The Deities Are Many

A Polytheistic Theology

Jordan Paper

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780791463888, 9780791463871
• eBook ISBN: 9780791483626
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Comparative Religion

Provides a theology of polytheism—the belief in many deities—using examples from a wide range of world religions.

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.

Table of contents

• THE DEITIES ARE MANY: A Polytheistic Theology
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. THE COSMIC COUPLE: MOTHER EARTH AND FATHER SKY
• 3. NUMINOUS NATURE: ANIMAL, PLANT, AND MINERAL SPIRITS
• 4. THE FAMILY DEIFIED: ANCESTRAL SPIRITS
• 5. DIVINE GHOSTS: FUNCTIONAL DEITIES
• 6. THE SEMINUMINOUS: CULTURE HEROES AND TRICKSTERS
• 7. ONE OR MANY: MONOTHEISTS’ MISPERCEPTIONS OF POLYTHEISM
• 8. DIVERSITY AND ACCOMMODATION: HUMAN LIFE IN A POLYTHEISTIC MILIEU
• FURTHER READINGS
• INDEX