The Deities Are Many: A Polytheistic Theology (Religious Studies (Dis))

About this book

Provides a theology of polytheismthe belief in many deitiesusing 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.