme focus. Kathenotheism literally means belief in one
god at a time. The term monolatry
has a connected but different sense; it refers to the worship of one god as
supreme and sole object of the worship of a group while not denying the
existence of deities belonging to other groups. The term henotheism is also used
to cover this case, or more generally to mean belief in the supremacy of a
single god without denying others. This seems to have been the situation for a
period in ancient Israel in regard to the cult of Yahweh. |
|
|
The term animism
has been applied to a belief in many animae
(" spirits") and
is often used rather crudely to characterize so-called primitive religions. In
evolutionary hypotheses about the development of religion that were particularly
fashionable among Western scholars in the latter half of the 19th century,
animism was regarded as a stage in which the forces around man were less
personalized than in the polytheistic stage. In actual instances of religious
belief, however, no such scheme is possible: personal and impersonal aspects of
divine forces are interwoven; e.g., Agni,
the fire god of the Rgveda
(the foremost collection of Vedic hymns), is not only personified as an object
of worship but is also the mysterious force within the sacrificial fire. |
|
|
Belief in many divine beings, who
typically have to be worshipped or, if malevolent, warded off with appropriate
rituals, has been widespread in human cultures. Though a single evolutionary
process cannot be postulated, there has been a drift in various traditions
toward the unification of sacred forces under a single head, which, in a number
of nonliterate "primal" societies, has become embedded in a supreme
being. Sometimes this being is a deus otiosus(an "indifferent god"), regarded as having withdrawn from
immediate concern with men and thought of sometimes as too exalted for men to
petition. This observation led Wilhelm
Schmidt, an Austrian anthropologist, to postulate in the early 20th
century an Urmonotheismus, or
"original monotheism," which later became overlaid by polytheism. Like
all other theories of religious origins, this theory is speculative and
unverifiable. More promising are attempts by sociologists and social
anthropologists to penetrate to the uses and significance of the gods in
particular societies. |
|
|
Besides the drift toward some
unification, there have been other tendencies in human culture that entail a
rather sophisticated approach to mythological material--e.g., giving the gods psychological significance, as in the works of
the Greek dramatists Aeschylus and Euripides and similarly, but from a diverse
angle, in Buddhism. At the popular level there has been, for instance, the
reinterpretation of the gods as Christian saints, as in Mexican Catholicism. A
fully articulate theory, however, of the ways in which polytheism serves
symbolic, social, and other functions in human culture requires clarification of
the role of myth, a much debated topic in contemporary anthropology and
comparative religion. (see also religious symbolism) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A widespread phenomenon in religions is
the identification of natural forces and objects as divinities. It is convenient
to classify them as celestial, atmospheric, and earthly. This classification
itself is explicitly recognized in Indo-Aryan religion: Surya, the sun
god, is celestial; Indra, associated with storms, rain, and battles, is
atmospheric; and Agni, the fire god, operates primarily at the earthly level.
Sky gods, however, tend to take on atmospheric roles; e.g., Zeus's use of lightning as his thunderbolt. |
|
|
In the earliest cultural levels, in
which hunting and then pastoralism and agriculture are clearly vital, religion
exhibits these identifications in rites connected with fertility. The sun's
vitality is seen in the cyclical effects of causing things to grow and wither.
Moreover, because of its dominance of the world, the sun is often seen as
all-knowing, and thus sky gods of various cultures tend to be highly powerful
and knowledgeable, if also sometimes rather remote. The sky is also often
associated with creation. By contrast the moon is rarely of the same importance
(though in Ur, a city of ancient southern Babylonia, the moon god Sin was
supreme). The role of the sky god in ensuring food and in providing light and
warmth, over against the chaotic effects of darkness, was a theme of various
myths of the cosmic drama and was one main reason for the connection in mythic
thought between creation and light. (see also creation myth,
fertility cult, cyclicism,
sun worship, High
God, moon worship) |
|
|
Heavenly divinities have also been
influential in the development of astrology, which assigns a special significance
to stars and planets. In the Middle East astrology was important but was
weakened by monotheism; and in Indian culture it came to be deeply woven into
the fabric of both Hinduism and Buddhism. Astrology was influential in the
Greco-Roman world and in the astral religion attached to Gnosticism (dualistic
sects that emphasized salvation through esoteric knowledge) and other cults of
the early Christian Era. Astrology was also elaborated in Central America, for
instance in Aztec religion. |
|
|
Gods of the sky become especially
powerful when they take on an atmospheric guise. The association of gods such as
Zeus and Indra with storm, as well as with fertility-bearing rain, makes their
connection with warfare fairly natural; thus, Indra is the most perfect example
of an Indo-Aryan warrior. Many societies, however, have had separate gods of
war. The ambivalence of atmospheric deities is paralleled in female counterparts
who are both creative and destructive. The combination of sky and earth and the
joining of differing cosmic forces are sometimes represented in the hieros
gamos("sacred marriage"); e.g.,
between Apsu and Tiamat in Mesopotamia, Shiva and Shakti in
India, and Gaea and Uranus in Greece. The forces of water
and fire are particularly
significant in bridging the gap between the earthly and heavenly realms. Fire is
manifested not only in the hearth but also in lightning and the sun; water is
sometimes connected with the moon. Thus, earthly fire and water can also be seen
at work higher in the cosmos. |
|
|
Important in the development of
fertility religion were the "dying and rising" gods, such as Adonis,
Attis, Osiris, and Tammuz. Their cults had a new life in the mystery cults of
the Greco-Roman world, where the original agricultural significance of the rites
was transformed into more personal and psychological terms. |
|
|
On earth, besides the divine mother out
of whose womb plant life has
its birth, there are a host of divinities connected with agricultural and
pastoral life. In addition, sacred significance is often attached to features of
the particular environment in which a given group finds itself. Thus, sacred
mountains, such as Olympus in Greece, have their resident deities; a river, such
as the Ganges (Ganga), may be divinized. Underground rivers have special
significance in connecting with the underworld, or nether regions, which can be
important as the place of repose of the dead but also as the matrix for the
re-creation of life. Geographical locations can also have cosmic significance; e.g.,
Delphi, Greece, was known as the navel of the earth. Further, many cultures
have gods and goddesses associated with the sea. (see also Greek religion) |
|
|
|
|
|
In a number of cultures trees are seen
as a primordial form of vegetation and have a symbolic connection both with
heaven and earth; sometimes they are held to contain spirits, as the yaksas
of Indian tradition. Particular sorts of trees, such as the ashvattha,
or pipal (sacred fig), are held in special veneration. Among plant deities,
however, probably the most important are those connected with cultivated plants,
such as maize in Central America and the vine in the Mediterranean world.
Notable is the cult of Dionysus,
the ecstatic wine god who became one of the most influential objects of devotion
in the classical period. The vine linked agriculture and ecstasy. The connection
between vegetation and dying and rising gods has already been noted; to some
extent such motifs were carried over into Christianity in the notion that the
cross was the tree both of death and of new life. One of the most obvious modern
survivals in the West of vegetation cults is the use at the winter solstice of
mistletoe, symbolizing fertility and continued life. |
|
|
|
|
|
Just as plants can be seen as divine
forces, so can types or species of animals. For instance, the cult of the snake
is widespread and is especially important in the Indian tradition. The serpent
is vital in the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve and appears in the
Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh as one
who knows the secret of rejuvenation. The snake has a fertility aspect because
of its possible phallic significance and because it lives in holes in the
life-giving earth. The cult of the monkey
is important in India, having its essence in the figure of Hanuman, half
monkey and half human. It is possible that such theriomorphic cults (in which
gods are represented by various animal forms) have been assisted by rituals in
which priests wear masks representing the relevant divinities, a practice that
may in turn explain the hybrid half-human form. Examples of the wide variety of
animal and living forms in which gods appear include Huitzlipochtli
(hummingbird; Aztec); Cipactli (alligator; Aztec); Visnu's avatars, or
incarnations (fish, tortoise, boar, man-lion; Hindu); the Rainbow Snake
(Australian Aboriginal); Cernunnos (stag god with antlers; Celtic religion);
Nandi (bull; Hindu). A figure partly in animal guise found in Les Trois-Frères
cave at Ariège, France, may represent a complex lord of the beasts
analogous to the supposed Shiva (the destroyer and re-creator in Hindu
mythology) figure found at sites in the Indus Valley; while a bird-man figure at
Lascaux, France, may depict a priestly representation of a divine being. Thus,
theriomorphism seems to have a very ancient pattern. In brief, various cultures
have taken existing species in their environment and woven them into the
pantheon--partly because of their essential dependence on the animals and partly
for other reasons, such as similarities between animal forms and other sacred
forces (e.g., the analogy of the lion to the force behind kingship). (see
also animal
worship, animalism) |
|
|
Because man can enter into living
relationship with the supernatural beings that surround and dominate his life,
it has always been natural to model the gods as human beings. Such anthropomorphism
is most evident in the Greek tradition, in which the Homeric gods are
brilliantly and unashamedly human in their passions and thoughts. The human
model has been assisted by the representation of the gods in art; for a statue
is not just a symbolic representation of a god but often his place of presence
and influence. Thus, in a number of cultures, the images are treated as replete
with divinity. |
|
|
Just as gods can be human in character,
so men can be conceived as divine, either by becoming identified with deities (e.g.,
through descent) or by displaying appropriate power. Thus, divine
kingship was a not uncommon feature of the ancient Middle East; it was
also found in the Roman world, when the emperors were divinized, and in Japan
and China, where the emperor was son of heaven. Culture heroes and other
significant humans could be elevated to semidivine status or more; e.g.,
Kuan Ti and other heroes in the Chinese tradition, Rama and Krsna
(Krishna) in India. Strictly, the succession of sages known as buddhas and tirthankaras
in the Buddhist and Jain traditions, respectively, were not conceived as divine
but came to be objects of a cult. In the Mahayana
(Greater Vehicle), celestial buddhas and bodhisattvas
(those vowed to become buddhas) came to be profoundly important for devotional
religion; from a functional point of view, the Mahayana has
operated as a polytheistic system, united, however, under an overarching
doctrine of emptiness, or the void (shunya),
according to which all things are said to be empty of the characteristics
assigned to them. The Theravada
(Way of the Elders) accepted the principle that virtuous followers of the Buddha
could be translated in the next life to a heavenly existence in which they would
have godlike status (an impermanent status, however, for gods share the
universal transitoriness of all living beings), but such gods were scarcely the
objects of a cult. (see also apotheosis) |
|
|
|
|
|
In addition to the various forces
operating in nature, various social and other functions are divinized. Thus, the
god Brahma in the Vedic tradition, besides being creator, contains and
expresses in personal form the power implicit in the Brahmin class. Again, there
are gods of healing, such as Asclepius in Greece, and of seafaring, agriculture,
and so on. The most elaborate reflection of human concerns is, perhaps, to be
found in the later Taoist pantheon, which provided a heavenly counterpart to the
Chinese Imperial court. In a number of societies gods of war, such as Mars
(ancient Rome) and Skanda (India); gods of learning, such as Sarasvati
(India); and gods of love, such as Aphrodite (Greece) and Kama (India),
have been important. Even such abstractions as the directions (north, south,
east, and west) have been divinized. The fact that these varied entities and
relationships have been taken as gods is, perhaps, partly the result of the
mythic style of thinking, in which distinctions between natural forces and
social conventions are not clearly perceived. |
|
|
Of special importance regarding human
affairs are the gods concerned with death
and judgment after death, such as Osiris in ancient Egypt, Yama in India, Hades
in Greece, and Hel in pre-Christian Scandinavian religion. There are also gods
associated with cemeteries and more generally with patterns of the disposal of
the dead. |
|
|
The various gods must be seen against
the background of a whole host of spirits, demons, and other supernatural forces
prevalent in the environment of pastoral and agricultural communities. Among
entities hostile to man are the antigods, very often older gods, such as the
Titans in Greece, who have been displaced by later deities or gods worshipped by
a people conquered by a new dominant folk. The warfare between the old and new
can be woven into dramatic myths of the fight between good and evil. This is
well brought out in the major myth of the Orphic writings: Zeus's son
Dionysus-Zagreus was killed and eaten by the Titans, who in turn were destroyed,
burned up by Zeus's lightning flash. Man is made of the ashes, and therefore he
is a compound of divinity and titanic evil. Purification from this evil brings
redemption and release from the round of reincarnation. Sometimes, however, the
ambivalence of good and evil is built into the same deity, so that creation and
destruction and good and evil are seen as complementing one another. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By the time of the establishment of the
Roman Empire, the Greek tradition was already exerting considerable influence on
the Roman, to the extent that once relatively independent traditions became
somewhat fused. Equations between gods were freely made: Zeus became Jupiter,
Aphrodite became Venus, and so on. Originally Roman pietas (sense of duty to the gods) was a good deal less personalized
than the relationship to the anthropomorphic gods of the Homeric pantheon and
was directed at spirits called numina. In
addition, the various philosophical systems, such as Epicureanism and Stoicism,
provided a more systematic cosmology and sense of man's destiny than traditional
polytheism. Influential in the Hellenistic period were mystery cults--such as
those of Isis, Cybele, Mithra, and Demeter--which catered more to personal
concerns with salvation than did the official and civic cults. Under the
mid-4th-century emperor Julian, a last vigorous attempt was made to revive
paganism and to restore the cult of the gods over against the widespread grip of
Christianity. (see also Roman
religion, Greek religion,
mystery religion) |
|
|
|
|
|
The sources for a reconstruction of
northern European religion are far better than those for the south Germanic
peoples, but there were evidently similarities between the religions. The three
main Scandinavian gods were
Odin, Thor, and Freyr: Odin (or Wodan) had great magical power and wisdom and
was called All-father; Thor (or Donar) was the warrior god; and Freyr was the
god of fertility. It is possible that these gods are a reflection of the
tripartite division of Indo-European society--priest, warrior, and cultivator.
Among other deities, Balder, the dying god who was killed by a mistletoe branch,
had a poignant charm. Nordic mythology also carries with it a sense of final
doom of the gods, looking to the point when the world will be burned up, before
its eventual re-creation. |
|
|
The pattern of Celtic cults is not easy
to decipher because of lack of written records; but the stag-headed god
Cernunnos was highly significant in iconography. There was also a variety of
ancestral gods and goddesses, including a "great mother" of the type
found in fertility cults of the ancient Middle East. Celtic
religion had a special reverence for water in such forms as pools and
rivers. |
|
|
The Slavic
religions of eastern Europe and Russia are likewise imperfectly known,
but they involved worship of a high god who is both a creator and an atmospheric
force. Another important figure in Slavic mythology was the war god Svantovit.
Finno-Ugrian pre-Christian religion bears some resemblance to the Scandinavian,
possibly indicating some mutual influences, while Baltic cults are of
Indo-European type. |
|
|
|
|
|
The Egyptian pantheon evolved into a
complex form; many deities were theriomorphic but were presided over by such
great gods as Re, the sun god, and Nut, the sky goddess. Re's transformation as
Horus, with a hawk's head, was connected with the Osiris legend. The pharaoh was
identified with him as the "living Horus." Despite the attempt of
Akhenaton, pharaoh in the 14th century BC, to exalt Aton as the single god, the
Egyptian cult remained essentially polytheistic but highly articulated. With the
domination of Egypt by the Ptolemies about 10 centuries later, the worship of
Sarapis, a hybrid Greco-Egyptian deity, was instituted as a means of binding
together the two groups. (see also Egyptian
religion) |
|
|
Though in Egypt the cause of the rise
and fall of gods was partially the political struggles between the major
city-states, the Sumerian religion was much less affected by such
"earthly" considerations. An, the god of heaven, remained supreme, and
such deities as the water god Enki and the air god Enlil were prominent. In
Babylon, partly the successor state of Sumer, the most vital god was Marduk,
creator of the world and of mankind, and victor over the primeval Tiamat, or
chaos, who all but absorbed the older surrounding gods. His story is recounted
in the epic Enuma elish ("When on
High"). In Assyrian religion Marduk was in effect replaced by Ashur; and
Ishtar, the mother goddess, was also important. In general, it can be said that
Middle Eastern religion stemmed from early Sumerian and Egyptian sources and
that the latter eventually had some effect on Hellenistic religion. |
|
|
|
|
|
For almost a millennium close relations
existed between the Vedic and Iranian
religions--from before the time of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster,
who reformed the ancient religion in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC,
back to the time of the Vedic religion of the Aryans, who invaded India about
1500 BC. Zoroaster, in his reforms, succeeded in excising the many gods, some of
whom were subsumed as qualities of the supreme Ahura Mazda. The rich
pantheon of the Vedic hymns developed into the world of classical Hindu
mythology, which was fed by streams other than the Aryan. |
|
|
|
|
|
Certain gods of no great importance in
the Vedic tradition came to dominate classical Hinduism,
above all Shiva and Vishnu. The latter was associated with belief in avatar,
or incarnation. Most male gods in the Hindu pantheon also came to be
represented with a female consort, symbolizing the shakti, or creative power of the deity. The increasing elaboration
of Hindu cults as different groups were absorbed into a systematized social
fabric has led to the estimate of as many as 33,000,000 Hindu gods. It has been
common practice for devotees to select the form under which the divine is
worshipped, and such a deity is called the istadevata.
Most Hindus are inclined to interpret the many gods as being symbols of the
one divine reality. |
|
|
|
|
|
Buddhism's tolerance of popular cults,
provided that the main essentials of the faith are maintained, means that in
most Buddhist cultures several gods are worshipped. In Mahayana
Buddhism, increased devotion to the Buddha became elaborated as a belief in many
celestial beings, notably Amitabha and Avalokiteshvara (Kwannon),
who were, however, in essence all unified in the absolute (shunya,
the void). In Tibet, a synthesis between the indigenous religion and
Buddhism was established. The most notable feature of this form of Buddhism,
known as Vajrayana (Vehicle of the Thunderbolt), was the use of divine
forms to symbolize the various factors of existence, such as the different
elements making up human personality. |
|
|
|
|
|
In ancient China the cult of Heaven and
ancestor worship were elements woven into the system of Confucianism.
Numerous lesser deities were worshipped in popular Chinese practice, and the
dividing lines between Confucianism, religious Taoism,
and Buddhism were hard to draw. In Taoism, an elaborate pantheon was evolved,
modelled in part on the Imperial bureaucracy, and was presided over by the Jade
Emperor (Yü-Huang). Other deities included atmospheric gods, gods of
locality, and functional gods (of wealth, literature, agriculture, and so on).
The Taoist gods were in part a response to the richness of Mahayana
myth, with its cults of celestial buddhas and bodhisattvas. |
|
|
The religions practiced in China
influenced Japanese culture, which took over some main elements of Confucianism
and Buddhism, that interacted with the indigenous polytheistic religion, Shinto
(Way of the Gods). The divinities of Shinto tend to be connected with
natural forces and localities; the most important deity is Amaterasu, who is the
sun goddess and divine ancestress of the emperor. |
|
|
|
|
|
The Aztec culture, successor of earlier
civilizations, together with the associated Maya culture, laid great emphasis on
astronomical observation and on a complex religious calendar. Important were the
high god Ometecuhtli, the morning star Quetzalcóatl, and the various
legends woven round Tezcatlipoca, patron of warriors, who in the form of
Huit-zilopochtli was patron of the Aztec nation. Inca
religion also possessed a high god, Viracocha;
a number of the most important deities were associated with celestial bodies,
notably the sun, patron of the Incas. Both in Central and South America, the
fertility aspects of deities were also emphasized. (see also Aztec religion,
Mayan religion) |
|
|
|
|
|
In some areas, such as much of Africa
and Oceania, the indigenous religions are ethnic or tribal; each group has its
own particular tradition. These traditions have been affected considerably by
the impact of Christian missions and Western technology. Clearly there is no
single pattern of belief, though certain patterns do recur in some of the
cultures, such as belief in a high god, totemism (characterized by recognition
of a relationship between certain human groups and particular classes of animal,
plant, or inanimate object in nature), spirit possession, and so on. In various
respects there are matches between myth and social organization that are
likewise quite varied. Anthropologists, however, are far from a consensus on the
role and origin of the gods. |
|
|
(N.Sm.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
