Polytheism


Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, or whether the apparent different objects of worship are to be thought of as manifestations of a singular divinity. Polytheistic belief is usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular god who is, in most cases, transcendent.
In religions that accept polytheism, the different gods and goddesses may be representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles; they can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanations of a creator deity or transcendental absolute principle, which manifests immanently in nature. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally; they can be in monolatrists or kathenotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity only or at certain times
The recognition of the existence of multiple gods and goddesses does not necessarily equate to the worship of all the deities of one or more pantheons, as the believer can either worship them as a whole, or concentrate only on a specific group of deities, determined by various conditions such as the believer's occupation, tastes, personal experience, family tradition, etc. It is also possible to worship a single deity, considered supreme, without ruling out the existence of other gods. This religious position has been called henotheism, but some prefer to call it monolatry. Although the term "henotheism" is controversial, it is recognized by scholars that the worship of a single god accompanied by belief in other deities maintains the principle of polytheism.
Polytheism was the typical form of religion before the development and spread of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which enforce monotheism. However, there are still some dualistic aspects, such as Satan, and polytheistic aspects, such as saints. Saint Brigid is in fact Brigit, the main goddess of Celtic Ireland. It is well documented throughout history, from prehistory and the earliest records of ancient Egyptian religion and ancient Mesopotamian religion to the religions prevalent during classical antiquity, such as ancient Greek religion and ancient Roman religion, and in ethnic religions such as Germanic, Slavic, and Baltic paganism and Native American religions. Notable polytheistic religions practiced today include Taoism, Chinese folk religion, Shinto, Santería, most Traditional African religions, and various neopagan faiths such as Wicca and Hellenism.
Hinduism, while popularly held as polytheistic by many scholars, cannot be exclusively categorised as such as some Hindus consider themselves to be pantheists, panentheists, henotheist, polymorphist, monotheists or monist. Hinduism does not have a single book, Hinduism is an umbrella term for a collection of ideologies. They are compatible with Hindu texts, since there exists no consensus of standardisation in the faith. Vedanta, the most dominant school of Hinduism, offers a combination of pantheism/panentheism and polytheism, holding that Brahman is the sole ultimate reality of the universe, yet unity with it can be reached by worshipping the innumerable deities that represent the Supreme Absolute Truth. Hindus who practice Bhakti ultimately believe in one god, who is known variously as Paramatman, Parabrahman, Bhagavan, Ishvara, and so on, that transcends all categories, however the common people who remain unaware of these concepts worship their deities as ultimate god. Different regions can have their own local deities whose worship is restricted to that region. Brahman is personification of the concept of moksha and the different gods are paths to moksha or realising the Brahman.

Terminology

The term comes from the Greek πολύ poly and θεός theos and was coined by the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria to argue with the Greeks. When Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, non-Christians were called Gentiles or pagans or by the clearly pejorative term idolaters. In modern times, the term polytheism was first revived in French by Jean Bodin in 1580, followed by Samuel Purchas's usage in English in 1614.

Soft versus hard

A major division in modern polytheistic practices is between so-called soft polytheism and hard polytheism.
"Soft" polytheism is the belief that different gods may either be psychological archetypes, personifications of natural forces, or as being one essential god interpreted through the lenses of different cultures – known as omnitheism. In this way, gods may be interchangeable for one another across cultures.
"Hard" polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, rather than psychological archetypes or personifications of natural forces. Hard polytheists reject the idea that "all gods are one essential god" and may also reject the existence of gods outside their own pantheon altogether.

Gods and divinity

The deities of polytheism are often portrayed as complex personages of greater or lesser status, with individual skills, needs, desires and histories, in many ways similar to humans in their personality traits, but with additional individual powers, abilities, knowledge or perceptions.
Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs prevalent in most folk religions. The gods of polytheism are in many cases the highest order of a continuum of supernatural beings or spirits, which may include ancestors, demons, wights, and others. In some cases these spirits are divided into celestial or chthonic classes, and belief in the existence of all these beings does not imply that all are worshipped.

Types of deities

Types of deities often found in polytheism may include:
In the Classical era, 4th century CE Neoplatonist Sallustius categorized mythology into five types:
  1. Theological: myths that contemplate the essence of the gods, such as Cronus swallowing his children, which Sallustius regarded as expressing in allegory the essence of divinity
  2. Physical: expressing the activities of gods in the world
  3. Psychological: myths as allegories of the activities of the soul itself or the soul's acts of thought
  4. Material: regarding material objects as gods, for example: to call the earth Gaia, the ocean Okeanos, or heat Typhon
  5. Mixed
The beliefs of many historical polytheistic religions are commonly referred to as "mythology", though the stories cultures tell about their gods should be distinguished from their worship or religious practice. For instance, deities portrayed in conflict in mythology were often nonetheless worshipped side by side, illustrating the distinction within the religion between belief and practice. Scholars such as Jaan Puhvel, J. P. Mallory, and Douglas Q. Adams have reconstructed aspects of the ancient Proto-Indo-European religion from which the religions of the various Indo-European peoples are thought to derive, which is believed to have been an essentially naturalist numenistic religion. An example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of *dyēus, which is attested in several religious systems of Indo-European-speaking peoples.

Ancient and historical religions

Well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods, the Egyptian gods, the pantheon attested in classical antiquity, the Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, and the Aztec gods.
In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time. Deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or other places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of a culture's pantheon to that of the invaders, as in the Greek Titanomachia, and possibly also the Æsir–Vanir war in the Norse mythos. Cultural exchange could lead to "the same" deity being revered in two places under different names, as seen with the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, and also to the cultural transmission of elements of an extraneous religion, as with the ancient Egyptian deity Osiris, who was later worshipped in ancient Greece.
Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives. However, the Greek philosopher Epicurus held that the gods were incorruptible but material, blissful beings who inhabited the empty spaces between worlds and did not trouble themselves with the affairs of mortals, but could be perceived by the mind, especially during sleep.

Ancient Greece

The classical scheme in Ancient Greece of the Twelve Olympians were: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Ares, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Hestia. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when Dionysus was invited to Mount Olympus, this is a matter of controversy. Robert Graves' The Greek Myths cites two sources that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did. Hades was often excluded because he dwelt in the underworld. All of the gods had a power. There was, however, a great deal of fluidity as to who was counted among their number in antiquity. Different cities often worshipped the same deities, sometimes with epithets that distinguished them and specified their local nature.
Hellenic Polytheism extended beyond mainland Greece, to the islands and coasts of Ionia in Asia Minor, to Magna Graecia, and to scattered Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean, such as Massalia. Greek religion tempered Etruscan cult and belief to form much of the later Roman religion. During the Hellenistic Era, philosophical schools like Epicureanism developed distinct theologies. Hellenism is, in practice, primarily centered around polytheistic and animistic worship.