The Deities Are Many

Jordan Paper

Description

The Deities Are Many is a lively and learned introduction to polytheism. Drawing from both his scholarly research and his personal experience, author Jordan Paper is the ideal guide into this milieu. Paper was drawn to polytheism through his love of nature, seeing it as a source of the divine. In this book he focuses on Chinese and Native American religious traditions, as well as West African, African-Brazilian, Hindu, Polynesian, and circum-Polar traditions, to describe the theology of polytheism. The book provides a topology of polytheistic deities, focusing on the cosmic couple, Father Sky and Mother Earth; animal, plant, and mineral deities; ancestral spirits; divine ghosts; and culture heroes and tricksters. Paper also shows how monotheists misunderstand polytheism and provides a polytheist perspective on what it means to be human when the "deities are many." This is a fascinating, illuminating book, especially for those raised in monotheistic societies.

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

Why a Polytheistic Theology?
Whose Theology?
The Varieties of Polytheism: The Structure of This Book
A Few Caveats

2. The Cosmic Couple: Mother Earth and Father Sky

Sky and Earth
Circumpolar Rebirth Rituals
Chinese Imperial Sacrifices to Sky and Earth
Sun and Moon
The Four Directions
Morning Star / Evening Star
Sun and Earth
Stars and Planets
Mountains and Streams
Personal Relationships with Cosmic Powers

3. Numinous Nature: Animal, Plant, and Mineral Spirits

Introduction
Natural Plants
Animals in the Wild
Rocks and Minerals
Domesticated Plants
Domesticated Animals
Modes of Interaction

4. The Family Deified: Ancestral Spirits

Ancestral Spirits
China
Modes of Communication

5. Divine Ghosts: Functional Deities

The Anthropomorphizing of the Divine
Modes of Interaction

6. The Seminuminous: Culture Heroes and Tricksters

Numinous Beings Unconnected to Rituals
Trickster and Humorous Divinities
Culture Hero Quasi Deities
Re-creation of the World versus Creation
Implications

7. One or Many: Monotheists' Misperceptions of Polytheism

Polytheism Is Defined by Monotheism
Ur-monotheism
The Native American "Great Spirit"
The "Master of Heaven"
Theological Effects of Western Colonialism on Non-Western Traditions
The "Creator"
Taiping Religion and the Unification Church
Contemporary Versions of Monotheistic Assumptions

8. Diversity and Accommodation: Human Life in a Polytheistic Milieu

The One in the Many, The Many in the One
A Polytheistic View of Monotheism
Living Polytheism

Conclusions

Further Readings

Index

Sujets

• Comparative religion
• Theology

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791483626
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

T H E D E I T I E S A R E M A N Y

SUNY series in Religious Studies Harold Coward, editor

T H E D E I T I E S A R E M A N Y

A Polytheistic Theology

_____ _____ ❖

Jordan Paper

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2005 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Susan M. Petrie

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Paper, Jordan D. The deities are many : a polytheistic theology / Jordan Paper. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0–7914–6387–7 (hardcover)—ISBN 0–7914–6388–5 (pbk.) 1. Polytheism. 2. Religions. I. Title. BL355.P36 2005 211.32—dc22 2004007344

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For the African Bazilian, Anishnabeg, Chinese, Japanese, and Pikuni women and men who shared their spiritual lives with me.

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Preface

C O N T E N T S —————— —————— ❖

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction Why a Polytheistic Theology? Whose Theology? The Varieties of Polytheism: The Structure of This Book A Few Caveats

Chapter 2. The Cosmic Couple: Mother Earth and Father Sky Sky and Earth Circumpolar Rebirth Rituals Chinese Imperial Sacrifices to Sky and Earth Sun and Moon The Four Directions Morning Star / Evening Star Sun and Earth Stars and Planets Mountains and Streams Personal Relationships with Cosmic Powers

Chapter 3. Numinous Nature: Animal, Plant, and Mineral Spirits Introduction Natural Plants Animals in the Wild Rocks and Minerals Domesticated Plants Domesticated Animals Modes of Interaction

vii

xi

xiii

1 1

1 1 5 3 6

19 19 22 26 28 30 32 32 32 32 34

37 37 39 42 46 48 49 52

viii

T HE D EITIES A RE M ANY ________________________________

Chapter 4. The Family Deified: Ancestral Spirits Ancestral Spirits China Modes of Communication

Chapter 5. Divine Ghosts: Functional Deities The Anthropomorphizing of the Divine Modes of Interaction

Chapter 6. The Seminuminous: Culture Heroes and Tricksters Numinous Beings Unconnected to Rituals Trickster and Humorous Divinities Culture Hero Quasi Deities Re-creation of the World versus Creation Implications

Chapter 7. One or Many: Monotheists’ Misperceptions of Polytheism Polytheism Is Defined by Monotheism Ur-monotheism The Native American “Great Spirit” The “Master of Heaven” Theological Effects of Western Colonialism on Non-Western Traditions The “Creator” Taiping Religion and the Unification Church Contemporary Versions of Monotheistic Assumptions

Chapter 8. Diversity and Accommodation: Human Life in a Polytheistic Milieu The One in the Many, The Many in the One A Polytheistic View of Monotheism Living Polytheism Conclusions

Further Readings

Index

59 59 61 68

73 74 78

89 91 94 95 98 101

103 103 105 109 111

112 114 115 118

121 121 125 133 142

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153

One of the most wonderful things is theorixá [deities]. . . And we feel confused and grateful at the same time, with this process of having anorixá. . . And I feel very much this force, this major force, a force I can’t explain. It exists between Heaven and Earth . . . There are mysteries that cannot be explained, and one of them is theorixá.

—Zeze, a young African Brazilian woman, in the filmCandomblé: A Religion in Brazil with African Roots(1989), translated from the Por- tuguese