(Untitled)

[kateorman]

"... traditional polytheism almost requires tension and disorder within the pantheon and the cosmos. Polytheism thus accepts two possible locations of evil, so that the existence of evil is not deeply problematic because nothing is truly perfect... By contrast, when a single god dominates the cosmos in a henotheistic system [as in Aten worship]...

Comments

[stevencaldwell]

traditional polytheism almost requires tension and disorder within the pantheon and the cosmos.

Perhaps these shifts between order and chaos are necessary as they reflect the world around the believers. This, in turn, makes the gods easier to relate to and connects us to them as we act, to a degree, like them.

In a similar way, the anthropomorphism of gods and goddesses is how we can come to walk in step with them. We can understand arms and legs and heads and know what they want of us.

Perhaps that's some of the appeal of Jesus?

[antikythera]

I've been thinking of something along those lines. The gods in the Greco-Roman pantheon are constantly goofing off, getting drunk, playing games, and we can blame a lot of the world's bad stuff on their antics. Trying to change things would be like ants trying to tell humans where to step. The gods are literally care-less when it comes to humanity