This is the belief that all that exists is God and God is all in all.
The last understanding of Deities discussed is panentheism. Unlike Deism, monotheism sees God as creator and continuous creator he does not abandon his creation. During Moses time there was a strict acceptance of monotheism manifested in Yahweh. Henotheism is the belief that there are many gods but only one is above the rest. The early Israelites first believed in henotheism before monotheism. This belief system was a later development. Monotheism, like monism, is the belief in one god, but this god is personal, transcendent and creator of the cosmos. There was also a shift towards Monism, which was the belief that there is only one divine being. The east tended to adopt Pantheism as it shifted away from Polytheism. The Greek philosophy was that of pantheism, saying that God or Logos was a flame and that each person was a spark of this flame. This is typically seen as good versus evil or light against darkness.Īnother understanding of deities is Pantheism, which is the belief that all things are in some way divine. Often such poles of the divine interact harmoniously but there is also dualism of struggle. Yin represents the feminine, shadowy, moist, and soft aspects. Yang represents the masculine, light, dry, and hard pole of the divine. For example, the Chinese represent dualism In Yin- Yang. These deities often represent two poles of nature. there was a shift from polytheism to dualism, monotheism and pantheismĭualism is the understanding of deities that teaches the existence of two coequal sacred beings. This is because women are connected with fertility and seasons of fertility the earth too is an entity of fertility and seasons. The discussion shifts from gods of the sky to gods of the earth- that is mother goddesses. Zeus is one of the most well-known sky gods. Sky gods are considered to be all seeing and all knowing. Sky gods are universal amongst religions they are used to explain the origin of the universe. There were Sky gods of creation and order, gods of storm and force, and material gods of the earth. In the Indo- European culture of polytheism there were many diverse devotions and individual deities. This belief system of Deities was common in the early history of religion. It began by talking about Polytheism, which is the belief that there exists more than one god and that the sacred displays itself in many forms. Chapter eight centered its discussion around Deities and concepts of the Divine.
0 kommentar(er)
