It wasn’t. There’s an established theory that the earliest religions started with pantheism, believing that things in the natural world had spirits - wind, trees, animals; you’d make offerings to the rain spirit if you wanted rain.
Then it evolved into - they’re animals, but also gods. Think Egyptian pantheology.
Then it evolved into, gods are just really powerful, ageless people who are responsible for certain aspects of human life, and who live in a great version of the best thing we have: Ceres makes your crops plentiful, and lives in Mount Olympus; Freya helps you make babies and lives in Valhalla.
Then it evolved into monotheism. There’s only one God: Allah, Jehova, Yahweh. Although, it should be pointed out that the old testament - the Tora, abridged - doesn’t say there aren’t other gods, but only that you shouldn’t worship them. In the ancient Semitic writings, Yahweh actually has a wife (Asherah); some scholars believe they ruled together. This is technically henotheism, but that’s for religion nerds; we generally consider Judaism monitheistic. The new testament changes this and claims there is only one God - one of the Christian Bible’s very many self-contradictions. But it’s a really good view at the progression from polytheism to monotheism, all in one book.
The Jewish God is absolutely a dude: he has a wife. The Christian God is a dude, if only because he’s always, invariably referred to as “he.” That’s not surprising because Christianity is just Judaism, part II. The Islamic God, Allah, is also canonically male.
We still have lots of great, living examples of the whole range, and others I haven’t mentioned: Shinto, Buddhism, Wicca, and a variety of indigenous religions still practiced around the world. We even see a resurgence of some indigenous religions that never quite died out and are becoming more popular.
Pantheism: everything is an aspect of god
Panentheism: god is in everything
Deism: We are, each of us, God
Polytheism: There are gods
Henotheism: There are gods, but only one is the right one
Monotheism: There is only one God
Atheism: There is no god
Agnosticim: Maybe there’s a god?
The point, though, is that there’s evidence of a evolution, each belief system growing out of the previous, each making Man more significant in the grand scheme of things, and that monotheism is fairly late in the game. Deism might be the most recent to come along; IDK, I’m not really up to speed on current theory.
Religion is politics, and I think the abrahimic religions were the most succesful propaganda of all time. I’m talking regarding humankind and its relationship with the test of nature. Religione got turned into a weapon against the actually creations of divinity
Yes! I always think about the fact that the Hebrew law against eating pork is because the ancient tribes were migrant herders, and their competition was farming communities. You can’t herd pigs, but you can herd sheep, and you don’t want to enrich those other people so you make a dictate against eating pork. Not politics, but economics, although in a lot of ways that’s a distinction without a difference.
It wasn’t. There’s an established theory that the earliest religions started with pantheism, believing that things in the natural world had spirits - wind, trees, animals; you’d make offerings to the rain spirit if you wanted rain.
Then it evolved into - they’re animals, but also gods. Think Egyptian pantheology.
Then it evolved into, gods are just really powerful, ageless people who are responsible for certain aspects of human life, and who live in a great version of the best thing we have: Ceres makes your crops plentiful, and lives in Mount Olympus; Freya helps you make babies and lives in Valhalla.
Then it evolved into monotheism. There’s only one God: Allah, Jehova, Yahweh. Although, it should be pointed out that the old testament - the Tora, abridged - doesn’t say there aren’t other gods, but only that you shouldn’t worship them. In the ancient Semitic writings, Yahweh actually has a wife (Asherah); some scholars believe they ruled together. This is technically henotheism, but that’s for religion nerds; we generally consider Judaism monitheistic. The new testament changes this and claims there is only one God - one of the Christian Bible’s very many self-contradictions. But it’s a really good view at the progression from polytheism to monotheism, all in one book.
The Jewish God is absolutely a dude: he has a wife. The Christian God is a dude, if only because he’s always, invariably referred to as “he.” That’s not surprising because Christianity is just Judaism, part II. The Islamic God, Allah, is also canonically male.
We still have lots of great, living examples of the whole range, and others I haven’t mentioned: Shinto, Buddhism, Wicca, and a variety of indigenous religions still practiced around the world. We even see a resurgence of some indigenous religions that never quite died out and are becoming more popular.
The point, though, is that there’s evidence of a evolution, each belief system growing out of the previous, each making Man more significant in the grand scheme of things, and that monotheism is fairly late in the game. Deism might be the most recent to come along; IDK, I’m not really up to speed on current theory.
Religion is politics, and I think the abrahimic religions were the most succesful propaganda of all time. I’m talking regarding humankind and its relationship with the test of nature. Religione got turned into a weapon against the actually creations of divinity
Yes! I always think about the fact that the Hebrew law against eating pork is because the ancient tribes were migrant herders, and their competition was farming communities. You can’t herd pigs, but you can herd sheep, and you don’t want to enrich those other people so you make a dictate against eating pork. Not politics, but economics, although in a lot of ways that’s a distinction without a difference.