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21 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Why gods?
Polytheism vs. monotheism |
Gods are organized in a pantheon
Gods have different functions and provinces Gods interact with each other In cult, e.g. common sacrifices In myth, e.g. as friends, spouses, or enemies All ancient Mediterranean religions are polytheistic Almost the only exception is the religion of Israel |
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Why gods are good to think with?
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A: ‘pre-science’
B: society |
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Gods help...
A: ‘pre-science’...why Gods? |
Gods explain how the world functions
its day-to-day function otherwise unexplained events Gods guarantee the stability of the world Gods help overcome a crisis |
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pre-science Scholars
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Sir James George Frazer, 1854-1941: The Golden Bough. A Study in Religion and Magic (1890. 1915)
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B: society..How Gods help
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Gods explain the origin of society
Gods legitimate society Gods prevent social revolutions Gods help to solve social crises |
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Society important scholar
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scholar: Emile Durkheim, 1858-1917: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912 )
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Why gods are dangerous:
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They make us dependant and prevent our autonomy
BUT: They help us to think about ourselves |
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The fighting (intellectual)grandfathers
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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), The Future of an Illusion
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), Archetypes |
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Anthropomorphism
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having the form of a human being”, from Greek anthropos ‘human being’ + morphe ‘form’)
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Anthropomorphism chracteristics..Gods look like..
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Gods look like humans
Gods act like humans Gods feel like humans |
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Greek and Roman gods are ...
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ANTHROPOMORPHIC
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The Great Goddess from Catal Huyuk (Turkey), 6000 BC looks not very different from ...
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the Great Goddess, Magna Mater/Cybele, in Rome, 200 AD
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Limits of Anthropomorphism
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Gods whose human forms are ‘larger than human’ (Shiva in India)
Gods who wholly or in part have animal form Theriomorphism (ther = animal) (Sobek, Crocodile God in Egypt) |
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Greek thinking, gods look like humans, but they have different bodies from us:
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they are stronger
they are larger they are faster they are more beautiful they are ageless and deathless they eat ambrosia and drink nectar their blood is ‘ichor’ |
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In an epiphany, the gods appear
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in their true shape (e.g. Aphrodite to Aeneas)
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tell-tale signs even without an epiphany
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e.g. Poseidon to the Greeks
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Gods act and feel like humans but...
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But their actions and feelings have larger consequences
And often, they could not care less |
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Exception of anthromorph..Mountain Gods
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“And the old man sat down on his mountain and took the trees out of his ears; only his dark hair is crowned with oaks.” )Ovid, Metamorphoses)
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Exception of anthromorph...River Gods
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“and not even the rivers were absent… they all came to Zeus’ house and sat on the benches” (Homer, Iliad 20). == (Achilleus attacks the river god Skamandros): “and in he jumped into his middle; but the river boiled with water … and a terrible wave grew around Achilles’. (Homer, Iliad 21).
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Egyptian gods are...
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THERIOMORPHIC
ther=animal |
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Sobek
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the Crocodile God
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