{"id":2703,"date":"2010-12-30T11:17:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T11:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/12\/princess-leia-illustrates-rhetorical-monotheism\/"},"modified":"2010-12-30T11:17:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T11:17:00","slug":"princess-leia-illustrates-rhetorical-monotheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/12\/princess-leia-illustrates-rhetorical-monotheism.html","title":{"rendered":"Princess Leia Illustrates Rhetorical Monotheism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Even when it comes to something as clearly in the realm of the study of religion as the rhetoric of monotheism, science fiction and humor prove to be relevant.<\/p>\n

Marc Cortez shared<\/a> this Savage Chickens cartoon:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

\u00a0The first thing that came to mind was what a nice illustration this provides of how one often finds what can be called \u201crhetorical monotheism\u201d in religions which are polytheistic. A deity is appealed to as the only one who can save from a particular situation, but that monotheistic-sounding language does not translate into exclusive worship. (This is a subject I discuss further in my book The Only True God<\/a>\"\"<\/i>\u00a0and it is one of the issues that makes identifying monotheistic texts more challenging).<\/p>\n

There is a powerful and moving scene in the Indian movie Lagaan<\/a>\"\" in which the locals go to a temple to beseech divine assistance for a decisive cricket match against their English colonial overlords, a match that will affect their taxation for the immediate future. While the language of that particular god being their only hope probably reflects the sort of \u201crhetorical monotheism\u201d I\u2019ve mentioned above, the scene also illustrates to non-Hindu viewers how many of the same religious impulses drive practices such as worship and prayer even across significant cultural and theological boundaries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even when it comes to something as clearly in the realm of the study of religion as the rhetoric of monotheism, science fiction and humor prove to be relevant. Marc Cortez shared this Savage Chickens cartoon: \u00a0The first thing that came to mind was what a nice illustration this provides of how one often finds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPrincess Leia Illustrates Rhetorical Monotheism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even when it comes to something as clearly in the realm of the study of religion as the rhetoric of monotheism, science fiction and humor prove to be\" \/>\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\/religionprof\/2010\/12\/princess-leia-illustrates-rhetorical-monotheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Princess Leia Illustrates Rhetorical Monotheism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even when it comes to something as clearly in the realm of the study of religion as the rhetoric of monotheism, science fiction and humor prove to be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/12\/princess-leia-illustrates-rhetorical-monotheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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