1. Diety Concepts of the Divine & ultimate reality
In a two-tiered view of reality;
the divine & the profane
the immanent & the transcendent
the natural & the supernatural
In a unitary reality
animism or
there is no divinity
(a.k.a dualism)
(a.k.a monism)

2. Polytheism & the worship of nature
Early man
Neanderthal hunters: revered the cave bear (burial chambers & rituals)
Paleolithic: rituals and sacrifices for the success of the hunt (magical)
Neolithic: Farming  gods of Sun, Sky and Earth.
Dualism: male sky & female earth .
Pleiades of Dodona (ancient Greek hymn):
The Earth is our mother, the Sky is our father. The Sky fertilizes the Earth with rain, the Earth produces the grains and grasses.

3. The Sky god: A primal monotheism/henotheism
Wilhelm Schmidt, ethnologist, found a sky god or high god almost universally in primal societies in Africa
High god is creator; far away and withdrawn (most of his work is done already)
Lower gods: deal with daily activities (the hunt, fertility etc)

4. The ancient polytheisms
Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian
Sky god is creator and also sovereign; guarantees cosmic order.
Varuna is an all-seeing king in the Rg Veda (see p157)
IndoEuropean language group has similar names for the sky god:
Persian
Sanskrit
Latin
div
deva
deus
Greek Zeus in Homer’s Illiad and Hesiod’s Theogony is a divine king. A pantheon of secondary gods are like the kings court.
household protector
Different manifestations of Zeus
Zeus Herkejos:
Zeus Polieus:
Zeus Katharsios:
protects the city-state
purification

5. The mother goddess
Nearly universal, but especially prevalent in the ancient near east and Mediterranean.
Paleolithic female figurines. Fertility: exaggerated breasts, abdomen, thighs.
Venus of Willendorf

6. Neolithic (farming) rituals connecting human life cycle with agricultural cycle. Goddess of life, death and rebirth
Isis
Ishtar
Demeter
Isis is mother of Pharaohs.
Ishtar is a prostitute goddess.
Demeter is an earth – harvest goddess.
Egypt
Mesopotamia
Greece

7. Mother & child imagery
Comparisons between images of Isis and her child Horus and Mary and the infant Jesus are commonly made. The mother & child image is an archetype; widespread and emotionally evocative

8. Hindu: Kali (time)
China: Bodhisattva Kuan Yin
R. Catholic: Virgin Mary

9. Female religious images

10. 2 sides to the mother goddess
Pregnant …….. virginal.
Chaste……..…..promiscuous.
Protector……...demanding blood sacrifices.
Creates…………..destroys.

11. Diversifivation of gods
Local deities seem to be variant forms of universal gods .
Animism: a spirit in every tree, mountain, lake. or
Polytheism: a god of water, war, love.
Greek: Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite

12. Karl Jaspers calls the 8th – 2nd century BC
The Axial age
Zoroaster
Buddha
Hebrew Prophets
Confucius
This period sees big new ideas in religion appear independently in different civilizations in many parts of the world. Jaspers suggests man’s consciousness reached a new level of moral awareness.
Upanishads
Socrates/Plato/Aristotle