{"id":238,"date":"2011-07-22T18:16:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology\/"},"modified":"2011-07-22T18:16:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T18:16:00","slug":"pagan-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html","title":{"rendered":"Pagan Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Being an engineer is more than how I make my living \u2013 it\u2019s part of who I am.\u00a0 I\u2019m never satisfied with simply knowing that something does<\/i> work, I want to know how<\/i> it works.\u00a0 I read owners manuals and technical specifications. \u00a0I take things apart and put them back together.\u00a0 For me the greatest question isn\u2019t \u201cwhy?\u201d it\u2019s \u201chow?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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So it should come as no surprise that I find theology fascinating.\u00a0 Who are these gods and goddesses I\u2019ve experienced?\u00a0 Where do they come from, what is their nature, why are they here, what do they want and what can I learn from them?\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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Modern Paganism hasn\u2019t done much to answer these questions.\u00a0 Michael York<\/a> is an exception to that rule.\u00a0 He is a religious scholar who is also a Pagan.\u00a0 Yesterday he posted an essay on Patheos<\/a> titled \u201cNot All Gods Are Deities<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 It is a short but deep look into the origins and nature of gods and goddesses.\u00a0 Like most theological works, this essay is filled with jargon and attempts to parse big ideas into tiny, finite classifications.\u00a0 It\u2019s a challenge to read, but the challenge is worth it.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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York divides gods and goddesses into three categories:\u00a0 deities, non-deities and super-gods.\u00a0 He says deities are \u201cthose gods who are born \u2026 from the earth, the terra mater. The name \u2018deity\u2019 designates \u2018brightness\u2019 \u2026 it is light \u2013 both symbolic and actual \u2013 that the deities have in common and what distinguishes them from the non-deific gods.\u201d\u00a0 This includes most of the goddesses and gods of our ancestors and of our contemporary Pagan pantheons.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Non-deity gods are what York calls \u201casurian<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a Hindu term designating beings who are in opposition to deities and humanity.\u00a0 York says \u201cthey are the fearsome. Because of their terrifying and annihilating functions, our forebears frequently approached them apotropaically in the attempt to ward off and deflect their negative influences.\u201d\u00a0 ADF Druids<\/a> acknowledge these beings when they make appeasement offerings to the \u201cOutdwellers\u201d as part of their rituals.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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While the tradition York draws from here is authentic, the differences between deities and non-deities seem to be more relative than absolute:\u00a0 those on our side are deities, the others are Asura.\u00a0 Or to draw on ADF\u2019s explanation, the Asura are those who were here before us, were conquered, but are still hanging around and may cause trouble from time to time.\u00a0 Examples are the Greek Titans, the Norse Jotuns, and the Celtic Formorians.\u00a0 Where do you put the Egyptian Set or the Norse Loki?\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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York\u2019s super-gods \u201care more abstract and often intellectual developments.\u201d\u00a0 His examples include Logos, Yahweh, Brahma, and Sophia.\u00a0 They function at such a high level they aren\u2019t far from being the God of monotheism.\u00a0 I have to wonder if these \u201csuper-gods\u201d aren\u2019t ordinary deities with good PR agents.\u00a0 It can be helpful to contemplate them or to meditate on them as abstracts or ideals, but we are unlikely to form a reciprocal relationship beneficial to ourselves or to them.<\/span><\/div>\n
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York completely ignores another type of god:\u00a0 deified ancestors.\u00a0 Many tribal religions place ancestors on the same plane as gods.\u00a0 There is some indication that Isis was once a mortal queen.\u00a0 As a Unitarian I reject the idea that Jesus was God, but if he wasn\u2019t born divine he\u2019s certainly been made a god over the past 2000 years.\u00a0 And you can make a strong case that Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and other American heroes either are or in the process of becoming gods<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I think York\u2019s three-fold classification may be helpful at a practical level:\u00a0 why would we honor a goddess or god whose aims are antithetical to our own?\u00a0 Why would we make offerings to a god or goddess who is so far removed from life in this realm he or she is unlikely to notice us?\u00a0 Better to put our efforts toward the deities who share our connection to Nature and who can be known through lore and through direct experience.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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Theologian or not, York seems to understand this.\u00a0 After precisely defining deities, non-deities, and super-gods, he says \u201cfor myself, I am content with and prefer the elemental gods of nature.\u201d\u00a0 For us, he recommends \u201cfind your grove, your sacred stone, your source, spring, well or fountain, your quiet reflective spot in your pagus and listen. If you want, the gods will speak to you.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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And in that, Michael York and I are in complete agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being an engineer is more than how I make my living \u2013 it\u2019s part of who I am.\u00a0 I\u2019m never satisfied with simply knowing that something does work, I want to know how it works.\u00a0 I read owners manuals and technical specifications. \u00a0I take things apart and put them back together.\u00a0 For me the greatest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPagan Theology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being an engineer is more than how I make my living \u2013 it\u2019s part of who I am.  I\u2019m never satisfied with simply knowing that something does work, I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pagan Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Being an engineer is more than how I make my living \u2013 it\u2019s part of who I am.  I\u2019m never satisfied with simply knowing that something does work, I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-22T18:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html\",\"name\":\"Pagan Theology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-22T18:16:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-22T18:16:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"Being an engineer is more than how I make my living \u2013 it\u2019s part of who I am.  I\u2019m never satisfied with simply knowing that something does work, I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/07\/pagan-theology.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pagan Theology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. 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