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{"id":280,"date":"2011-04-01T18:26:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T18:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/04\/hindu-polytheism\/"},"modified":"2011-04-01T18:26:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T18:26:00","slug":"hindu-polytheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/04\/hindu-polytheism.html","title":{"rendered":"Hindu Polytheism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s an interesting article on polytheism from a Hindu perspective<\/a> by Ramdas Lamb, a Professor of Religion at the University of Hawaii. There has been a fair amount of Pagan-Hindu dialogue recently<\/a> (including several panels at February\u2019s Pantheacon<\/a>) and I think it\u2019s helpful to see how our views compare and contrast.<\/p>\n

Professor Lamb begins with the proposition that \u201cNo human has demonstrable or irrefutable proof for or against a belief in a divinity or a lack thereof.\u201d Therefore \u201cwe should focus \u2026 on the ramifications and practical usefulness of the various theological conceptualizations on the people who hold them as well as on the rest of the world.\u201d In other words, is our concept of the Divine meaningful and helpful?<\/p>\n

Lamb says \u201ceach divinity or spirit being has a specific function.\u201d Deities are frequently associated with natural forces or with ideals such as love or justice. This is very similar to John Michael Greer\u2019s observation in A World Full of Gods<\/i><\/a> that the world as we experience it is better explained by many limited gods and goddesses rather than by one all-powerful God.<\/p>\n

He goes on to say that polytheism \u201cmirrors the human experience of family, village, and state.\u201d Both the religious and the social models involve a series of roles, responsibilities, relationships, duties and obligations. But the philosophical structure underlying polytheism differs greatly from that of monotheism. In polytheism, power is distributed among many individuals and many levels based on function. In monotheism, power is concentrated in one all-powerful supreme being and distributed based on hierarchy. <\/p>\n

Lamb says that Hinduism has a form of monotheism: \u201cthe many deities are like spokes, all of which emanate from the hub [of a wheel].\u201d This concept, I think, is likely the source of the popular but problematic saying \u201call gods are aspects of one God.\u201d <\/p>\n

As a polytheistic Unitarian (how\u2019s that for a religious paradox?) I prefer to say that all gods and goddesses \u2013 and humans and all other living things \u2013 exist within one God\/dess. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read elsewhere that \u201cHinduism\u201d is a term created by British colonialists that combines a wide variety of Indian beliefs and practices that aren\u2019t the same from region to region. In any case, Hinduism is of particular interest to modern Pagans. Although it has been influenced by neighboring and invading religions (Buddhism and Islam, plus Christianity since the colonial period), at its core it is the modern incarnation of an indigenous religion. If you want to know what Western religion would look like today had Christianity never expanded beyond the Middle East, take a look at India.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"