User:Alastair Haines/Discreet location

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What is understood by words for ''god'' varies across cultures and has sometimes changed dramatically at various times. [[Buddhism]] challenged various ideas in [[Hinduism]], the [[montheism]] of [[Judaism]] challenged its [[polytheism|polytheistic]] neighbours, and in [[Europe|european]] history, the [[Roman Empire]] officially adopted [[Christianity]] under [[Constantine I]], later becoming its centre, but being challenged itself during the [[Reformation]]. A simple view of the history of religion as an evolutionary process was proposed in the 19th century— from [[animism]] to [[polytheism]] to [[monotheism]], with some believing [[theism]], [[atheism]] or [[agnosticism]] to be the most advanced approach. Such views are no longer widely current either in the study of religion,<ref> "Before us lies a literature rich in profound insights and immense with carefully collected and tested facts: a wealth of resources beyond the imaginings of those 19th century scholars who gave attention to religious questions." [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge]], ''A Theory of Religion'', ([[Rutgers University Press]], 1996), p. 12.</ref> nor in philosophy. [[Analytic philosophy]] widely considers speculative [[metaphysics]] to be outside the reach of [[epistemology]] and scientific scrutiny.<ref> "One of the first to sceptically dismantle speculative metaphysics was French philosopher Pierre Bayle (1647-1706). The turning point, however, came after German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 1780's expressed scepticism about the speculative metaphysical approach; it was not rational science and was not even real knowledge." Spencer Scoular, ''First Philosophy: The Theory of Everything'', (Universal-Publishers, 2007).</ref> Comparative religion notes distinctive idiosyncracies across major religions that are better explained by close historical scrutiny,<ref> "We try to specify in a relatively complete way why and how various aspects of religion occur and to do so through a structure of formal explanation." [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge]], work cited, p. 11.</ref> rather than appeal to a simplistic theory.<ref> "Available 'theories' of religion remain largely the product of 19th century social thought and the tradition of 'grand theory' associated with the founding fathers of social science. But, as already suggested, close scrutiny reveals that these theories are not so grand." [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge]], work cited, p. 11.</ref> Nonetheless, animist religions are common among preliterate societies, many of which still exist in the 21st century. Typically, natural forces and [[shaman]] spiritual guides feature in these religions, rather than fully fledged personal divinities with established personalities. It is in polytheism that such deities are found, [[Hinduism]] being the largest current polytheistic religion. Animist religions often, but not always, attribute gender to spirits considered to permeate the world and its events. Polytheistics religions, however, almost always attribute gender to their gods, though a few notable divinities are associated with various forms of [[epicene]] characteristics—gods that manifest alternatingly as male and female, gods with one male and one female "face", and gods whose most distinctive characteristic is their unknown gender.<ref> "We are yet more strongly reminded by the two-fold nature of Phanes of the epicene god-heads, who occur frequently in the Babylonian pantheon." Gauranga Nath Banerjee, ''Hellenism in Ancient India'', (Read Books, 2007), p. 304.</ref> In the philosophies of several polytheistic traditions, a primal, "high" God is postulated as source of the lesser gods (and [[demi-god]]s) of the [[pantheon]]. In some religions, like [[Buddhism]], such philosophising goes further, considering ultimate reality to transcend pantheons of gods, without proposing a high God in their place. Buddhism considers [[anihilation]] or [[nirvana]] to be ultimate reality, and the desire for existence to be the wrong-headed heart of human misery.<ref> "All that is essential to Buddhism is found in the four propositions which the faithful call the four noble truths. The first states the existence of suffering as the accompaniment to the perpetual change of things; the second shows the desire to be the cause of suffering; ..." Durkheim, work cited, p. 30. See also Oldenberg, ''Buddha'', translated by Hoey, p. 53.</ref> European [[nihilism]] since the 19th century may owe a debt to western thinkers discovering Buddhist ideas from that time of increased trade with the East. Nonetheless, a hegemonic western conception of metaphysics, influenced strongly by [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] is identifiable in European literature from Greek and Roman authors through to the present, such that English language betrays an inherent bias towards monotheistic thought. Where animist languages may not even have words for personal deities, but rather a nuanced vocabulary of spiritualism, and polytheistic cultures have lexis suited to articulating relationships between deities in a pantheon, some modern English speakers only recognize alternatives such as ''God'', ''gods'' or ''no God'', being unfamiliar with Buddhism and animism. When considering the literature of the world's religions and metaphysical philosophies, the diversity of the underlying conceptions of the spiritual realm is foundational to appreciating any points of comparison. Comparison of views of the gender of spiritual entities is no exception. Each religion or philosophy needs to be understood in its historical, social, linguistic and philosophical context. Thus, matters of gender do apply to animism, but not in the foundational way they do in polytheism and monotheism. Additionally, since animism is largely associated with preliterate societies, we are dependent on the [[ethnographies]] of [[Cultural anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] rather than documented scriptures.<ref> "These pose the opportunity to borrow some extremely powerful tools, and we have responded by ransacking the treasuries of economics, learning theory and cultural anthropology." [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge]], work cited, p. 12.</ref> [[Shinto]] is a notable exception. == Notes == {{Reflist}}